What happens when the life you planned slips through your hands?

In this episode of the MercyCast, I sit down with author, speaker, and autism advocate Brigitte Shipman, host of The Mother’s Guide Through Autism podcast and author of A Mother's Guide Through Autism. Together, we talk about grief, letting go, self-compassion, and the long road of learning how to love without conditions or expectations.

Brigitte shares the quiet moment that changed everything after her son Joseph’s autism diagnosis, and how decades of caregiving, exhaustion, pain, and grace reshaped her understanding of love. We explore what it means to stop white-knuckling life, to listen to your body, to practice gratitude, and to embrace grief rather than outrun it.

This conversation is honest and deeply human. It’s about the stories we lose, the people we become, and the healing that happens when we finally let go.

Key Takeaways

• Why unconditional love grows deeper through hardship
• How caregiving can disconnect us from ourselves
• The importance of self-regulation and gratitude practices
• Why grief wears many hats beyond death alone
• How awareness and acceptance create lasting change
• What it means to “know better, do better.”
• How pain can become a teacher instead of an enemy
• Why letting go is often the beginning of healing.

If you’ve ever found yourself on the floor wondering how to stand back up, this episode is for you.

Listen, subscribe, and share this episode with someone walking through grief, caregiving, or uncertainty. Your support helps us continue learning the art of compassion through the adversity of life.

Learn more about Brigitte’s podcast, A Mother’s Guide through Autism. Also, don’t miss her book!

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