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"Connection" - Jason Clawson
In 2018, Jason found out his wife had stage 4 colon cancer. They had two young kids and thought they were doing all the right things in life, so they couldn't understand how this could happen to them. After 9 months of doctor's appointments and treatments Jason found himself at his wife's funeral trying to figure out where to go next. Maybe the key phrase from all of this, that highlights the theme of our discussion, was something one of the nurses said to Jason. She said “Jason, cancer has a way of enhancing your life”.
I find that phrase absolutely fascinating and something I really wanted to dig into. Some people hear something like that and they get angry. "My loved one is dying from a horrific disease and you are telling me my life will be better? F*ck off!" Or some people hear it and they feel hope. "I will never understand why my loved one is dying, but there has to be some light in this darkness. I need to find a way to accept it and enjoy life again." I would never judge anyone for either reaction, but I was really curious to (respectfully) dig into this with someone who has just been through it. I wanted to try to understand how Jason's mind made sense of this situation. And I wanted to push underneath the initial feelings and see what philosophical insights could be gleaned from it.
Jason went through a lot of hard work to try to make his life make sense again. You'll hear him talk about a project him and his kids started called The Hope Kit (https://hopekit.com/) which tries to bring support to other families dealing with cancer. You'll also hear him talk about creating a "healing team" of 15 or so close friends and family that Jason tapped into to help bring him out of his despair. I think there is so much value in hearing firsthand how someone dealt with crippling grief. I hope there is even more value in hearing an honest, probing conversation about it. Does moving on mean you are turning your back on your wife? Does creating a healing team make you weak or self centered? I appreciate Jason a ton for being on, talking through his story, and exploring these questions to try to help others grieve.
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By Terry McMullen
5
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In 2018, Jason found out his wife had stage 4 colon cancer. They had two young kids and thought they were doing all the right things in life, so they couldn't understand how this could happen to them. After 9 months of doctor's appointments and treatments Jason found himself at his wife's funeral trying to figure out where to go next. Maybe the key phrase from all of this, that highlights the theme of our discussion, was something one of the nurses said to Jason. She said “Jason, cancer has a way of enhancing your life”.
I find that phrase absolutely fascinating and something I really wanted to dig into. Some people hear something like that and they get angry. "My loved one is dying from a horrific disease and you are telling me my life will be better? F*ck off!" Or some people hear it and they feel hope. "I will never understand why my loved one is dying, but there has to be some light in this darkness. I need to find a way to accept it and enjoy life again." I would never judge anyone for either reaction, but I was really curious to (respectfully) dig into this with someone who has just been through it. I wanted to try to understand how Jason's mind made sense of this situation. And I wanted to push underneath the initial feelings and see what philosophical insights could be gleaned from it.
Jason went through a lot of hard work to try to make his life make sense again. You'll hear him talk about a project him and his kids started called The Hope Kit (https://hopekit.com/) which tries to bring support to other families dealing with cancer. You'll also hear him talk about creating a "healing team" of 15 or so close friends and family that Jason tapped into to help bring him out of his despair. I think there is so much value in hearing firsthand how someone dealt with crippling grief. I hope there is even more value in hearing an honest, probing conversation about it. Does moving on mean you are turning your back on your wife? Does creating a healing team make you weak or self centered? I appreciate Jason a ton for being on, talking through his story, and exploring these questions to try to help others grieve.