Resilience through grief

Introduction

Grief is a powerful emotion generally associated with death. You might hear that someone is grieving after the loss of a loved one. It's a natural step to recovery. Psychiatrist Elizabeth Kubler Ross published a book in 1969 titled "On Death and Dying" and introduced us to the five stages of grief.

These are different emotions a person experiences when dealing with a terminal illness or the death of someone close to them.

Author David Kessler added a sixth stage of grief in his book, "Finding Meaning: the Sixth Stage of Grief" in 2019. As an expert on death and grieving, he says he's noticed that people who suffer the death of a loved one usually attempt to find some meaning in their loss.

To some lesser degree, we all experience similar emotions when we experience one of life's hardships.

The feelings you have to work through to recover after losing a job or failing to achieve some personal goal can be found in the grieving process. Understanding the different emotions you may deal with after any setback or hardship can help you recover more quickly. You have the resilience to absorb and overcome the setbacks and speed bumps life will lay in your path.

Knowing that you're going to have to deal with them before failure or loss appears in your life makes you more resilient. You can prepare emotionally for their arrival. It can speed up the recovery process, so you get back on your feet as soon as possible. Let's take a look at these different emotional states of recovery that can improve your bounce-back ability from any setback, large or small.

(It should be noted that these are not sequential in every case. You may experience them in any order. They don't necessarily appear in the order listed here. Additionally, you may not have to work through all these emotions. Just knowing you may encounter them after experiencing one of life's difficulties can power you with the resilience to overcome them.)