The death of a best friend can feel worse than losing a limb. Here are 7 easy ways to honor your bestie as you grieve the loss.
She’s the person you called first when you got the promotion. The shoulder you cried on after a breakup. You knew each other inside and out and held each other’s secrets close. You did life together.
You never dreamed that you’d have to do life without them and their fun, carefree personality, funny jokes, or magnetic laugh. Part of healing the loss of a loved one is honoring their memory. Even though your bestie is gone, you can still carry them through life with you by honoring the memories of your friendship. Here’s how.
7 Ways to Keep Your Best Friend’s Memory Alive
- Celebrate their favorites
Wear their favorite color for a day, eat their favorite food, or watch their favorite movie—whatever feels meaningful to you and keeps their memory alive.
- Make a photo album
Process your grief by creating an album with photos of your best friend. If your only photos of them are on your phone, opt to print them. Many chain drug stores now offer the option to print photos straight from your phone onto photo paper in the store.
On the back of each photo, write down your memories of when the photo was taken, along with a few words that describe what you loved about them.
- Share stories of them with others Whether it’s in writing, over the phone, through social media, or by organizing a group event–Create space to tell others what you loved so much about your friend. Sharing their spirit with others allows the best of them to live on. It is a gift to you and to others to swap stories about the friend you all loved.
- Write them a letter
Writing can be like medicine when you’re heartbroken. You can tell your best friend all the things you never got to say to them before their death. If you never got to say goodbye, now’s the time to do it. Don’t hold back–they wouldn’t want you to! Once the letter is finished, it might feel good to put it in an envelope and save it to reread later. Or maybe it feels better to burn it and allow the words to ascend into the atmosphere with the smoke. This is all about what feels most healing for you.
- Donate in their name
Were they particularly passionate about a certain issue or cause? Consider making a donation in their name. Better yet, celebrate their life by creating your own foundation or fund.
- Do something nice for yourself
This can be something nice your friend always did for you–like grabbing you that caramel latte when you needed an afternoon pick-me-up. Or, it can be something you know your friend would have loved you to do for them. Go ahead and do that thing for yourself. And let their spirit live through the gift.
- Let them live on through you
When you’re best friends with someone, you rub off on each other. Consider all the ways your bestie changed you for the better. Write down the ways their love, support, even their jokes, have made you who you are today. Let those qualities shine through you more brightly than ever before. You’ll still be moving through life with them, even in grief recovery–because part of them is now living through you.
If you are experiencing grief after losing your best friend—the peanut butter to your jelly, the Laverne to your Shirley—you are not alone. We see you, we know you’re hurting, and want to offer you a safe place to share your story and feel supported in your healing journey. Contact us today to set up a free discovery call and spend some time with us – we’re here for you.
Sharon Brubaker is a certified Life Coach and credentialed Grief Specialist who, along with her team, teaches women who are grieving how to process their thoughts and emotions. To learn more about navigating grief within the family, listen to the full podcast episode here or download my free e-Book, The Griever’s Guide, which equips you with the tools to live life after grief; because no griever should have to navigate a broken heart on their own.
