Comment on “Who am I now?” Loss of identity after pet bereavement by Marie.

Sadly, I can relate to all of your messages. I lost my sweet girl back in May. She was almost 15 and a half and developed liver nodules that were leading to liver failure. I had three weeks to say goodbye, but it just wasn’t enough time. Then, two weeks ago, I lost her baby brother as well. He would have been 15 this December. He was fine one day then had a seizure the next. The vet ruled everything out but a brain lesion. Three days later he kept having them, lost too much oxygen to his brain and had to be put down. It was so traumatizing. I had them both since they were puppies and they made my life complete. I was only 25 and still living in an apartment when I got Emma. Max came along a year later and we became a family. I’ve never been married and didn’t have kids. They were my kids. They were who I was, my whole identity. I was the dog mom who, when she wasn’t at work, stayed home with her babies because there was no one she wanted to be with more. Now my sweet loves are both in heaven and I don’t know who I am anymore. I want to give up – quit my job, sell the house and cars that I got simply to make them more comfortable, and just block out the world. I keep reading books and articles on coping with grief, but nothing seems to help. How do I keep going without them?