Mother’s Day can be a difficult date in the calendar for anyone struggling with grief and loss. Every experience of grief is unique to the person going through it. And it can be hard for others to understand how challenging it can be, especially if they haven’t experienced it themselves. Days like Mother’s Day can bring on a tidal wave of emotions, and it can be understandably difficult to deal with.
We hope that we can use our own experiences with grief and loss to offer some gentle tips and support. We appreciate this is a sensitive subject, so we really hope this blog helps anyone experiencing difficulty during this time.
Some tips about how to cope on the day…
Take care of yourself; self-care is vital
Think about what will really make you feel okay on the day. However you want to spend it is your decision, but if you can, try and put yourself first and look after yourself. Do you think you’ll feel better with your own company? Or would it help to spend the day with loved ones who understand? Perhaps getting out of the house and going for a coffee, a meal, or a walk might help you clear your mind? Or would you prefer to stay in and try to relax, perhaps with a bubble bath and your favourite films or TV series? Take it easy on yourself, whatever you decide to do.
Switch off from social media and external advertising completely
The marketing of Mother’s Day can be very in your face, and it can feel impossible to escape from. This can make it difficult to cope with because they are external factors outside of your control. A TV advert can show whenever you have the television on. Or a social media advert could pop up whenever you’re browsing through your phone.
One way to remove yourself is to go offline for the day. Take a walk and breathe in the fresh air, either alone (perhaps with a podcast, audiobook or your favourite music) or with a friend or loved one who understands what you’re going through. Turn your phone off or put it on airplane mode for the day to avoid the adverts and declarations of love on social media. Stick to TV that won’t show you adverts or go offline entirely and get stuck into that book you’ve been meaning to read for ages.
Take part in any rituals or celebrations if they’ll help
Some people dealing with loss find it comforting to visit the resting place of their loved ones. They might decide to put flowers on a grave or at a place where ashes have been scattered. Others might like to use the day to celebrate their loved ones. Perhaps by raising a toast to them, cooking their favourite meal, or inviting friends and family around to remember them and tell their favourite stories. This can be a lovely way to pay tribute to someone who has passed, but, understandably, it can take time to get to this place of celebrating their memory. If your grief is still fresh or you don’t feel ready, mark the day in the best way for you.
Have you heard of The Thoughtful Marketing Movement?
Significant calendar dates are essential for marketing planning in many businesses, including ours. These include dates like Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day, and of course, Mother’s Day. However, of course, some of these days can be incredibly difficult for people grieving.
To address this, The Thoughtful Marketing Movement was started by flower delivery company Bloom & Wild in 2019. It’s now grown exponentially in recent years, and we’re proud to be part of it, as our customers come first in everything we do. This movement means our audience can opt out of our marketing communications at potentially difficult or sensitive times. A crucial part of this movement is the idea that the more brands offer this service, the better the world will be for people at triggering times.
How Grief Encounter and other professional services can help
If you know a child who may struggle with the challenges of Mother’s Day, Grief Encounter is an incredible charity that supports children following the untimely death of a family member. They seek to help with the confusion, fear, loneliness and pain that any child would inevitably experience upon losing a loved one. The charity provides them with a lifeline to cope with free, immediate one-to-one support. Their helpline is open on weekdays from 9am to 9pm for anyone who needs to talk – the number is 0808 802 0111. We’ve worked with this charity for a while as we’re completely in awe of everything they do, and we’re so delighted to support them as our charity of the year again in 2022. If you would like to find out more about Grief Encounter, please visit their website: https://www.griefencounter.org.uk/
There’s help out there if you are struggling to cope with loss and grief, including telephone support, such as The Samaritans. You can also access bereavement counselling via your GP or privately. The NHS also suggests contacting a support organisation, such as Cruse Bereavement Care.
Sensitive but heartfelt gifts for those grieving
We started our Hand on Heart memorial range as a beautiful way to create something unique and remember the memories of lost loved ones. Grieving families have chosen to work with us and commission memorial jewellery to represent someone close to them. If you like the idea of buying a gift for someone who might be finding Mother’s Day difficult this year, perhaps something from our memorial range would make a lovely present. It will help them remember those special memories and give them something they can treasure forever.
We completely understand what a sensitive idea this is. We’ve been creating memorial jewellery since 2009, so we’re highly skilled and experienced in crafting your designs, and we handle every request with complete love, care and respect. We’ve listened to our customers and their positive feedback, which has led to our different memorial ranges, including cremation ashes jewellery, fingerprints and handwriting.
Cremation ashes jewellery
We offer two different types of cremation ashes jewellery at Hand on Heart. The first is self-fill lockets, which customers can do themselves at home. The second is jewellery made from the ashes. These are set into glass appearance resin and delicately layered to create a sparkling, floating appearance in a hard-wearing material that will last forever. The cremation ashes jewellery is available in different designs, including necklaces, rings, bracelets, beads, cufflinks and earrings.
Memorial fingerprint jewellery
Using the true prints from your passed loved one, we will create a piece of memorial fingerprint jewellery to keep them close to your heart forever. Memorial Fingerprints are typically different to work with, but our specialist designers are highly experienced and skilled in extracting the very best detail to feature on your piece. We strongly recommend ordering from this range rather than our other fingerprint jewellery to obtain the very best result if using memorial prints.
Memorial handwriting jewellery
Whether it’s a signature from an old greetings card or a note left on the fridge, we can turn that special note into a piece of memorial handwriting jewellery to keep close to you forever. You don’t need to part with the writing as we can work from a photograph taken on your phone to create your unique design (we can even use snippets taken from a few notes or move the layout around if you like). If you would like any help before ordering, we’re here to help – please feel free to contact us, and we’ll be very happy to help you create your perfect piece.
A final note from us to you...
We understand the sensitivity of Mother’s Day. We hope this blog has offered some advice or ideas about coping on this date when you’re grieving or missing somebody, or you know somebody who is going through the complex and unique experience of grief. It’s very important to us that we listen to our customers and their feedback. Due to this, we’ve pledged to support the Thoughtful Marketing Movement and give our customers the option to opt out of our marketing emails on potentially sensitive dates. But we’re always listening, so if you have any feedback, please get in touch with our friendly team.
Leave a comment