When and Why I Finally Hit the "Anger" Stage of Grief

After my divorce I moved in and through Denial, Bargaining, and Depression fairly naturally. But Anger? I pushed that off... until I couldn't.

One year ago today I emerged from a fog of Anger with regards to my divorce that was threatening to close my heart for good and subsume my spirit to cynicism.

Thankfully, through the timing of Providence, I read a book over the New Year’s weekend of 2022/23 that utterly changed my perspective and liberated me from my downward spiral of Anger and resentment.

I’ll tell you more about that book later, but first let me share with you how it is I even got to Anger (the fourth and, for me, final Stage of Grief).

It began with Thanksgiving of 2022 and peaked on New Year’s Eve.

My Second-Worst Week of 2022

Last year’s Holiday season—from Thanksgiving through Christmas of 2022—was an acutely painful time for me.

Fresh off the ending of my marriage, I’d been living out of the house for about four months at the time and was experiencing a number of “firsts.”

And the firsts are always the worst.

I remember one therapy session in which my therapist offered her theory as to why that time of year (Thanksgiving through Christmas) is particularly hard for someone who’s experienced some form of deep grief (aka, death of a loved one, or an unwanted divorce). She said that