I don't know if this will be helpful or not. I learned something called the stages of grief.
I am not sure I agree with it all, because everyone is different. Some people may not go through all the stages.
There are two variations I learned. It may help you to learn which stage you are currently in.
Shock: I feel numb. People are talking. What are they saying? Dead.. I can't get it into my head..why don't I feel anything..This is so sudden..
Disbelief: This is a dream..this is a dream...I will wake up..this isn't happening..it can't be happening..I'll ask someone else...someone else may tell me something different...someone else may know the truth...
Bargaining: If I just do something different, it will change. There has to be something I can do! Maybe I can pray that this never happened! Maybe I can give money to the poor, or give up a bad behavior. I'll do anything to change this! I'll do anything!
Anger: It happened. It isn't a dream. Why did it happen? It isn't fair! Other people deserve this. Why didn't this happen to someone else? There better be a good reason why this happened. Someone has got some explaining to do! I won't rest until I find out why!
Depression: There is nothing I can do about it. I will never be happy again. I will always feel this way. I will always miss them. Some days I don't want to get out of bed. Why do I go on living? How can I go on living? Why is it that everyone goes about their daily lives now as if this didn't even happen? I can't even focus enough energy to brush my teeth. I don't want to do anything today. I don't want to watch tv. I don't want to go to the movies. I don't want to listen to music. I can't enjoy any of this anymore. I can't enjoy anything. Nothing brings me joy.
Acceptance:
Acceptance is the most misunderstood part of all the stages of grief. Accepting it doesn't mean you simply forget it happened or you just simply "get over it" or that you have a "whatever" kind of attitude about about. No one expects you to say "I'll just skip to the last step then, since that is where I should end up. Ok, I accept it."
The thing is, you must allow yourself to feel everything before you can accept it. Acceptance may come and go. You may have mere moment of acceptance and then it is gone in a flash. Or you may feel acceptance for longer periods, but something triggers old memories.
Then you have to start over..
You may actually feel guilt if you come to accept a death or if you do not cry or mourn from time to time. It is ok to cry, if you feel like it. You don't have to do it.
Accepting it doesn't mean that you wouldn't have liked to change the situation either. Accepting it just means you understand that you do have a life outside the event, that your life will not be the same, but that it is ok to find something enjoyable about your life.
You may feel like the world is standing still at first. Or that it should stand still. For a while time may not matter to you, or it may seem to drag. Or it may seem to speed along. It will feel strange when this happens. You may not understand how the world can seem to go on as if this never happened.
Acceptance means you realize that the person did matter. They mattered very much to some people. To other people, they mattered less, and some people could care less. The world does go on, in spite of what happened. It doesn't mean the person didn't matter.
It is ok to enjoy the same things you once enjoyed. You do not have to deny yourself anything. You can begin to enjoy the things you once enjoyed on your own terms. If doing something is too painful, you do not have to do it. If listening to an old song you once loved brings you too much pain, you do not have to listen to that song. But you can continue to enjoy music. If going to the park makes you sad, because you can't be there with the deceased, then you do not have to go there, but you may continue to enjoy nature. You should not feel guilt for finding joy in life.
Acceptance is ultimately the ability to allow yourself to live, to have joy. This does not mean you will not have guilt and regret at times, but those feelings should not dictate your life. It is still your life.
There is another set of stages of grief that is similar but written differently it was sort of like
Surviving: You are lucky if you can even get up in the morning. You act on autopilot. You cry all the time. You find it hard to think about anything else.
Struggling: You are struggling, but getting better. Searching: You begin to search for answers. Search for a way to keep living. You may need to build a whole new identity for yourself. You feel lost. You wonder who you are now. Settling in You begin to find out who you are now that your loved one is gone. You may not like the new you, but you are starting to settle into the role. It is incomplete. There may be many more changes you must make before you can learn to love the new you.
Setting yourself free: You are a new person now since your life has changed. You have learned to love yourself again. You may miss the old you, the you that you were when your loved one was around, but you realize that you can't be that version of yourself anymore. You realize that you don't have to hate yourself. You can cry when you feel like it, when you feel like, but you don't have to. You find things to do that make you happy and you do those things. You'd give anything if your loved one was with you as you do those things, but you still have fun as you do them. You don't dwell on the negative things. Sometimes you remember them, but you just as often remember the good things. You feel regret from time to time, but you realize you cant change the past. You'd have liked to do it differently, but you can't. Now you try to improve on your present life and relationships. Whatever it is you wish you could have said or done, you still have the opportunity to do those things. Your loved one may not be around to witness it, but that doesn't mean you can't still do it. You may feel guilt from time to time, but it isn't overwhelming you. You've set yourself free to live, to laugh, to love.
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