Personal Narrative: The Five Stages Of Grief

On 09/12/2016, I Deputy Daniel Pruitt was dispatched to 52455 West Highway 16 for an unattended death compliant. I arrived on scene st 6:45pm and meet with Creek County EMS unit 40.

Disclaimer: I, in no rights, own One Piece or any other products in any way, shape, or form. So, don't sue me, yeah?

Cozy coffee shops, warm summers, friendly hugs…1.2.3. Disastrous events occur all the time. We are always aware that someone, somewhere in the world, is hurtling forwards into tragedy. Tragic endings leave behind unanswered questions, unfulfilled dreams, unspoken thoughts. Those who love you are left behind, in the dust of your presence, spent to forever remember only your memory, not your existence. Crisp slices of toast, piping hot cups of tea, fresh strawberries…1.2.3. We all tend to forget an end exists. We spend our lives compiling as many happy memories as we can, fully enjoying the good days, deeply mourning the sad ones. When tragedy strikes, only then are we reminded that the end is there, and we scurry and try once again to make the most out of

Dealing with grief is never easy. One of the hardest time in anyone’s life is when an acquaintance or a loved one passes away. In the second week of the Fall 2016 semester, I received a devastating call. I walked into my chemistry class, and my mom called me from Turkey to tell me that my grandmother had passed away. I sat in silence in the car on the way home and thought about my grandmother. She had taught me innumerable important lessons throughout my life. Losing her changed everything, and I knew I had to return to my home country to say goodbye to my grandmother.

Please, oh please let the words come. I sit, and stare, and type, and I backspace. No one will like it. My work is crap. Crap, crap, crap. I crumple my paper watch it fall. The clock taunts with its ticking reminding me of all I want to forget. It creates a beat; a song. Poetic chords and dismal notes ring in my ears. But no, this is thought I should avoid. I am great- better than great. People will love this. Oh please, please, please let them love this. Will my legacy amount to nothing more than abysmal hope? This is the last time I think of it. Oh please don’t let me think of it. The blank page stares at me and I begin to write. One word, then another, then another, and another. You will never know what comes out onto the page until it is

What is grief? “The grief experienced as the result of a death can be deep, very painful, and can often feel unending. But grief is also a process, and can lead to the healing of the loss and to finding solace and reprieve from the pain.” (The Five Stages Of Grief, 2018, para. 1). The grief process can be characterized into five well-known stages of grief. “There are five stages of grief that were first proposed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her 1969 book On Death and Dying” (Axelrod, 2018, para. 1). Every person is different and they will move through the five stages of grief in their own way. For example, some people may move back and forth between them, and others may skip stages completely. The means to understanding the five stages of grief is knowing that no person is the same, thus there is no specific order or way to move through the stages; therefore, looking at the stages as guides in the grieving process will be more beneficial to you because

In 2016, there were over 64,000 drug related deaths. My dad was sadly one of them.

Patrick Ness masterfully grants his readers not only a beautiful story of loss, but also a compelling example that displays the truth of the grieving process. Although denied by the protagonist, his story is that of grieving his mother, who while still alive, is undeniably going to die. Some may wonder that it is possible to grieve for someone who is still alive. However, according to Okun and Nowinski, prolonged deaths are in many ways replacing quick ones, drawing out the process of a loved one dying. “...Death has become less and less a sudden and unexpected event. In its place has come a process that... ends eventually in death. This process means that… the family (is) increasingly confronted with the need to ‘live with death’...”(Okun

Sometimes, the sorrowful events in life bring out the best in your life and yourself. Two years ago, I went through true maturation through a traumatic event that immensely affected me as a person. As pencils were being sharpened and the sounds of school filtered back into my life, I found out my Grandma had Cancer. In an effort to provide better treatment, she came to live with us for four months. That time was incredibly precious and special as I saw my Grandma in a whole new light. I saw her strength, her tenacity, and her positivity.

Grief is a process that involves five important steps to correctly deal with a painful situation or the loss of someone important in ones life. In the famous play “Hamlet” written by William Shakespeare a young boy is forced into the grieving process when his father dies. The audience can see him go through all five step, and also can see how the ones around him also go through the process. To overcome grief effectively all five steps must be experienced but not in any particular order and through the stories the readers can see how each character deals with grief differently but eventually all reach acceptance. Lorraine Hansberry, writes about a family is all waiting for the arrival of their deceased father’s life insurance check in the

The five stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. After tragedy strikes, it is difficult for many to make it past the first step. When an individual suffers incomprehensible trauma, it is easier to pretend that it did not happen or to ignore those feelings and opt instead for numbness. However when an entire society is affected by a larger threat or attack such as a presidential assassination or a school shooting, people can find solace in creating a story that bypasses the complexity of the emotions they are experiencing; whether that story has any merit or is completely fabricated. Tragedy causes desperate finger pointing and the spread of conspiracies like Alex Jones’ theory that the Sandy Hook shooting

It’s ironic that Elizabeth Kubler-Ross theory, of the five stages of grief is present in the story “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare after so many centuries later. Hamlet is believed to be the most dramatic play in history, and comes with many personal conflicts that people still today will struggle with. In “Hamlet”, the main character, Hamlet goes through the 5 stages of grief throughout the story. Elizabeth Kubler- Ross developed a theory based on how she believes to be the stages of acceptance of death. “The 5 stages of grief and loss are: 1. Denial and isolation; 2. Anger; 3. Bargaining; 4. Depression; 5. Acceptance. People who are grieving do not necessarily go through the stages in the same order or experience all of them.” (Axelrod, 2016) Even though, Hamlet repeats some of these stages, and is involved in multiple stages at the same time, he does in fact experience through all these stages. Hamlet the Danish prince, son of Gertrude, grieve for the death of his father. The unexpected passing of his father causes Hamlet to experience a roller coaster of emotions. The death of his father is not the only thing he struggles with, but the marriage between his mother and uncle troubles him also. He feels as if his mother has betrayed him, and did not give him the proper time to grief over the fatality of his father. Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, not only replaced his father, but he also inherited the throne that was supposed to be passed down to Hamlet. When Horatio and the

It was a bright and sunny August day. I went over to the Ortega’s house with my parents. They have a big backyard full of rocks. When we got there I saw this rock so I layed on it. I told my mom and said ‘mom take a picture of me and and send it to mema tell her I’m dead.’ Little did I know my life could change like that.

What is death? Why do people die? How can learn to accept the fact that one day we will die? Death is something unexplainable. Everyone has a beginning and an end. Some people cope with death differently, through sadness, anger, and confusion. The death of a loved one hurts so much, words can’t explain the feeling. Although that pain is not physical some can say that emotional pain hurts as much as physical pain. Once a person dies it’s a chance for people to reflect on what they did while they were alive. How many people they helped or how friendly they were to people. On June 18, 2016, I experienced death for the first time. I was not very close to this person but he was someone who really impacted my life and my families. I just never realized how much he meant to us until that second Saturday of June.

Death is the final chapter of our story. Chapter 18 of our text describes it as a permanent break where our experiences come to an end; we leave family and friends behind as well as any unfinished business to enter the unknown. Although, I believe, as for Christians, death is when our life truly begins. Death, for me, means entering the glorious Kingdom and finally meeting my Maker. American contemporary Christian music band, MercyMe, wrote a song called I Can Only Imagine, which talks about ways we might act when coming face-to-face with Christ. When I think of dying, I think of the lyrics to this song.