The Five Stages of Grief
These stages appear often in our lives with any loss and many changes.
- Denial — “I feel fine.”; “This can’t be happening, not to me.”
- Anger — “Why me? It’s not fair!”; “How can this happen to me?”; ‘”Who is to blame?”
- Bargaining — “I’ll do anything for a few more years.”; “I will give my life savings if…”
- Depression — “I’m so sad, why bother with anything?”; “I miss my loved one(tooth), why go on?”
- Acceptance — “It’s going to be okay.”; “I can’t fight it, I may as well prepare for it.”
I would like to add to the Kubler-Ross model, illumination. When something happens in our life there are also unintended opportunities or illumination. The illumination or opportunities come from going past the acceptance into a state of self education.