The Price We Humans Have to Pay for Love - Assignment Example

Grief activity sayings. C.S. Lewis, “Grief and pain are the price we humans have to pay for the love and total commitment we have for another person. The more we love, the more we are hurt when we lose the object of our love. But if we are honest with ourselves, would we have it any other way?”
Description of the situation. My mother, G.M. had an emotional attachment to my stepfather when he was alive. However, this emotional connection ended when my stepfather died. G.M. could not come to the reality of my stepfather’s death.

Personal reaction to saying. I agree with Lewis’s saying that the ultimate price that we pay for losing those we love is pain and grief (Tesiik, 2001). I saw my mother, G.M. struggling with the pain of losing my stepfather. Thus, she was paying a price for the commitment and love that she accorded my stepfather.
My mother, G.M. experienced this when she lost my stepfather. Individuals often demonstrate sadness by crying. Crying is a gesture that arouses a protective or sympathetic reaction from other individuals. Complicated grief may result if individuals fail to express sadness with or without the accompaniment of tears. I felt sad when I watched G.M. writhing in pain.

Anxiety is a common feeling that relates to the loss and it often originates from the fear that the bereaved may not be in a position to take care of themselves. There are different ranges of anxiety and can extend from mild to extreme forms of panic attacks. Grief also manifests itself through cognition. In most cases, a cognitive response often occurs after an individual develops varied feelings. As I have outlined above, my mother G.M. experienced different feelings of sadness, and anxiety after the loss of my stepfather. It is through this happening that I realized that grief evokes a cognitive response. G.M. had a prolonged experience of this, which later led to her suffering from Alzheimer's and Parkinson’s diseases.

Part B
Final reflections. Indeed, the course has offered me valuable insight into the in-depth knowledge required of every practitioner handling the care of old patients. In the course of practice, every practitioner must have certain skills essential to proper care. Communication falls among the key components to proper care of an adult 65 years+ (Stierle et al., 2006). It is apparent that my self-evaluation regarding competency: care of adults 65 years+ at the beginning of the course is much different from the present. At the beginning of the course, I did not understand most of the required behavior to best practices. However, in the duration of this course, I learned key skills pertinent to the care of adults. Key among the skills learned include RD-Return, MR-Medical Record, and O-Direct Observation. In addition, I realized that communication is a vital component of such care. It is necessary for anyone taking care of adult patients to have good communication skills (John, 2002). Making good observations while taking care of such individuals is another significant aspect that the practitioner needs to consider. Thus, there is much improvement in my skills and knowledge as I come to the end of this course. I would want to assert that the course has indeed shaped my professional development. Thus, the course was like a revelation regarding the care of the aged.

Next step. I propose to practice the knowledge and skills learned in this course regarding holistic care for aged individuals. Read More