Grieving the Loss of a Public Figure

Are you surprised at how emotionally affected you are after hearing of the loss of someone you have not had a personal relationship with? Suddenly hearing about the death of a public figure in the news can cause you to experience feelings of grief. Although grief is often associated with losing someone that was a significant part of our life, there are countless other causes, including mourning the loss of a public figure. As a Memorial Jewellery business that talks to people during grief, we want to assure you that this is a normal cause for feelings of grief.

Your Grief is Real

Mourning the loss of a celebrity or other public figure can fall under the umbrella of disenfranchised grief. Disenfranchised grief can happen when you are experiencing grief, but general society or the people you would usually trust to seek support from during bereavement fails to recognise your feelings. This can lead to a lack of support from external sources, and you may inadvertently minimise your emotions. However, we believe that all causes for grief are valid. Therefore, it doesn’t matter whether you have had a close relationship with the public figure or not, and your grief is real, normal and valid in these circumstances.

How to Cope with Mourning the Loss of a Public Figure

● Speak to someone you trust

As mentioned, some people may not understand your grief if they can’t understand your connection with the public figure. Therefore, we recommend seeking support from only people you trust to give you unconditional support during your grief.

You may also benefit from seeking bereavement support or professional therapy during this time.

● Take time off social media and avoid the news

In some instances, social media can be a welcome escape from the reality of grief. However, when grieving the loss of a public figure, you may be inundated with news articles or commemorative posts online, which may not help you process your grief. Therefore, we recommend taking some time off social media or limiting your use to avoid seeing photographs of the person you are grieving when you aren’t expecting it.

● Celebrate their life

You may also benefit from celebrating their life by cooking their favourite meal or doing an activity you associate with them.

For example, if you are grieving a comedian, you may wish to watch a comedy show or attend a local comedy gig in their memory. If you know others who are also grieving the loss of a public figure, for example when the people of the United Kingdom lost our Queen, you can organise a gathering to support each other through the grief.

Summary

We believe that your feelings of grief are normal no matter how society views your relationship with the public figure. As our late Queen Elizabeth II once put it, ‘grief is the price we pay for love’, and we would add that it doesn’t matter how others view your love for someone.

Although some products, such as our Ashes Jewellery, may not be appropriate in these circumstances, you could treat yourself to a piece of Handwriting Jewellery or Photo Jewellery if you are struggling to come to terms with the loss.