The Quiet Shield: Denial In The Greif Cycle

When we think of denial, it's often framed as an obstacle—something to overcome, a stage to pass through quickly on our way to "proper" healing. But what if denial serves a deeper purpose in our grieving process? What if this maligned response is actually one of our mind's most sophisticated protection mechanisms? Often times we are grieving something long before we realize it and the moment the denial lifts is the moment we ‘come to’ about what others may have been watching us act out for some time. This is why I have placed this installment near the back of the series - because for many people, denial can occur somewhere in the thick of the messy, unpredictable sea of emotions much like life itself: unpredictable and unexpected, with the fog clearing only to finally illuminate all that came before it.