The Million Stages of Grief

About this book

Grief isn't five stages. It's a million.When someone you love dies, grief doesn't follow a checklist. It doesn't move neatly from denial to anger to bargaining to depression and finally acceptance.Some days you may feel all of those things. Other days you may feel something you don't even have a name for.Michael Reed knows this because he has lived it.In 2016, Michael lost his wife, Constance, and both of his daughters, Chloe and Lily, in the Gatlinburg wildfire. In the years that followed, he searched for answers about grief and discovered something that changed the way he understood his own loss.His grief looked nothing like the predictable process he had been told to expect.The Million Stages of Grief grew from that realization.This isn't a book about getting over the people you love. It isn't a formula for moving on, and it isn't another set of instructions telling you how you are supposed to grieve.It's an honest look at what grief actually feels like.The sorrow. The anger. The guilt. The memories. The love. The confusion. The moments when you think you're doing better, followed by the moments that knock you back down.And the countless other emotions that nobody warned you about.Inside, you'll discover: - Why grief doesn't follow a predictable timeline- Why there is no right way to grieve- Why emotions you weren't expecting can be part of grief- How love and grief continue to exist together- How to begin rebuilding your life without leaving the people you love behindBut perhaps most importantly, this book offers something grieving people rarely get enough of: Permission.Permission to hurt. Permission to laugh again. Permission to be angry. Permission to remember. Permission to have a good day without feeling guilty about it. Permission to have a terrible day years later.You don't need someone telling you how you should grieve.You need to know that the way you are grieving is allowed.If you've ever wondered, "Why am I still feeling this? Why doesn't my grief look like everyone says it should? Am I doing this wrong?" this book was written for you.Grief isn't five stages. It's a million.And you don't have to find your way through them alone.