Ten Stages of Grief

by | Jan 12, 2024 | Stories of Good Grief | 17 comments

Ten Stages of Grief

Last fall we were at the Death Expo. My husband and I were there selling my latest book, Stories of Good Grief.

Are you someone who is grieving? If you are, I think you’ll be interested in joining my Facebook group “Good Grief.”

Here is a link to the group:

In this email I’d like to share with you the ten stages of grief.

  1. State of Shock
  2. Expressing Emotion
  3. Depression and Loneliness
  4. Physical Symptoms
  5. Panic and Overwhelm
  6. Feelings of Guilt
  7. Anger and Resentment
  8. Resist Returning
  9. Hope Comes Through
  10. We Find a New Reality

The thing about grief is that you can go through a stage multiple times. You can be in more than one stage at a time too!

Sometimes the stages seem to flood you like the waves of the ocean. It can knock you down and overwhelm you. It can sweep you into shore or out to the deep.

We may feel like we don’t have any control. It can be unsettling. Personally, I’ve found it works better for me when I allow myself to process the grief, rather than fighting against it. If I feel the need to cry, scream, yell, I do it. I process it; I get it out!

I did an exercise in regards to mental health once, that I find also relates to grief. What we did was, we had a blown up balloon that was tied closed. There was a piece of paper on the wall and I had a marker in my hand. I was asked to draw a picture of a tree while holding the balloon in one hand.

I’m not an artist, so it wasn’t great, but it was clearly a tree. Then, I was told to draw another tree. This time I wasn’t to hold the balloon, but rather keep it in the air by hitting it up and not letting it touch the floor.

Let me tell you, what I drew barely even resembled a tree! It was unbelievably hard to draw a tree while keeping the balloon in the air!

The result was clearly that it is easier to draw the picture while allowing the balloon to rest in my hand than to draw while bouncing the balloon in the air trying to manage it.

Likewise, our mental health (and our grief) is easier to manage when we acknowledge that it is there; that it is part of our life. When we allow the grief to be we can process it.

In all reality we don’t really get over grief. There is always a piece of our heart that hurts. Usually, as time passes the sharpness of the pain can become dull. Over time we can learn to manage the stages of grief.

There will come a time when we realize we are genuinely happy again. We remember when we thought we’d never laugh again.

Let me leave you with this… there is HOPE! You can do it! You WILL get through it! Keep going, one step at a time, you can do it, my friend!

I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to reply to this email.

~Tammy Robinson

Author and Success Strategist

905.329.3363

Www.TammyRobinsonAuthor.com