I wanted to talk about a type of grief that perhaps we don’t commonly acknowledge.
Anticipatory grief: the grief we experience whilst we watch our loved ones change and slip away, but also the grief that occurs before the actual loss.
Please know the symptoms of anticipatory grief are real.
Anger, sadness, fear, guilt, physical discomfort, and perhaps numbness are normal. It’s important to acknowledge and allow yourself to feel the pain. It’s true, no one can fix this, but talking to someone you trust can really help.
If you are a caregiver to your fur loved one, then anticipatory grief can be quite frightening. You may wonder who you will be and what your life will look like when you are no longer required to watch the clock to ensure medication is administered at just the right time every single day. You may even fear being able to join the real world again as your whole life has centered around being a caregiver to your fur family member.