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Grief: Denial (Phase I)

· Grief,Obstacles,Expectations,Stress

CoViD-19 has impacted our lives in how we function in our physical world and economically but the longer it lasts, the more it will impact us emotionally. Prior to starting my own consulting firm in 1999, I had worked as a non-clinical team member at our local hospice. There, I first learned of the Grief Cycle and I began to think we can experience grief at other times other than the loss of a loved one.

Don’t we also experience grief whenever we lose other things? A marriage? A job? A friendship? Money? One’s personal security?

Denial is what we experience when we feel that the information that we are being asked to process is somehow incorrect. We refuse to believe what we are hearing or seeing, preferring to stick with something that makes us feel more secure. We may prefer our own perspective even though it may not be reality. These could be reactions to shock, fear, avoidance, or confusion.

Knowing that so many are adjusting to what has become our new normal, we thought we would offer a series of blog entries focused on the Grief Cycle, a model first introduced by the Swiss-American psychiatrist, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her 1969 book, On Death and Dying.

This event has ended.

To support our audience even more, we would like to host a dialogue virtually next Tuesday, April 28th from 12:00 – 12:30 PM (Eastern US), where we discuss reactions to the topic of Denial.

“Denial helps us to pace our feelings of grief.  There is a grace in denial. 

It is nature's way of letting in 

only as much as we can handle.” 

- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

This is the first of three installments on our series about Grief.

Read more in our second and third installments.