Grief does terrible things to the body and mind. It makes you think about things you never thought of before and changes your whole perspective on life. Dealing with grief is one of life’s biggest challenges, and the truth is, we’re not very good at it. Our brains aren’t wired to deal with grief – it hits us hard and many of us struggle to get over it. We can take years to recover from a terrible situation because the grief lives on. 

Worryingly, this causes many people to find a crutch during grief. They latch onto something that gives temporary relief and believe it’s the answer to the problem. In reality, using a crutch to deal with grief can be one of the most dangerous and damaging things you can do. 

We’ll explain why in this post, so you can understand the concerns involved and why finding a crutch is a bad way of dealing with grief. 

Crutches Lead To Abusive Habits

The problem with a crutch lies in our response to it. We get temporary relief, so we crave this feeling all the time. It leads us down a slippery slope and we develop abusive habits. Turning to drugs and alcohol as a way of escapism during grief is all too common. We love the feeling of being numb to our surroundings, but this only heightens the problem when the sensations subside. 

It increases our dependence on these damaging substances and we can quickly become addicted. Many individuals suffering from grief will end up in drug rehab because they depend on substances or alcohol to escape their true feelings. Other crutches do similar things; our life revolves around them and we develop terrible habits that impact our health and mental wellbeing. 

Crutches Can Damage Relationships

Finding a crutch to deal with grief will usually mean we focus on that. This could be something as simple as binge-watching TV or locking ourselves away to play video games. Aside from the obvious physical and mental health problems caused by doing this, you’ll also see issues arise in relationships. 

This can include romantic relationships, relationships with family members, or even your relationships in the workplace. Hiding from your grief and finding a crutch to take over your life can mean you neglect other people or are hard to get along with. You can damage valuable relationships that you spent years cultivating. 

Crutches Stop You From Processing Grief

Most significantly, crutches prevent you from properly processing grief. They help you hide from your emotions, so you never face the issue. This is why everyone who uses a crutch to handle grief will never truly recover from it. You need to throw the crutch away and face your grief head-on. Go through the healthy emotions and process what you’re feeling – it’s the only way to end up on the other side and accept what happened. 

A crutch seems like an easy solution when you’re grieving, but it’s never the answer. Don’t look for things to provide short-term help or escapism; focus on dealing with the grief and actively going through the motions until you reach a point where you’re free from the pain. It won’t happen overnight, but this is the only healthy way to handle things.