Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Stages of Grief


Recently, I noticed myself trying to bargain, and with whom I'm not even sure: If I could just try this medicine or that treatment, I know I'd be cured and I wouldn't have to be sick anymore! I realized that without me even being aware of it, I was going through the five stages of grief.

I did a quick run-down of the stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Hmmmm...

Denial-check: "Maybe it's not really Lyme disease."
Anger-check: "HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN TO ME??!!"
Bargaining-check: "If I could just try this medicine or that treatment, I know I'd be cured!"
Depression-check: "Woe is me! My life is ruined forever!"
Acceptance-check: "I cannot change the fact that I have Lyme disease; I can, however, change myself."

I no longer think my life is over. I do think it will always be different, but whether or not that's a good thing is up to me. My attitude has done a 180. Why, I believe maybe hell hath frozen over and my glass is now half full!

3 comments:

  1. One of my favorite authors, Amy Tan, has Lyme disease, and it took her 10 years to get it figured out.

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  2. This is a good reminder for me today..as I too find myself bouncing between my life is over and bargaining stages. I have woven in and out of them and would like to come to rest in acceptance!
    I have been reading an article on Taming Your Thoughts (CFIDS article) and it is helping me with the "My life is over" stage right now.
    Thanks for posting this today!

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  3. The question is, what is your glass half full of? Orange juice? Disgusting fiber drink? Gluten-free Beck's Dark?

    Love you.

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