How to deal with grief at work

"Grief happens following any significant event that creates a tear in the fabric of your life story. The death of a loved one is an obvious source of grief, but many kinds of events can trigger the grief process, including a fire at your home, or the loss of a job. Indeed, you may have heard of the "five stages of grief." Those were originally described by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, who studied patients who had received a terminal diagnosis."

"The problem with Kubler-Ross's "stages" of grief (denial, bargaining, anger, depression, and acceptance) is that they're purely descriptive. You need not go through these stages when grieving. They also don't form a linear path. You may bounce around among these emotions or actions-or experience only a few of them. You may be fine for long periods of time and then find yourself sobbing uncontrollably at a comment someone makes or a scene in a movie. It's a messy process that's different for every person."

Grief follows many significant life events that produce a tear in personal narrative, including death, a house fire, or job loss. The five stages—denial, bargaining, anger, depression, and acceptance—are descriptive rather than prescriptive. People need not pass through every stage or follow a linear progression; emotions can recur and vary in intensity. Grief can include long periods of functioning interspersed with sudden intense reactions. Returning to work after loss requires allowance for persistent fogginess and self-compassion. Employees should avoid self-blame for ongoing grief and recognize that recovery often unfolds unpredictably.

Read at Fast Company