The measure of your love is the measure of your loss. What you can expect to feel Grief can affect you in any or all of the following ways. It can alter your sleep pattern, cause you to lose your appetite and to become deeply depressed. It s normal for people who ve suffered a significant loss to take a good hard look at their life and those in it. You may decide to change careers to something that has more meaning for you, volunteer at a nonprofit organization, donate money to an animal shelter, or even start a foundation to educate people about how to avoid the illness or event that took your companion animal s life.
Altruistic actions help people make something positive from their pain.
If the illness was long, you are probably exhausted. If your companion died unexpectedly, you could still experience fatigue from the sheer intensity of your feelings. Hopefully you have many people in your life who understand that you have lost someone you love intensely and who can, quite literally, take care of you now. Even if you have only one person, that is a good start. If you re not sure who you can trust enough to open up to, trust your instincts.