Grieving is NORMAL

I promise that my life is not all doom and gloom.  :)

 

I only wanted to share some information about the five stages of grieving.  Now, this theory of the "Five Stages of Grief" isn't universally accepted, but it has made a big impact in helping people understand loss in their own lives.  The general gist of this theory is that when a person is grieving, she may experience the following five stages:  denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

For myself, the theory helped me recognize that the emotions I was feeling was normal when I lost someone special to me.  For example, while I was mourning for a person that I really loved, somebody told me that it was "unhealthy" for me to "continue to feel sad and unhappy."  I'm sure s/he may have had some good intentions or maybe s/he was trying to absolve his/her own guilt.  Regardless, his/her words made me question my emotions.  Yet, considering that my loss was still so fresh, I knew that what I was feeling was healthy and normal (especially since I had no intentions of hurting myself or another), and I was only going through the stages of grief. 

 

I went through all five stages.  I was in a brief state of denial.  Then I was very angry, and I think the anger was indicative of the pain I was feeling underneath.  The anger may also be indicative of the intensity of love felt towards this person.  I know I bargained, asking lots of "What if...." statements and wishing that I could change the past.  Of course I was depressed, and I was so sad.  Then when the sadness couldn't get any deeper into my soul, there's acceptance.  Now, acceptance doesn't mean that I'm fine overall.  It just means that I accept that this person will not longer be a part of my life, and I'm okay with that knowledge.

I really encourage you to go read more about the Five Stages of Grief.  Even if you don't agree, it's really interesting.  For more information about the Five Stages of Grief, please go to this website:  http://grief.com/the-five-stages-of-grief/

Have you heard of the five stages of grief?  Have you gone through these stages?