Baby Boomers Guide to Acceptance: Stage Five of Grieving and Moving On

20 Sep Baby Boomers Guide to Acceptance: Stage Five of Grieving and Moving On

Kubler Ross: Stages of Grief

Elderly Problems by Boomeryearbook.com

Should you be in the position of helping a person through the grieving process, you are going to be disappointed if you are expecting bells, flags and whistles at stage five! Baby boomers who have survived the first four stages of grief will be emotionally battered and bruised by stage five of the process and often have become a little withdrawn. Friendships might have changed forever by this part of the process and it is important to understand that the changes brought about by death should be embraced rather than reversed.

As people begin to accept what has happened and make the necessary adjustments in their lives to enable them to continue alone, without their long term partner by their side, practical help for others can be a healing tool.

Baby boomers have a lifetime of experience when it comes to emotions. Grieving is one more notch on the post and for someone who has gone through the painful process of grief, a positive outcome can be that they provide help for others in the same dark tunnel.

Stage five of the grieving process is acceptance of death, loss and the pain that necessarily accompanies the grieving process. The inevitability of death is something everyone accepts but few people understand until it is their turn to experience it. When they do, the pain of bereavement can be a thunderbolt as strong people collapse under the weight of unhappiness and pain.

Grieving can present in many guises and often a dainty little baby boomer lady who gives the impression of being frail and incompetent, loses a strong and dominant husband, then shocks everyone with her ability to organize the funeral, conduct her duties as hostess graciously and dry eyed, and put the family home up for sale; all within three weeks. People stand back and admire but all the time she is probably screaming inside and stunningly internally falling apart as she is unable to get through even the first stage of her grieving process.

Understanding the stages of grief can mean a lifeline to those who need support in the worst and darkest moments of their life. Stage five of grief allows the person to emerge into the sunshine after a long and hard process of emotional turmoil. Stage five is acceptance, not only of the death itself but also of the importance to move forward and embrace the change in circumstances.

The dead are no less loved for being laid to rest. We are all dying from the moment we are born and our footprints in other peoples’ lives cause our death to be either passed over as an uninteresting obituary in the local newspaper or an event which affects those who love us for the rest of their own lives.

For some baby boomers, their lives are cut in two by the death of someone close to them and nothing is ever quite the same again: events become related to ‘before’ and ‘after’ their partner died. For others, the five stages of mourning are completed and they are ready to move on.

The Psychological Article on Acceptance: Stage Five of Grieving and Moving On is part of Boomer Yearbook’s continuing series of baby boomers psychological coaching tips and how to alleviate elderly problems. We believe knowledge is power. We’d love to hear what you think.

Boomer Yearbook is a Social Network and Psychological Articles for Baby Boomers. Connect with old and new friends, or expand your mind and ward off senior moments and elderly problems with dream analysis and online optical illusions and brain games provided by clinical psychologist Dr. Karen Turner. Join other Baby Boomers to stay informed, receive weekly Newsfeeds, and let your opinions be heard. Baby boomers changed the world. We’re not done yet!