Welcome back to dear death, this week's episode is a short insight to how I have been feeling in regards to self love whilst I have been grieving. This is such a big topic that I will probably talk more about for the next few weeks. Since losing my parents specifically my mum, I have really struggled with self love and my self esteem because my mum was honestly my number 1 fan, she complimented me everyday, she made me feel whole you know? and now that she is gone I am struggling to fall in love with myself again. I am just praying that I find myself in God as he is my only parent left and I know in him I can feel whole again.

Thanks everyone

Dione x

Hey guys and welcome to this week's episode of Dear Death Podcast. This week's episode is a short insight into how I have been feeling about entering another year without my mum and a new year without my dad. When most people think about the words 'new year' they usually think about new beginnings, new year resolutions, goals, excitement to enter a new chapter and all round happiness. However, for someone that is grieving entering into a new year can be overwhelming, sad, terrifying and quite depressing to say the least. Personally I have felt a plethora of emotions from sadness, excitement, guilt, empty, fear and joy and all these emotions have made me feel very confused and overwhelmed. One thing I am grateful of for this year is the fact that I entered my year with an intention to let God lead me, to let God be my parent in 2o23. However, just because I have been closer to God does not mean it takes away my grief but I am hoping that this year when I miss my parents and feel lonely I will remember that God says in Matthew 5:4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted" and in Psalm 147:3 "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds".

Love Dione xx

Hey guys and welcome to this week's episode of Dear Death Podcast.

I am so excited to introduce you to Dear Death's first guest Eleanor Grace.

This week, I'm talking with a friend, a grieving friend. Ellie lost her Dad when she was 16, yes, that young!! Join us for a discussion about grief, what it feels like to grieve, the difficulties of losing a parent, the various stages you go through, the trauma of grief, and what life looks like after losing a parent. There is a saying that goes, 'A problem shared is a problem halved,' and I feel like this week's episode really lives up to that saying because I thoroughly enjoyed a conversation with a grieving sister, someone who has been and is still going through what I am going through.

Thank you Ellie for being such an incredible first guest, for being vulnerable and sharing your grief story with me.

Let's talk friendships whilst you are grieving your loved one. This is a short insight into what I have taught myself and learned through my grief and friendships. In my friendship group and close friends or old close friends, I am the first friend in my group that lost a parent so you can imagine how hard it is for me and also for them because it is a new thing for our friendship group. My whole life I have always believed in the saying 'some people are in our lives only for a season' and this is something that I have seen manifest throughout my life from such a young age. I lost friends at different stages of life, some because we went to different universities, some because of the different stages of life we were in and some just because they couldn't fit in my life anymore.

Something I have learnt through my grief is something that Amber Jeffrey described perfectly in The Grief Gang podcast as the 'Positive of failure in the friendships' this is because when you lose a parent or when you are grieving you just simply cannot relate with all your friends anymore and unfortunately they just can't understand what I am going through because its my parents that are gone right?

I am gonna be transparent in regards to my experience regarding the support I received, the support I wish I received and the hardships of friendships whilst you are experiencing grief.

Love Dione xx

Welcome to episode 2 of the season, join me in a conversation about the different stages and emotions I went through whilst grieving. There are no set stages to grief but I went through the following stages: Shock/Numb/Denial, Pain/Anger, Reflection/Loneliness/ Working Through and finally Acceptance. Accepting my loss did not indicate that I had "moved on" or was satisfied with what happened. Instead, it is the stage of the process where I began to accept the loss and feel the need to make an effort to move on with your life. We all eventually have to acknowledge that it is over and try to move on since, unfortunately, the world and life don't stop just because you are grieving.

Welcome to Dear Death Podcast...…the one no one asks for but find themselves in

My name is Dione, and I am 24 years old.

I lost my mum at 22 years old to Covid-19 and this changed my whole life forever because my mum was my best friend, and she was my everything. I then lost my dad at 23 years old to a sudden death and this was the final hit for me, and my world changed forever. My journey with grief has taught me a lot, good and bad.

This podcast has been created to normalise talking about grief and what it feels like to lose a loved one. None of us ever imagine ourselves losing a loved, yet we find ourselves being surprised with such a horrible yet a normal experience. I want to let people know that it’s okay to grieve and its okay to have conversations about it no matter how difficult and new it may seem.

I'm also here to elaborate on my experience and how I've been coping with loss. Although I don't have a check list for you on how to grieve, I will share what has and hasn't worked for me. Every two weeks or so, I'll also have special guests on this page to discuss the topic of grieving.