Comment by bitwize

I liked to joke about my dog going through all five stages whenever I left the apartment:

1. Denial - she would run out of the apartment with me and try to follow me, because Papa would NEVER leave without her.

2. Anger - once herded back into the apartment she would bark loudly, indicating her frustration with me leaving.

3. Bargaining - the barks would become yips, begging for me to come back

4. Depression - the yips would become long, morose whimpers

5. Acceptance - she would go back and sit with my wife on the couch, adjusting at last to my absence. Of course I would only be gone for 15 minutes or so, and she would leap up on me and maul me when I got back like I was returning from a tour of duty in Afghanistan

But in reality, I knew the five stages were something somebody made up, kinda like Myers-Briggs. I used to bristle whenever someone lectured me about them. In myself and in others, I could see that it's far, far more complicated than that.