On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss

by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

The reality is that you will grieve forever. You will not “get over” the loss of a loved one; you will learn to live with it. You will heal, and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered. You will be whole again, but you will never be the same. Nor should you be the same, nor would you want to.

The time we take following a loss is important in grief and grieving as well as in healing. This gift of grief represents a completion of a connection we will never forget. A time of reflection, pain, despair, tragedy, hope, readjustment, reinvolvement, and healing.

Be sure to allow yourself time to move through all of the stages of grief, remembering that some stages may overlap and recur and all are a part of processing and learning. Furthermore, we do not all go through all five stages. And sometimes there is reoccurrence of an earlier stage after going through a later stage. Be kind to yourself and allow yourself no matter how you move through the stages.