Grief comes to everyone at some point. Life is full of losses, through death, divorce, moves and job changes. Even though everyone encounters grief, we all experience it differently. How do you cope with grief? In your own way.

Sometimes grief can be harder to recognize when it is not related to a death. Changing jobs and leaving a group of coworkers after many years can produce feelings of loss. Loss of a marriage or relationship may force you to be relieved to end a bad situation without allowing the time to grieve the loss.

What interferes with grief? Trying to ignore it or not recognizing it. Knowing that you are grieving can get you to the next step of letting yourself grieve. You may be inclined to put other people first and attend to their needs while ignoring your own.

Recognizing grief means recognizing its symptoms. Sadness and crying may be part of it, but you may also have trouble concentrating or remembering, no appetite or sleep disturbances. Activities you used to enjoy may seem empty and pointless. If you are grieving a death, you might forget that the person is dead or feel like they are there or dream about them.

You may be familiar with the stages of grief identified by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her book On Death and Dying (1969). Those stages--denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance--are common among people dealing with grief. But they are not linear and they are not checkpoints in a marathon. You may experience some but not all, and not in a particular order. Some people never get angry and some people never get past anger.