Grief Triggers

After your loved one has died and you’ve had their funeral at a Glendale, AZ funeral home, you will, in time, get back into a routine of life that will be different than when your loved one was with you, but will move forward without them. However, there will be times, sometimes expected and sometimes unexpected, when you will experience a grief trigger.

Grief triggers can be just about anything and they can be related to what may not have even seemed like an overly significant time or thing during your life with your loved one. Understanding that grief triggers will happen, both immediately and even years after your loved one has died, will help you be more comfortable with experiencing that intense sense of loss all over again. 

Holidays are a grief trigger because they put the spotlight on your loved one’s absence and they trigger memories of holidays when your loved one was still alive. You may find, in the first few years after your loved one has died, that you feel a sense of dread about holidays and you may experience more sadness than joy during holidays. This is a normal occurrence when you love someone and you lose them. 

Another grief trigger can be anniversaries. Whether it’s a wedding anniversary or the anniversary of your loved one’s death, you may experience an awakened sense of grief and loss on those days. 

Your loved one’s birthday may also be a grief trigger in the first few years after you’ve lost them. You may find yourself remembering sharing birthdays with them while they were alive and grieving because they are not still here to share these birthdays with you. 

Ironically, what should be happy occasions can also be grief triggers. Milestone events such as weddings and new babies being born into the family can cause sadness because your loved one is not here to participate in or rejoice in these happy events. Weddings can also be a grief trigger if your spouse has died because it can bring back memories of your own wedding. 

Sometimes things you don’t expect can be a grief trigger.  

Smells can be a powerful grief trigger. For example, if your loved one wore a certain type of perfume or cologne and you catch a whiff of that perfume or cologne in a crowd of strangers, it can trigger grief and sadness.  

Music can also be a grief trigger, even if it’s a song that wasn’t a favorite or didn’t seem all that special to you and your loved one. Your brain encodes everything without you realizing it and occasionally a memory of your loved one about something mundane or something that’s not up front in your thinking all the time will get attached to a song and you will recall the memory in vivid detail and it will heighten your sense of loss and grief. 

You can learn more about grief triggers by speaking with one of our knowledgeable and empathetic Glendale, AZ funeral home staff members at Simply Cremation & Funeral Arrangements. You can also visit us at our funeral home at 16952 W. Bell Rd., #303, Surprise, AZ, 85374. We are available 24/7, so contact us today at (623) 975-9393.