A great show or book can be an excellent time investment. It’s an excuse to spend lots of time immersed in an incredible story that keeps you excited and entertained for hours on end. The problem is, it will inevitably come to an end. When that happens, you’ll run through stages of mourning unique to the sorrow of finishing an excellent story. To help you prepare for this inevitable turn of events, here are the stages of grief you’ll go through after binge-watching a good show.

Euphoria in the good ending

If the show is actually good, then that meant it had a good ending that wrapped things up nicely. The satisfaction from that good ending is a wonderful thing. The only problem: The feeling won’t last. The euphoria of reaching the end of something rather long but also enjoyable will fade. Once it does, you’ll end up in the next stage.

A hollowed-out feeling

Once that euphoria is gone, you’ll feel a bit empty inside. This hollowed-out feeling isn’t exactly boredom. Instead, it’s more like having all of your emotions drained out. It doesn’t necessarily feel bad, but it doesn’t feel good either. Instead, it can leave you with no energy and no purpose. This lack of energy can help carry you into other, even less pleasant stages.

You’re unwilling to start anything new

A key stage you will go through is being unwilling to watch anything else. You’d rather sit around with boredom creeping in than start another show (or start your schoolwork). Part of this is the worry that the next thing you will start won’t be as good as the show you just finished. Even if a show is just OK, it will seem terrible compared to the show you just watched. In this stage, you may actually try to watch something new, only to stop after the pilot episode. The annoying thing about this stage is that you’ll just have to wait it out. Eventually, overwhelming boredom will guide you into the next stage.

The hunt for that next great show

The stages of grief from finishing a good show end with the search for the next series to take up your time. The longer it takes, the more boredom will cause you to lower your standards. Eventually, you’ll give something else a chance, and you may repeat the cycle all over again. Until then, you’ll be scrolling through the streaming library looking for that next new show, and until you find it, you’ll be willing to give nearly anything a try.

Finishing a good show is both a great and a terrible thing. Now you know what to expect when it happens.