While I would wish this pain on no other being, curiosity takes the best of me.
If one of your offspring died, what actions would you take to cope with the loss?
This is coming from a recently passed grandmother and currently dying father. So, this is where I'm coming from...
For yourself, I'd say if you live alone and have family and/or friends, try to call them or be around them a couple times a week or so. Let them know how you're doing and talk about things you'd normally do without needing to think you're "avoiding" the pain.
For others, like above keep contact and probably find daily routines around the house just in case you're not able to go out the house at the moment. I work where I live right down the hall of my apartment building. I carried my grandmother's picture with me everywhere I went (this was almost four years ago-time goes by fast). It subsided outwardly more and more. Now, I pray and have them and my father's pictures etc on my altar.
If you pray or something similar, that's another way to help with grief. It doesn't go away
and how you perceive death and life would be different depending on what you believe and how you understand the nature of life which involves the passing of things and people as well.
With my father, I went to get my refuges at a temple during their ancestral veneration ceremony. They gave white followers to those who have deceased loved ones, pink for sick or ill, red for those still living. They gave me a pink flower (fake, so I didn't throw it away) and it reminds me of the purpose of my faith about understanding life and death as a continuum rather than an end.
If you have a religious community or friends or so have you to go to to talk about similar beliefs about life and death, that's another good way to go.
Keep yourself hydrated and mind active even if it's just being online. I found out there are different types of depression. I've had clinical, situational, and grief. I'd say grief is the worse because it's dead on and distinct. Finding physical and psychological ways to take care of yourself will help outset that. Also, unlike clinical depression, grief is natural. It's how you get through it rather than avoiding it all together.
Hope this helps.
