Aggy21.
I am sorry for your loss. I was in the same boat fifteen years ago. Widowed at 51. DH was 55. It’s hard.
I soon gave most of his clothes, books and other personal possessions to charities, those which supported medical research or causes dear to his heart.
I kept his many work shirts in white, blues, greys, stripes, checks and sewed them into a quilt which I gave to him mum - back with me now since her death. I know she found it a comfort. I still have a couple of his favouite sweaters which I wear for pottering in he garden.
I went to one group counselling session but it wasn’t for me. At the time, hearing about other people’s grief was too much to bear on top of my own. We do need a coping strategy though. I found self-help books useful. Not an angry person by nature, some days, I did feel frighteningly and overwhelmingly angry. It was helpful to read that that’s perfectly normal. Also that the grieving process isn’t a linear tunnel that you suddenly emerge from into the light. It’s an uneven and repetitive loop. You may revert back to previous, darker phases more than once.
I did keep busy. I found it hard to be at home at times when he would have been there so I went out a lot, to do anything really. I’d look in the local paper to see what was on and just go. I don’t even recall a lot of what I did as it was only for distraction. We did a lot of country walking together and talked as we walked, discussing all kinds of things. I kept walking but with music playing on an iPod to fill the silence. Indoors, I took to knitting very complex and intricate patterns. I needed something I had to concentrate hard on in the long evenings and it was something to achieve. Normally an avid reader, I found it hard to concentrate on books or other passive pastimes so that was a good substitute.
There have been many discussions here about how those who have not been bereaved react to those who have. Some days you will feel like the rest of the world goes on turning as normal, everyone absorbed with the trials and trivia of their own lives while your world will never be the same and no-one seems to notice or care. Sometimes they do but don't know what to say. That can be hard but you will find the inner strength to deal with that.