After Iron Mountain, MI cremations, one of the biggest challenges in going through the grief process will be in handling social media. There are many aspects to this, but we will limit this discussion to handling Facebook memories reminders.
Facebook runs on data. Yours, mine, ours. Facebook memories reminders are programmed to remind us on the dates of their anniversaries and can go back to the time when you created your Facebook account, which might be ten or more years.
Some of these Facebook memories will include pictures, anniversaries, birthdays, or holidays when your loved ones were still alive and thriving or the date your loved one died, and they can trigger all kinds of intense emotional responses, including intense grief, because you're not expecting them.
How you handle Facebook memories reminders over time can actually serve as a gauge for measuring how far you've traveling in the grieving process. Although for the first few years, Facebook memories reminders may trigger intense grief, as time passes, those same reminders may trigger memories of happy times and the wonderful life your loved one and you shared.
When a Facebook memory reminder of an event you shared with your loved one shows up, try to remember the event itself. Focus on the love you shared, the fun you had together, instead of on the void that's been left by your loved one's death.
If the Facebook memory reminder is reminding you of your loved one's birthday, host a small group of close friends and family to celebrate. Just because someone dies doesn't mean the date of their birth is forgotten, so choose to celebrate it.
Sharing Facebook memory reminders of your loved one with friends or family enables everyone to remember them and perhaps share their own feelings and memories about them. It gives all of you a chance to digitally connect and remember the person you loved. It can also remind you that you're not alone and that the deceased is not only loved and missed by you, but loved and missed by others as well. There is great comfort, believe it or not, in just knowing that and being reminded of that.
Some people chose to, after the death of a loved one, turn that person's Facebook profile page into a memorial page where friends and family can come and tell stories, express grief, and express happiness. This is a personal choice that you will have to make. You are certainly not compelled to do this and it's perfectly acceptable to just deactivate or delete (do a backup of all the data first – Facebook has instructions on how to do this) your loved one's Facebook account.
It depends on you and your journey through the grieving process. But although handling Facebook memory reminders will be tough at first, you will find that over time they elicit less tears and more smiles, less pain and more pleasure, and less bad feelings and more good feelings.
With Iron Mountain, MI cremations, our caring and experienced staff at Jacobs Funeral Homes & Crematory can offer resources to help navigate through the grief process. You can visit us at our funeral home at 1025 Carpenter Ave., Iron Mountain, MI 49801, or you can contact us today at (906) 774-6166.