Goals and steps during your grieving process

During your grieving process, you may have the tendency to isolate yourself and become less active. Grief can be accompanied by depressive symptoms such as a depressed mood, decreased motivation and difficulty sleeping. This can make activities seem less enjoyable. Or the loss may make it more difficult practically to participate in some of these activities. However, even though it may not seem like it now, the activities that used to be important to you and made you feel good are more important than you think. They can positively contribute to your grieving process. Participating in activities can help to properly process your loss.

This exercise is intended to help you take the first steps to becoming more active. You will do so by setting tangible goals, also called SMART goals. A SMART goal is one that is Specific, Measurable, Acceptable, Realistic, and Time-bound. For example, not “I would like to socialize more”, but “I would like to start meeting my friends again (specific) at least once a week (measurable and realistic) by the end of the year (limited in time and acceptable)”. Creating a SMART goal makes it more tangible; the goal is clearer, you are more focused and will therefore be more motivated. This can help you to formulate specific steps and actions to achieve your goals.

How can I do that?

Write down your personal goal for each of the categories below:

• Home life
• Work
• Education
• Health/Vitality
• Social activities
• Recreational activities

Then write down three steps that will help you to achieve these goals.

Below, you can find an example.