Loss and Acceptance - Kevin Sluder

Loss comes in many forms. Sometimes, we lose a treasured item or move away from a house that we love. At the worst times, we lose people that are close to us. No matter the form it takes, loss leads us to grieve what once was. Grief is not always about death. Whatever the reason, something important to us is no longer in our lives. 
First proposed by psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, the five stages of grief are widely considered to be denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. First, we deny the loss, which helps us to only let in as much pain as we can handle. Then comes anger, which can be a kind of strength, giving structure to the nothingness we are feeling. There is almost a second coming of denial when passing through the bargaining stage, where we try to offer up some sort of "trade" in order to get back the thing we lost. In depression, the loss is felt at its deepest level, and it is at this stage that we truly begin to heal. Then, at the end of the difficult process, we finally achieve acceptance. 

Loss and Acceptance is more about the acceptance than the loss, but you won't hear resolution in the way you might at the end of a feel-good movie. Acceptance is not about being "all better". It is about coming to terms with our new reality, and for a while, that pain is still very present. However, in the midst of the sadness, you start to feel a beating heart that knows "this is not the end." 

String Orchestra 

3:20

Grade 3.5

Click HERE to view a perusal score.