Today we are talking all about how loss is a 4- letter word and we all know what 4-letter words are right? While loss is awful and happens to everyone, we tend to get stuck in the comparison game of whose suffered the worst loss or whose is worse than another. We are here to say that loss is horrible no matter how it is, no matter who or what you lost. It truly is not fair to cross examine different losses and say that one is less or more of a loss than the other. Because comparing grief to someone else’s doesn’t make your loss any bigger or smaller, it is still yours. It’s not going to change how tremendous it is. Loss and grief means something different to everyone. What matters most is what it means to you, to your heart, and to your grief journey.

In this episode, you will hear:

• How loss affects everyone, no one is immune to losing someone or something that is important to them
• Why it is important to not play the comparison game with your grief or others
• How we can use our own loss to help us respect other people's losses

Have you gotten stuck in the comparison game with your loss and grief? Let us know over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/goodgriefpeople/. We are keeping the conversation going and would love to connect with you!

If you know someone who needs to hear this podcast, please share it with them. Sign up to subscribe to our newsletter https://bit.ly/GoodGriefPeopleNewsletter. And as a thank you, you will receive a complimentary copy of our little eBook, “Tips to Allow Yourself to Grieve".

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show so you don’t miss an episode! While you are there, give us some stars and leave a review so we can reach and help more and more people. 

Thank you for listening!

We are so excited to welcome our second guest to the show! Rachel Engstrom is a fellow grief warrior and the author of a book titled Wife, Widow, Now What? She is joining us today to share her grief story and how she lost her husband and best friend to cancer when she was just 31 years old. You will be amazed at some of the commonalities we all have (like the year of 2011) and many of the differences we have.

We are three different women who collectively suffered the most significant and catastrophic losses that anyone can suffer- the loss of a spouse, the loss of a child, and the loss of both parents. And while we all grieved them differently, we are all choosing to find the good in our grief and the freedom that provides us to help us all move forward.

In this episode, you will hear:
-Rachel’s grief story and why she decided to write her book
-The commonalities and differences we have in our grief journeys
-How Rachel is finding the good in her grief

To purchase Rachel’s book https://www.amazon.com/Wife-Widow-Now-What-Navigated/dp/B08KBV5DBL

To connect with Rachel:
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/wifewidownowwhat/
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/wife.widow.now.what

Please come hang out with us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/goodgriefpeople/. We are keeping the conversation going and would love to connect with you!

If you know someone who needs to hear this podcast, please share it with them. Sign up to subscribe to our newsletter https://bit.ly/GoodGriefPeopleNewsletter. And as a thank you, you will receive a complimentary copy of our little eBook, “Tips to Allow Yourself to Grieve".

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show so you don’t miss an episode! While you are there, give us some stars and leave a review so we can reach and help more and more people.

Thank you for listening!

In today’s episode, we are talking about trigger words and while we are excited to dig into this, it is also a very tough subject and sometimes even taboo. Everyone who goes through a loss or something traumatic, has trigger words- words that can take us back to that memory, that moment, that loss. And it can hurt so deeply and so badly. But we want you to remember that people who say these words, do not mean to cause intentional harm. They don’t know how this can hurt because they have not endured the loss.

We will talk through our trigger words and what feelings they bring up for us. We also talk about how we deal with it. It is important that you know you are not alone if you have been hurt by someone’s words. It is part of dealing with grief because we all already feel the hurt so the words just intensify our pain. It is normal and okay but it helps to recognize it so you can deal with it and move on.

In this episode, you will hear:
-Why trigger words hurt and why they are not meant to cause intentional harm
-What our trigger words are and how we deal with them
-How you are not alone in hurting and how you can help others understand your trigger words

Please come hang out with us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/goodgriefpeople/. We are keeping the conversation going and would love to connect with you!

If you know someone who needs to hear this podcast, please share it with them. Sign up to subscribe to our newsletter https://bit.ly/GoodGriefPeopleNewsletter. And as a thank you, you will receive a complimentary copy of our little eBook, “Tips to Allow Yourself to Grieve".

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show so you don’t miss an episode! While you are there, give us some stars and leave a review so we can reach and help more and more people.

Thank you for listening!

In today’s episode, we are talking about dealing with other feelings besides grief. We all have other things, other issues, and other feelings that we can’t ignore and we need to give them our attention. Just because we are grieving or have grief, does not mean we have a hall pass or don’t have to deal with them. Go back and listen to Episode 12: No Hall Passes for Grief Warriors for more insight on this.

We also want you to know that it is okay if these other things and feelings come up and leave you exhausted. That is normal. We are all a little more fragile and that’s okay. Many times, our grief and suffering allow us to be more compassionate and more aware of what people are going through and how they feel.

One way that can help you with dealing with your other feelings is to set yourself up for as much success as possible by establishing healthy habits when dealing with your grief. Another great episode to go back and listen to is Episode 8: Healthy Habits. If you don’t deal with these other feelings and issues, they are going to compound and will be even harder to deal with while you grieve.

In this episode, you will hear:
-Why it is important to deal with your other feelings and not ignore them
-What things we are currently dealing with and how we are giving them our attention
-Tips for how to deal with your other feelings and situations in a positive way

Please come hang out with us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/goodgriefpeople/. We are keeping the conversation going and would love to connect with you!

If you know someone who needs to hear this podcast, please share it with them. Sign up to subscribe to our newsletter https://bit.ly/GoodGriefPeopleNewsletter. And as a thank you, you will receive a complimentary copy of our little eBook, “Tips to Allow Yourself to Grieve".

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show so you don’t miss an episode! While you are there, give us some stars and leave a review so we can reach and help more and more people.

Thank you for listening!

The dash mark? What does that even mean? For grief warriors, and honestly for everyone, the dash mark has a very significant meaning. You see, the dash mark is referencing what is between the date in which you were born and the date you die. The dash mark represents your life and where you live. So our question for you is: what are you doing with your dash mark? What are you doing with your life? Are you truly living or just getting by each day?

We don’t want you to just live, we want you to be ALIVE. If you haven’t found the good in your grief, chances are you are not fully living. Do you have something that is helping you pop out of bed every day because you are thankful to be alive? If you don't, you’ve got to create it or go out and find it. We are not grief experts but we are both experienced with grief. We’d never tell you to do something we haven't gone through and done ourselves. We have found out how to be ALIVE and we want that for you! We want you to make the most of your dash mark, your life.

In this episode, you will hear:
-The significance of the dash mark
-The importance of making the most of your dash mark and what that means
-Tips to making the most of your dash mark while dealing with grief

Please come hang out with us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/goodgriefpeople/. We are keeping the conversation going and would love to connect with you!

If you know someone who needs to hear this podcast, please share it with them. Sign up to subscribe to our newsletter https://bit.ly/GoodGriefPeopleNewsletter. And as a thank you, you will receive a complimentary copy of our little eBook, “Tips to Allow Yourself to Grieve".

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show so you don’t miss an episode! While you are there, give us some stars and leave a review so we can reach and help more and more people.

Thank you for listening!

Welcome to Episode Sweet 16! Today we are talking about the difference between using band-aids or real solutions when dealing with grieving and loss. As we know from first aid, band-aids are a temporary and quick fix. They allow you to stop the bleeding quickly, and with grief, sometimes that is exactly what we need, we need to stop the bleeding quickly.

The reality is we all use band-aids especially in the early stages and in that year of firsts. There is nothing wrong with that! But you don’t want to keep those band-aids on forever. They are not a solution. Just like a scrape or a cut, you need to remove the band-aid in order for your wound to heal. If you continue to put the band-aids on without finding long-term solutions, you’re going to end up with scar tissue and that is no way to live.

Listen in to hear some examples of our band-aids and solutions. You know we aren’t going to tell you what solutions will work best for you and your loss. You have to figure out what works for you! But we are going to tell you that you need to find real solutions to deal with your grief and we are here to help you pull those band-aids off!

In this episode, you will hear:
-Why we need band-aids and why we also need to pull them off
-Some examples of what real band-aids and real solutions can look like
-Ways you can prepare to get rid of those band-aids and find solutions to your grief

Please come hang out with us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/goodgriefpeople/. We are keeping the conversation going and would love to connect with you!

If you know someone who needs to hear this podcast, please share it with them. Sign up to subscribe to our newsletter https://bit.ly/GoodGriefPeopleNewsletter. And as a thank you, you will receive a complimentary copy of our little eBook, “Tips to Allow Yourself to Grieve".

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show so you don’t miss an episode! While you are there, give us some stars and leave a review so we can reach and help more and more people.

Thank you for listening!

Welcome to Episode 15 where we are welcoming our first guest, Steph Heumann, to the podcast! Steph and Missy met in college and have been through a lot together- the good and the bad! We are honored to have her as our first guest as she is sharing how the Good Grief, People! Podcast has touched her and helped her deal with the grief of losing her mom seven years ago. She made a special connection with one episode in which Lori was talking about her mom. You’ll have to listen to hear what the connection was and why this episode is titled “For the Love of Lipstick!”

Join us as we talk through how Steph was able to find her permission slip to grieve in a healthy way that has led her to filling her hole of grief with love, celebration, and remembrance of her mom. She has found the good in her grief and we are hoping this inspires you to find the good in yours.

In this episode, you will hear:
-How Steph was moved by this podcast to grieve the loss of her mom in a healthy and special way
-The connection Steph and Lori have and why this is episode is titled “For the Love of Lipstick”
-How grief, like life, can be tough but we’ve got to find the good in both

Please come hang out with us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/goodgriefpeople/. We are keeping the conversation going and would love to connect with you!

If you know someone who needs to hear this podcast, please share it with them. Sign up to subscribe to our newsletter https://bit.ly/GoodGriefPeopleNewsletter. And as a thank you, you will receive a complimentary copy of our little eBook, “Tips to Allow Yourself to Grieve".

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show so you don’t miss an episode! While you are there, give us some stars and leave a review so we can reach and help more and more people.

Thank you for listening!

In today’s episode, we are talking about grieving through the seasons. And we do not mean calendar seasons, we are talking about grieving through the different seasons of LIFE. Traditionally, grief usually makes one think of the death or loss of a loved one- a human or a pet but today we are talking about the non-traditional grief and losses that everyone goes through during different seasons. Let’s face it, we are all going through a season right now with the COVID pandemic! And think of the losses that we have faced or seen others face- loss of work, travel, time with extended family, senior years, graduations, weddings, the list goes on and on.

We all go through different seasons in life- from childhood to adulthood. Through the passing of each season, we all experience loss and grief- whether it is a child moving out of the house to attend college, the role reversal and taking care of aging parents, or an expectation that is not met. All of these losses deserve our attention. We must acknowledge them and go through some of those stages of grief we discussed in our last episode (if you missed it, go check it out, it is Episode 13: Stages of Grief!). Once you acknowledge and grieve the losses in your season, then you have to find the good in them. This way you are able to move on and find the joy in your life. That’s what this podcast is all about!

In this episode, you will hear:
-What grieving through the seasons of life looks like
-How everyone goes through loss during different seasons of life
-Why we need to give our attention to these losses and our grief so we can get through them and find the good

Please come hang out with us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/goodgriefpeople/. We are keeping the conversation going and would love to connect with you!

If you know someone who needs to hear this podcast, please share it with them. Sign up to subscribe to our newsletter https://bit.ly/GoodGriefPeopleNewsletter. And as a thank you, you will receive a complimentary copy of our little eBook, “Tips to Allow Yourself to Grieve".

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show so you don’t miss an episode! While you are there, give us some stars and leave a review so we can reach and help more and more people.

Thank you for listening!

We are tackling the 5 stages of grief in today’s episode. While this will be somewhat educational, we also hope that it will be exciting because it can help you make sense of some of your feelings when you realize it is normal to go through different periods of grief. When you see that there are stages or compartments for your feelings, it can actually help your soul heal.

We are going to go through each of the 5 stages of grief and discuss them one by one. And while we will list them in an order, you may not actually go through them in that order. You may jump around to different stages and you may actually go through all of the stages in one day! The purpose of this episode is to let you know it is sooo normal to be in any of these stages at any given point. And the ultimate goal for all of us is to get to the acceptance stage and stay there!

In this episode, you will hear:
-The 5 different stages of grief and what they may look like
-How these stages are all different and how you can jump in and out of them at different periods
-Why you must go through 4 of the stages before you can land in the best stage which is acceptance

Please come hang out with us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/goodgriefpeople/. We are keeping the conversation going and would love to connect with you!

If you know someone who needs to hear this podcast, please share it with them. Sign up to subscribe to our newsletter https://bit.ly/GoodGriefPeopleNewsletter. And as a thank you, you will receive a complimentary copy of our little eBook, “Tips to Allow Yourself to Grieve".

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show so you don’t miss an episode! While you are there, give us some stars and leave a review so we can reach and help more and more people.

Thank you for listening!

Welcome back! We are so excited about the subject of today’s episode because, friends, we are living it. It almost doesn’t seem fair but us grief warriors are not given hall passes. Just because we are hit with a tremendous loss or tragedy, that does not mean that life is going to take it easy on us. It would be nice but then that’s not the real world is it?

We share with you how, as grief warriors, we seem to feel things a little bit more and maybe react differently to situations and challenges if we did not suffer our losses. What can we do about that? We can be prepared, and as we have discussed in previous episodes, we can do things in advance to put ourselves in a better place when the inevitable difficulties of life come down on us.

In this episode, you will hear:
-How grief causes us to be more fragile while dealing with the day to day of life
-What we can do when we feel like we need a hall pass
-How we can prepare for the inevitable difficulties of life

Listen all the way to the end of the episode because we are giving you a preview of our upcoming episodes! We have a lot of ideas and plans up our sleeves :)

And come hang out with us over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/goodgriefpeople/. We are going to be keeping the conversation going and may even be having a GIVEAWAY!

If you know someone who needs to hear this podcast, please share it with them. Sign up to subscribe to our newsletter https://bit.ly/GoodGriefPeopleNewsletter. And as a thank you, you will receive a complimentary copy of our little eBook, “Tips to Allow Yourself to Grieve".

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show so you don’t miss an episode! While you are there, give us some stars and leave a review so we can reach and help more and more people.

Thank you for listening!