WIDOWERS IN NEW RELATIONSHIPS

Around two years ago, a therapist and doctoral student, who works with Couples in Conflict Management, contacted me with questions she encountered in conversations with women dating widowers. These questions deal with the challenges faced by a woman trying to understand a widower’s ongoing relationship with his deceased wife. Whether the new girlfriend is single (never married), divorced or widowed there are challenges ahead.

Widower, Widower blog, Widower Grief, Widower Relationships, Widower Self HelpFred ColbySeptember 15, 2026Fred Colby, AuthorDating a widower, Changes to expect for widower, Idealization of spouse, healing grief, How a widower can keep their relationships, widower loneliness, Widower memories, Is a widower ready to dateComment

SHARING – HEALING – HELPING

As I say, you heal just a little bit every time you tell your story. The more you do it, the more you heal.

It is incremental steps, not big grand steps….

Widower, Widower blog, Widower Emotions, Widower Grief Experience, Widower Relationships, Widower Self HelpFred ColbyAugust 17, 2026Fred Colby, AuthorBehavior of a widower, Coping with death of wife, healing grief, Grief therapy, How a widower can keep their relationships, Widower memories, Stages of grief, TherapyComment

SURVIVING SELF-ISOLATION

Just when we are most vulnerable, just when we need human contact the most, and just when everything in our body and mind are screaming at us to hunker down and hide from everyone… this is when we need human contact and support the most…

Widower, Widower blog, Widower Emotions, Widower Grief Experience, Widower Relationships, Widower Self HelpFred ColbyJuly 6, 2026Fred Colby, AuthorStages of grief, Behavior of a widower, overcoming widower isolation, Death of Spouse, healing grief, How a widower can keep their relationships, widowers asking for help, Reinventing yourself, What is a widower experiencing?, Widower behavior Comments

Loving Yourself to Health

Ask yourself: “What would your wife want for you? Would she want you to be circling the drain of self-induced pain and grief, or would she want you to be active, reengaged with life, and continuing to find ways to love and be loved?”

Widower, Widower blog, Widower Grief Experience, Widower Relationships, Widower Self HelpFred ColbySeptember 16, 2024Fred Colby, Authorhealing grief, Behavior of a widower, overcoming widower isolation, How a widower can keep their relationships, Grief therapyComment

Ignoring the Grief Others Are Feeling

It is easy during the first year or so after your wife’s passing to become so immersed in your own grief that you ignore the grief others are feeling. Let’s face it, during this time our grief is overwhelming! It often blocks out everything else so that we are unaware of much that’s going on around us, even though our survival depends in part on our ability to maintain our most important relationships.

Widower, Widower blog, Widower Grief, Widower Relationships, Widower Self HelpFred ColbySeptember 2, 2024Fred Colby, Authorhealing grief, Behavior of a widower, overcoming widower isolation, Widower’s syndrome, How a widower can keep their relationshipsComment

Marriage? Cohabitation? Live Apart Together? or Stay Single?

Suppose we do enter into a new and meaningful relationship with someone. In that case, the inevitable question that may emerge is whether you should get married, move in together, stay single, or try Living Apart Together (LAT)?

Widower, Widower Grief, Widower Relationships, Widowers and datingFred ColbyAugust 5, 2024Fred Colby, Authorovercoming widower isolation, How a widower can keep their relationships, Is a Widower ready to marryComment

Golden Bachelor Marriage Ends Quickly – Why?

Recent headlines about the very brief three-month marriage of Widower Gerry Turner (the first Golden Bachelor) and Theresa Nist coming to an end raise some interesting questions.

The pace of the Golden Bachelor program is frenetic. It expects a Bachelor to identify, court, and then marry a new bride after just a few months of meeting and dating a wide variety of women. This is unrealistic…

Widower Relationships, Widowers and dating, Widower, Widower blogFred ColbyApril 15, 2024Fred Colby, AuthorBehavior of a widower, overcoming widower isolation, Gerry Turner, Is a widower ready to date, How a widower can keep their relationshipsComment

Should I Move?

Every widower will at some point face the question, “Should I move out of my house?”… There is a sort of push-pull relationship with the home, in which you want to escape it…. But also want to retreat to its familiar arms…

Widower Self Help, Widower Relationships, Widower Grief ExperienceFred ColbyMarch 9, 2021Fred Colby, AuthorWidower’s syndrome, widowers asking for help, How a widower can keep their relationships, Widower Families Comments

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