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What you are feeling is Grief: 3 Tips on riding the waves of uncertainty.
Take a Breath. Tune in to what you have been feeling this week. Is it denial, anger, fear, bargaining, or depression? Are you aware that underlying all of the feelings is grief? Your grief is related to a loss of identity and living in uncertainty. Who am I if I’m not going to work, hanging out with my friends, free to go to the movies, the bar, shopping, traveling? When will my life return to normal?
A definition of the stages of grief was first released in the book, Death and Dying by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in 1969. She interviewed patients and their families to identify the ways that people cope with dying and loss. Later in life, she talked about how the stages are not linear and they come and go. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
Grief is not just about the loss of a loved one. It is the death of people, places and things. Grief is connected to any kind of loss. In 2010, I hosted 44 Blogtalk Radio Shows in 45 days. There were 27 guests and I shared my personal experiences with death. The death of a brother, son, and husband. The loss of a home and a job. The loss of a relationship. Illness. Change of any kind. The loss of identity, as in Who am I without this person, place or thing in my life?