Know the stages of grief
Well-being 🌿 | Manage your emotions 😌 | #Emotions #Awareness #Grief
TL;DR
The grief stages: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance
Grief is a complex experience and all stages will not necessarily occur and may not follow a specific sequence.
Recognising and understanding these stages can provide a framework for reflection and emotional resilience.
Seed
The five stages of grief are a well-known concept today:
Denial / Isolation
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance
There are also many misconceptions surrounding them. Typically, these stages may not all occur, nor will they follow a particular sequence. Grief is a complex experience, and each of us undergoes it differently. Furthermore, these stages can be relevant to various circumstances, not exclusively the loss of a loved one. Grief can arise from separation, a professional project, or personal disappointments.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t value in this model.
Specifically, I believe that knowing the existence of those stages and emotions can help us being more lucid about what we’re going through. For instance, if you are aware of those stages and notice an unusual surge of anger, that can help you take some distance from those emotions and try to analyse what happened. Is this a temporary thing, or is it part of a larger situation you are going through?
It won’t give you a roadmap about what emotions or stages you can expect to live next. But it can serve as a framework for reflection and understanding the significance of your emotional journey.
Generally, as we’ve already seen in other Seeds, it is important to be aware of our emotions, make sure we give them space to let them live and go, instead of suppressing them. But if you feel something and can’t really recognise it, you won’t be able to label it precisely. And that’s when emotions start to feel overwhelming. Generally speaking, it’s when you start living something intense without understanding what is happening, that’s things can start to be difficult to manage.
Familiarise yourself with these stages to develop emotional intelligence and improve your ability to express and navigate your feelings effectively. Understanding where your heart is at during challenging times can be a powerful tool for emotional resilience and growth.
Example
Once, I faced a profoundly disappointing setback in my career. Initially, I didn't grasp how deeply it affected me. I had high expectations for the project, but it ended prematurely, and I had to come to terms with its failure.
It took me a while to recognise the mix of anger, frustration, and despair I was experiencing. Realising that I was going through phases similar to the grieving stages helped me comprehend the project's significance and my intense emotional response. I wasn't actively seeking the next stage, but I acknowledged that there could be further phases to navigate before I could move on.
Bonus
Here is a great article that talks about those stages, and some of the misconceptions we may have around them.
And I like the illustration from this article that sums up those misconceptions:
