Connect with Debbie:

Book: Available As Is: A Midlife Widow’s Search for Love (Amazon, Apple Books, and most retailers) https://a.co/d/6jBMOxz

Website: https://debbieweissauthor.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debbie_weiss_author/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debbie.hansen.9/

Work with Emily / Brave Widow:

🔁 Grief Recovery Method® – an 8-week, evidence-based program to help you heal your heart and find emotional freedom https://www.bravewidow.com/offers/EPW2EeyT/checkout

🧭 Brave Widow Academy – 6-month coaching and community to help widows find clarity, real connection, and lasting confidence https://www.bravewidow.com/academy

📞 Book a free consult: Go to BraveWidow.com to schedule your no-pressure call and see what support is right for you 

In today’s episode of The Brave Widow Show, I’m talking with author and midlife widow Debbie Weiss, who went from a 32-year marriage and deep isolation after her husband’s death… to rebuilding her life, dating again in midlife, earning an MFA in Creative Writing at 56, and writing her memoir Available As Is: A Midlife Widow’s Search for Love. 

We talk honestly (and with humor) about what it’s really like to start over after decades with one person, how to build a new life when you feel totally alone, and the messy reality of midlife dating after loss.

🔔 Subscribe for more real conversations about widowhood, grief, dating after loss, and rebuilding a life you actually want to live.

💔 In This Episode, You’ll Hear:

Debbie’s story:

Growing up in the Bay Area, marrying her high school sweetheart, and losing her husband after 32 years together. 

Isolation after loss:

How being introverted, retired, and “just the two of us” left her deeply alone after he died—and what she did first to change that. 

Tiny brave steps to a new life:

The small, practical actions she took: daily walks, yoga, staying after class to talk, and joining groups (Meetup, hiking, writing, career groups). 

Dating again as a midlife widow:

Why she started dating 18 months after her loss, what she wishes she’d done differently, and the “red flags” she ignored at first. 

The myth of “you should just accept less now”:

How midlife dating culture often pressures widows to settle—and why you don’t have to.

Finding her voice & identity:

Going back to school for an MFA at 56, taking her writing seriously, and turning her experience into an award-winning memoir. 

Hope 12 years later:

What grief looks like now, being with a second life partner, and why she believes there’s real hope for widows—even when it doesn’t feel that way. 

Chapters:

00:00 – Welcome + Grief Recovery Method update

02:30 – Meet Debbie: high school sweetheart, 32-year marriage, cancer, and loss

05:00 – Isolation after widowhood: “I had to create a whole new life”

07:00 – Tiny steps: walks, yoga, and not running out of the room

10:00 – 12 years later: What grief and hope look like now

11:30 – Dating 18 months after loss: what she’d do differently

15:00 – Why you don’t have to accept “less” just because you’re older

18:00 – Writing Available As Is and going back to school at 54

24:00 – “You’re not too old. Life is not over.”

27:00 – How to connect with Debbie & next steps with Brave Widow