I have a problem: I grieve for people that are still alive and well. My father is over sixty, and is getting old: he can't run as fast, is balding, is getting wrinkles, many of his older friends have already died... Every single time I get a reminder that he is old and might die, I just get so sad, so lost, and I burst into tears. I get nightmares of him dying. It gets to the point that I can't even eat dinner with him or go on a trip with him without having a horrible moment of "he will die someday", even as he's laughing right in front of me. Everytime he leaves to go to work or get groceries, I wonder whether it's the last time I ever see him.
I feel often terrible because of it, and fear what will happen if his condition worsens or if he happens to die.
Unnecessary grief
in Anticipatory Grief and Mourning
Posted
Hi everyone,
I have a problem: I grieve for people that are still alive and well. My father is over sixty, and is getting old: he can't run as fast, is balding, is getting wrinkles, many of his older friends have already died... Every single time I get a reminder that he is old and might die, I just get so sad, so lost, and I burst into tears. I get nightmares of him dying. It gets to the point that I can't even eat dinner with him or go on a trip with him without having a horrible moment of "he will die someday", even as he's laughing right in front of me. Everytime he leaves to go to work or get groceries, I wonder whether it's the last time I ever see him.
I feel often terrible because of it, and fear what will happen if his condition worsens or if he happens to die.
Please, help me, I don't know what to do...