Grieving
Five stages of grief
“If you are experiencing any of these emotions, it may help to know that your reaction is natural and that you’ll heal in time. However, not everyone who is grieving goes through all of these stages, and that’s OK. Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to go through each stage in order to heal. In fact, some people resolve their grief without going through any of these stages. And if you do go through these stages of grief, you probably won’t experience them in a neat, sequential order, so don’t worry about what you ‘should’ be feeling or which stage you’re supposed to be in. Grief can be a roller coaster instead of a series of stages; we might also think of the grieving process as a roller coaster, full of ups and downs, highs and lows. Like many roller coasters, the ride tends to be rougher in the beginning and the lows may be deeper and longer. The difficult periods should become less intense and shorter as time goes by but it takes time to work through a loss.”
-Hospice Foundation of America
Denial
I can’t believe this is happening to me.
Anger
Why is this happening? Who is to blame?
Bargaining
Make this not happen, and in return I will ___________.
Depression
I’m too sad to do anything.
Acceptance
I’m at peace with what happened.
