What if grief wasn't something to get over — but something to get fluent in?

This week, Denise sits down with psychotherapist, death doula, and author Kara Hoppe for an expansive conversation. Kara works at the bookends of life, supporting new parents and walking alongside those in the dying part of life, and she brings a rare, grounded wisdom to a topic most of us have been taught to avoid.

Together, they explore grief not as an emotion that happens to you, but as a practice you can cultivate. A skill that, when developed, doesn't just help you survive loss, it expands your entire capacity to be alive. They get into:

Why the people who disappear when you're sick aren't bad friends — they just don't have the tools yet

How befriending your mortality might be the most life-affirming thing you ever do

The surprising link between expanding your grief container and expanding your capacity for joy

What the dying actually regret (it's not what you think)

Why grief was never meant to be a solo act — and what it looks like to carry it communally

The relational filter Denise uses in dating: have you been taken to your knees?

What legacy actually means, and why it doesn't belong to us

This episode will change how you love, how you show up, and how you think about the time you have.

Kara Hoppe is the co-author of Baby Bomb and the creator of the We Are Mortal course.

Find her at karahoppe.com or @karahoppe on Instagram.

You can follow this podcast @toomuchwithdlh and Denise @deniselovehewett

“Not to think of grief as a journey we finish but grief as a language, it's to become fluent.” Jon Onwuchekwa