Document Type
Life and Death Essay
Publication Date
2007
Excerpt
Grief may be one of the worst emotional experiences that a human being can go through in their life. It is caused by death, a complete separation from a loved one. Grief can be a slow process, such as anticipating the death of someone you know is dying and will die soon. Grief can also begin very abruptly, if someone you love who you thought would be in your life for many years to come dies very suddenly. There is an extreme variety of emotions felt within grief, which Lamott describes as a lazy Susan: "One day it is heavy and underwater, and the next day it spins and stops at loud and rageful, and the next day at wounded keening, and the next day numbness, silence" (p. 70). Some have defined the grieving process in a series of steps or phases to group this variety of emotions together. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's stages are the most well-known: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This is not a complete list, however. Acceptance is not the last step in the grieving process. The last step is growth, and this growth is lightness and illumination that Lamott tells us about.
Recommended Citation
Berg, Ashley, "Growth--The Final Step in the Grieving Process (2007)" (2007). The Valpo Core Reader. 604.
http://scholar.valpo.edu/core_reader/604