The Most Powerful Word You’re Not Using

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Short and Sweet Summary: When a hint of hope appears on the horizon and you start to wonder how to make widowhood more bearable, consider creating a new reality with the most powerful word you’re probably not even using.

The words you use matter. The way you define yourself and others creates your reality. I mean, you talk to yourself every day, right?

It stands to reason that the words you choose would have an impact on your outlook and quality of your life.

Other widows can certainly relate if you describe yourself as lonely, angry, or heartbroken. It seems obvious that a widow would use these words. On the other hand, describing yourself as content, happy or excited about your life or your future, seems contradictory. Almost bordering on blasphemous.

Like, how can “widow” and “happy” or “widow” and “excited” exist in the same sentence?

This is where the most powerful word you’re not using comes into play. If you’ve convinced yourself that you’re doomed and life as you know it is over, consider this:

You can decide that your thoughts and feelings and decisions don’t have to be a strict case of either/or. Try inserting the word and instead and prepare to blow your own mind.

WHY AND IS THE MOST POWERFUL WORD YOU’RE NOT USING

I think the thing that trips up most widows is the idea that your feelings must be compartmentalized into one way or the other. That you’re destined to a life of misery because you can’t possibly miss your spouse and move forward at the same time. You mistakenly convince yourself that you can either miss your spouse OR you move forward. That you’re miserable OR joyful. You’re unhappy OR hopeful.

The thing is, you’re human and the human experience allows you to feel everything. Actually, the human experience demands you feel everything. If you’re only feeling worry, frustration, anger, sadness and anxiety, you’re missing out on the other half of your human experience.

I know what you’re thinking. You can’t feel positive about anything because the bad feelings have TAKEN OVER AND WON’T LET GO.

OK. I get it. I’ve been there, too.

But, I’m asking you to try trading out the word “or” with the word “and.” Just try. See what happens. What do you have to lose?

The reason “and” is the most powerful word you’re not using is because it ushers in a sense of hope by connecting your two disconnected worlds.

CONNECTING YOUR DISCONNECTED REALITIES

I bet you live in two worlds right now. The world before your spouse died and the world after. I’m sure you have no problem dividing your life into those two sides.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t divide my life into before and after at the beginning of widowhood, too. I did.

But after a while it gets to be a bit much to live in a constant state of fear and misery, doesn’t it? The grief and dread start to weigh on your already fragile shoulders and you wonder how you can possibly shake it off.

Well, here’s the answer to your burning question: you decide you get to be both of whatever feelings you have. You can be happy AND sad. You’re allowed to be scared AND excited. No one can deny the human ability to feel a range of emotions at the same time. You just need to believe it’s possible for YOU.

Use the powerful word “and” to connect your two disconnected realities. When you give yourself permission to feel everything without judgement or condemnation, you bridge the before and after. You realize your life isn’t a set of strict, unrealistic standards now that you’re a widow. EITHER/OR puts way too much pressure on you to live by impossible rules.

AND allows you to be the human, ever-changing, adaptable person you are.

CREATING YOUR NEW REALITY

When a hint of hope appears on the horizon and you wonder how to make widowhood more bearable, consider creating a new reality. A reality where widowhood doesn’t chain you to a life of misery. Where you give yourself permission to feel everything.

If you’re ready to create your new reality by using the most powerful word you’re not currently using, it looks something like this:

That’s just for starters. What other examples can you find?

For me personally, I needed to stop convincing myself that my uncomfortable feelings were somehow wrong. I created a lot of suffering in my life because I (wrongly) assumed that if I had difficult feelings, I must not be doing something the right way. Well, it took me several years to figure out that I couldn’t pick and choose when the difficult feelings showed up. They came for me either way. But, what I did eventually learn was that it was OK to have both sets of feelings. The “and” feelings or the uncomfortable feelings alongside the pleasant ones. Things cleared up for me when I acknowledged both sets of feelings belonged in my life.

By creating this new reality, you’re really telling yourself that your feelings are important. All of them. You don’t restrict your new reality by suppressing and censoring your feelings. Instead, you open yourself up to a satisfying life because you allow AND, the most powerful word, to guide you toward new and rewarding experiences.

And you believe you deserve it.

WIDOW WRAP UP

When that little hint of hope appears on the horizon and you start to wonder how to make widowhood more bearable, use the word “and” instead of “or” to propel your life forward in ways you could never imagine.

It’s far too easy to get stuck in a loop of despair and misery while learning how to live as a widow. It’s HARD WORK to grieve, deal with changes, accept your new reality and move forward.

Hard, but not impossible.

Instead of limiting yourself to unreasonable ideas about how to live, remember that you’re human and the human experience demands you feel everything. You get to run the gamut of emotions and that includes the happy, positive emotions, too.

If you’ve been living by a set of EITHER/OR standards, it’s time to get out of that funk. It puts way too much pressure on you to live by impossible rules.

Start using the word AND instead. It’s the most powerful word you can use to give yourself permission to be the human, ever-changing, adaptable person you are.

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