How to Get Closure After Someone's Death

...
Wikimedia Commons

There is nothing simple about the death of a loved one. Perhaps there is a loved one in your life that has passed away, but you find yourself continuing to think about them. It is important for your health (physically, mentally, and emotionally) that you come to closure and move on with your life. This how-to guide will help make this very difficult task a little easier.

Forgive those involved. If you feel as though the person's death is because of some action that you did, you need to forgive yourself. As sad as it may seem, there is no way to bring this person back, and holding a grudge against yourself or anyone else is not going to help anyone. You need to forgive and forget.

Journal your thoughts. Is your head just swimming with different thoughts about this person? Write whatever you are thinking down in a journal or notebook. Letting these thoughts out will help you to clear your mind. If there is someone close to you that you would like to share your journal with, you may wish to do that. Perhaps it will also help that person move on.

Have a funeral or other ceremony in honor of the person. Even if the person you lost was missing in action in a war, or was never found, you can still hold a funeral. Having a funeral or other formal ceremony will help you and others impacted by this person's death share their thoughts and find some closure.

Write a book about what you remember about the person. You don't need to write a professional book if you don't want to, but noting all of your thoughts that you can remember about the person will help. Write everything from when you first met the person to when they lost their life. This may prove to be difficult for some people, but this will also help to let your feelings and thoughts out of your head.

Begin a new chapter in your life. This is certainly going to be the most difficult of any of the steps. Of course you will never be able to erase your memories of this person, but you don't really even want to do that. However, you do need to begin to move on and open a new chapter in your life. Start making new friends, and try to continue on with how your life used to be.