Loss Part One: What Types of Loss?

“There is no real way to deal with everything you lose.”
Joan Didion, from an interview in the San Francisco Chronicle, January 6, 2004.

What are the areas of loss?
Here are some examples of loss. It is not a complete list; we can all add to it from personal experience.

People: We can lose a relationship in many ways. As mentioned above it is not only death that ends a relationship. The loss may be of your spouse or partner, a child or parent, a long time friend. It may be a single loss or the build up of losses over time.

Place: You may have become attached to a place and then for some reason, you are gone from that place of comfort – of home. You may have moved many times as a child, or as an adult.

Things & Roles: Possessions handed down to us. Things treasured for the memories they hold; things we associate with people we love. I would include here roles and jobs because they are part of us and when we lose them it can be a deeply felt loss.

Self: To lose your way. This may be a very profound feeling of having no purpose. Or it may be a nagging feeling that you missed something; some turn in the road that would have led to happiness. We also lose our self in a direct way as we age. And for some we lose aspects of ourselves prematurely to disease.

Part Two will look at how we are affected by loss.