It’s National Grief Awareness Day 2021 | Here’s Exactly What You Can Do About It
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but this is your sign to do something—today—for the hurting person you keep thinking about.
It’s National Grief Awareness Day, and an ideal opportunity for you to acknowledge the grief and loss of someone in your life.
Even if the loss event has long since passed—because grief is ongoing.
Even if you’re not sure whether anything you say or do can help—It will.
Even if it’s uncomfortable. Grief is _always_ better acknowledged than ignored, and not acting won’t make yours or their discomfort disappear.
At Beyond Words Co., we do care packages. So today, on National Grief Awareness Day, I want to talk about what grief is, and provide some examples of and share why certain gifts and care package items serve a grieving heart more than others.
Reasons For Gifting Around Grief
Because we live, we experience loss.
Building a culture of grief support is critical today. Whether it’s our own, or that of another, grief is pervasive, life-altering, and ongoing. Over 57% of Americans have experienced a major loss in the last three years. That means that over half of Americans are currently dealing with some form of grief.
Loss can leave a person feeling isolated, uncertain, sad, and frustrated. If you have experienced a loss of your own, you may empathize even more with their situation. Sending a sympathy care package is a great way to support and be there for someone at a challenging time.
Some examples of loss and grief where a care package could provide support include:
Loss of a loved one
Job loss or ongoing challenges in finding employment
Loss of a relationship, infidelity, or other relationship-related challenges
Infertility, miscarriage, or health and other challenges related to pregnancy and birth, post-partum health
A diagnosis of cancer or disease (mental or physical)
Life transitions that place enormous strain on mental or physical health
Tips For Sending A Care Package That Can Aid Someone Experiencing Grief
Care Package Items That Provide Comfort
There’s comfort alone the act of reaching out. But learning someone thoughtfully sent a package of items to address their grief.
Being able to see, touch, and use a small item like a candle or special mug can provide quick comfort when someone is feeling distressed. These small, simple items can mean a lot in a difficult time. Providing a variety of items that are useful in moments of grief shows that you understand, or at least have looked into supporting, the grief experience.
People often stick with traditional go-to gifts associated with grief. Many of these gifts create happiness in “normal times” but don’t hold the same value in a time of grief. Some can even create problems of their own.
Consider these:
Flowers wither; plants may die, and both require proper maintenance and disposal. Certain fragrances may be lovely to you, but off-putting or triggering to someone else.
Gifts of meals can pile up in a freezer, becoming yet another burden that needs to be managed.
Feelings of grief can come on suddenly and without warning. When that happens, it is nice to be able to have easy access to items that truly help a person feel better. By sending items that comfort, your gift supports that person in a way some traditional sympathy gifts might not.
Care Package Items That Show Support
When you see someone grieving, most recognize that they sympathize or empathize. What many don’t know is that there are different forms of empathy.
Cognitive empathy is the ability to understand another person’s perspective.
Emotional empathy is when you actually feel and share the same feelings as the person with whom you empathize.
A person who is grieving may not feel fully supported if you aren’t able to see their point of view (cognitive empathy), and they don’t necessarily benefit from you feeling their pain (emotional empathy). You will help them most when you cross into the terrain of a third type of empathy: compassionate.
Compassionate empathy is about taking action or helping someone take action towards moving forward with their grief.
That is the kind of supportive empathy you show when you decide to send a sympathy care package. It can feel like hands-on support, even if you don’t live nearby. Distance can make it feel hard to be there for someone in the ways you might wish to if you were in person. Finding opportunities to show compassionate empathy from afar doesn’t only maintain a supportive relationship with someone, it can build and strengthen one.
Customized Care Packages That Fit Someone’s Style
Sympathy care packages can be personalized to include items that you know a grieving person will appreciate. These extra touches make the care package even more special. Finding the right-fit gift can be as simple as taking into account their style. Do they like clean, contemporary items?
In a time of grief, would they prefer calming, neutral colors, or bold statement designs?
Remember, too: Stylish does not equal BIG. In times of grief, large items can feel overwhelming. Well thought-out smaller items can be luxurious, used on-the-go, and most importantly, don’t add undue stress that can result from them feeling like a gift was “too much,” or from having to store or adopt use of something else that’s big and new.
Take time to look at the ingredients and materials that have gone into creating a product. The person receiving the item will feel pampered by something high-quality that they may have never chosen to purchase for themselves. Textiles or products made of higher quality materials often feel better to the touch and can last longer, too.
When you send a care package specific to the needs of the person receiving it, you have made your gift more meaningful and useful. The person on the receiving end is likely to see and appreciate the difference between yours and other sympathy gifts they’ve received. Most of all, they will feel extra cared-for, knowing you sought out something that fits their style and needs.
Supporting Grief Doesn’t Have To Be Hard Or Inconvenient
A sympathy care package is a convenient way to send support quickly, from anywhere, and does not require that the person be home or feel obligated to visit or even to get up to answer the door upon its arrival (we’re looking at you, flowers, meals, and perishable food packages).
If you’re putting together the care package yourself, you can shop in local stores for items, or even easier, choose a beautifully designed care-package online and have it on its way as soon as you think of it. .
If you live close by and want to bring the care package in person, be aware that your grieving person may not feel comfortable having visitors. Always check with them beforehand. You can also send them a message letting them know that you have something to give to them and that you will leave it outside their door at a specific time. They can then choose whether or not they want to come out when you arrive. Once you have delivered the care package, send a quick text letting them know that you have dropped it off and that you hope they enjoy the contents.
Care Packages Can Fit Any Budget
You don’t have to break the bank when sending a care package! Soothing items come at all price points.
One of the most highly-valued pieces of any sympathy gift is something that comes directly from you—a photo, a drawing from your child, but most importantly, a personal note.Spreading out your support through multiple care packages is another way to keep things affordable.
Sending a few small packages instead of one larger gift lends support to a grieving person across a longer period of time. Grief does not have an end date, and a package can be even more supportive when it arrives months after a loss has occurred, when most other shows of support have waned.
Helping Others Can Help You, Too
It feels good to help someone in need. Giving in this way has proven health benefits for the giver as well. The act of supporting and helping others can actually improve your own health and happiness.
Endorphins are released when you actively help others. These endorphins improve your own mood and can help reduce stress levels, making supporting those in need a win-win.
Focusing on someone else’s needs can also give you a chance to put your own problems aside and focus on something positive, if only for a moment.This change in focus may even lead you to feel more grateful for the things in your life that are going well.
There are many reasons to send a sympathy care package, but National Grief Awareness Day is a darn good one.
Think how you would feel if you opened your mailbox or door to find something beautiful and personal with your name on it. When you’re in a place of grief, such a thing can change the course of your day or week.