In this week’s episode, I am joined by Christina Rasmussen!

In 2010, four years after her thirty-five-year-old spouse passed away from Stage 4 colon cancer, she created the Life Reentry process, which launched her on a mission to bring compassion, grace and validation to thousands, while simultaneously establishing an exit from what she termed the “Waiting Room”.

Christina holds a master’s degree in guidance and counseling (University of Durham). She is currently finishing her master of fine arts degree in painting and drawing (Academy of Art). Her grief work has been featured on ABC News, The Guardian, Women’s World, the Washington Post, and the White House Blog. 

In her latest book, Christina advocates for what she calls “invisible losses”. Those moments of feeling misunderstood by your partner, left out of a friend group, or sad over a lackluster performance review, arguing that these moments are worthy of both emotion and recognition.

In her spare time, she is learning to play the piano and planning her first trip to the edge of space. She works and lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband, Eric, and their two dogs.  Key Points

• Transform tragedy into life's purpose

• Embracing the journey, not just the goal

• Shifting perception of self after loss

• Discover "invisible loss" and personal impact

• Defining life's path amidst imperfection

• Choosing joy amidst everyday grief

Best Quotes

04:51 - 05:00

• "We live in a world where we are doing things for a purpose, for a reason, for a mission for someone else, for people pleasing, for all those things."

06:19 - 06:35

• "I think the, I think the closer we get to who we really are. So the beauty of getting older is, is wisdom. And the closer we get to who we really are, sometimes when we find ourselves going through the motions, we're, it's, it's much easier to identify it quicker."

10:10 - 10:27

• "We start out in this life, Scott, and people experience this mom, I call the moments of impact happen to us. And we abandon that original, that true self, that authenticity of ourselves to please the world that lives outside of us."

11:15 - 11:22

• "It's millions of people. And most of us die there. And we don't even know. We were not living our life. We, were not living the life. We're here to live."

16:46 - 16:56

• "It was an invisible experience that we couldn't even know for ourselves. So it wasn't just invisible to others that we were experiencing this, this sadness, this anxiety."

23:37 - 23:45

• "It's about not living your life numb. It's about truly awakening and opening up yourself, yourself."

27:16 - 27:25

• "Because in the beginning it is important to go out, metaphorically speaking, and stay out as long as we can come back, rest, go back out again."