Working and Grieving – keeping them separate

Saw 9 patients today - that’s 9 hours of being focused on someone else.  I imagine that my work is the main thing that keeps me from wallowing in grief.  Today is the six month anniversary of Joe’s death.  In some ways the pain is more acute now that it was when he died.  Sometimes it’s easier.  Because my work takes my total concentration and requires that I put my “stuff” aside, there are large chunks of time when I have the luxury of not even thinking about Joe, his death, how much I miss him.  Then when work is done, there is plenty time to grieve, but at least it is not constant and is down a few notches from overwhelming.  Good thing I get to see my therapist tomorrow.  Without that, there is no way I could keep my stuff out of my patients’ work, nor would I have the strength to do the amount of work I do.  Thank you, therapist!