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What do you do when loving your baby means having to say goodbye to him before he's even born?

In this episode I sit down with Rosanna Brown, who takes us inside one of the most misunderstood and least-talked-about kinds of loss there is: TFMR, termination for medical reasons. At her 20-week scan, Rosanna and her husband learned their son William had a condition that meant he would never survive outside the womb, and in the space of 24 hours, they were faced with a choice no parent should ever have to make. 

Rosanna is sharing all of it with us today, the diagnosis, the decision, the days she spent with William after, and the grief, guilt, and judgment that still live alongside her love for him.

✨ How a routine 20-week "gender scan" turned into the day Rosanna says she died right along with the version of herself she used to be
✨ William's diagnosis, CHAOS syndrome and hydrops fetalis, and the impossible choice Rosanna and her husband were given
✨ The complicated, guilt-soaked relief that comes with ending your child's suffering
✨ Rebuilding an identity after a loss like this, and why Rosanna doesn't want the old version of herself back
✨ The friendships that fell away, and the unexpected people who showed up for her instead
✨ Grieving differently than her husband did, and what that taught her about holding space for someone else's version of grief
✨ The legal and political reality surrounding TFMR, and how it adds a layer of judgment to an already devastating loss
✨ Her book, The Silence of TFMR, why she wrote it, and why she hopes it ends up in the hands of every parent facing this diagnosis

If you've ever had to make a choice no one should have to make, or you love someone who has, I hope this conversation helps you feel a little less alone in it.

Connect with Rosanna

• https://watkinspublishinglinks.com/the-silence-of-tfmr-landing-page
• https://www.instagram.com/thesilenceof_tfmr/

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Twenty-five years ago, Tara Bane's husband Michael kissed her goodbye, walked out the door, and never came home. He was working on the 100th floor of the North Tower on September 11, 2001. In this episode, Tara opens up about that day, the years of grief that followed, and how she eventually rebuilt a life she's proud of, including surviving the sudden loss of her mother just six years later, at only 19 years old.

We talk about what it's really like to grieve a loss the whole world witnessed, why "moving on" timelines do more harm than good, and how art therapy (even when the art itself is ugly and unrecognizable) can become one of the most powerful tools for processing trauma.

In this episode, we cover:
✨ What it was like to lose Michael on 9/11 and the surreal days of not knowing if he survived
✨ Why shock, denial, and adrenaline are the body's way of protecting us in acute grief
✨ The societal pressure to "move on" and how it shows up in the well-meaning things people say
✨ Coping with two major losses ten years apart
✨ How yoga and movement gave her moments of presence when grief felt all-consuming
✨ Why her first attempt at art therapy after 9/11 produced painting she didn't even recognize
✨ The Garden of Reflection memorial she co-created
✨ Remarriage, motherhood, divorce, and what it means to keep your heart open after loss
✨ Why she waited 25 years to write her memoir, Evolution of a Heart
✨ What she wants every griever to know about grief having no expiration date

Wherever you are in your own grief journey—whether it's been weeks or decades—I hope Tara's story reminds you that healing isn't linear, and your heart can stay open even after the worst has happened.

Connect with Tara:

• https://www.instagram.com/evolutionofaheart/
• https://www.tarabane.com/

Learn more about Letters of Light 💌✨ https://lossesbecomegains.com/letters

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Letters of Light 💌✨ https://lossesbecomegains.com/letters

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• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lossesbecomegains/
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• Website: https://lossesbecomegains.com/
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By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that the entire contents are the property of Tara Accardo, or used by Tara Accardo with permission. Except as otherwise provided herein, users of this Podcast may save and use information contained in the Podcast only for personal or other non-commercial, educational purpo...

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Have you ever looked at a relationship that used to feel like home and suddenly felt like you were speaking a different language? That disorienting shift is something I hear about constantly from my clients, and it's something I lived through myself in the years after losing my parents.

In this episode, I'm talking about outgrowing relationships after loss. That strange, often guilt-inducing experience of growing and evolving so much through grief that some relationships simply can't hold who you've become anymore. This isn't about blame, and it's not about anyone doing anything wrong. It's about misalignment, and giving yourself permission to lovingly release what no longer fits.

Here's what we cover:
✨ Why some people show up for us after loss, and why even the ones who DO keep showing up can start to feel farther away than ever
✨ How grief can compress years of personal growth into just months, and why that pace mismatch creates real distance in our relationships
✨ What it means to "stay the same but become a different person" after significant loss
✨ Why some relationships flex and grow with you, while others were only ever built for who you used to be
✨ How to release relationships with love instead of resentment, and why you're allowed to grieve even the ones you're choosing to let go of

If this one resonates and you want to go deeper, I've got two related episodes for you, too:

🎧 Episode 26 — 10 Ways to Set Boundaries in Your Grief: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/026-10-ways-to-set-boundaries-in-your-grief/id1688812587?i=1000631914708

🎧 Episode 192 — Navigating Relationship Changes & Outgrowing Friendships: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/192-navigating-relationship-changes-outgrowing-friendships/id1688812587?i=1000748896282

Wherever you are in this right now, I want you to know you're in a beautiful season of becoming, and becoming sometimes means outgrowing... even the people you love.

Support the show

Letters of Light 💌✨ https://lossesbecomegains.com/letters

Support the podcast: https://buymeacoffee.com/lifewithgriefpodcast

📖 Life Beyond Grief Substack: https://taraaccardo.substack.com/

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• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lossesbecomegains/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifewithgriefpodcast/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/losses.become.gains
• Website: https://lossesbecomegains.com/
• Work with me one-on-one: https://lossesbecomegains.com/work-with-tara
• Shop the LBG Daily Journal: https://lossesbecomegains.com/journal
  
  

By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that the entire contents are the property of Tara Accardo, or used by Tara Accardo with permission. Except as otherwise provided herein, users of this Podcast may save and use information contained in the Podcast only for personal or other non-commercial, educational purpo...

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There's a specific kind of grief that comes from losing a child. It's out of order, it defies everything we think we understand about life, and it changes you in ways that are almost impossible to put into words.

In this episode, I sit down with Teresa Davis—grief mentor, author, registered nurse, and host of The Grief Mentor Podcast—to talk about the loss of her son Andrew, a corporate pilot who died in a plane crash in 2018 at just 32 years old.

Teresa doesn't hold back. We talk about the complicated feelings that come with losing someone doing what they loved, what it actually looks like to wrestle with your faith after devastating loss, and why grieving as a family is so much messier—and so much more possible—than we're led to believe.

We dig into:
✨ Andrew's story: who he was, his path to becoming a corporate pilot, and the accident that took his life
✨ Why grief should never be compared, and what it means to hold space for the very specific relationship you lost
✨ The complex feelings of losing someone doing what they loved most, and how Teresa made peace with it
✨ A year spent wrestling with God, how her faith cracked wide open, and how she found her way back
✨ Understanding grieving styles
✨ The boundary work that changed everything for her
✨ How counseling and EMDR helped her heal from the PTSD of losing Andrew so publicly
✨ Navigating grief as a family: marriage, surviving children, and the unspoken expectations that quietly create distance
✨ How her pain became purpose through The Grief Mentor Podcast and her signature program, The Grief Roadmap

If you've ever felt like grief made you a stranger to yourself, or to the people you love most, this conversation is going to feel like an exhale.

Connect with Teresa Davis:
🔗 https://thegriefmentor.com/
🔗 https://www.instagram.com/griefmentor/

Learn more about Letters of Light 💌✨ https://lossesbecomegains.com/letters

Support the show

Letters of Light 💌✨ https://lossesbecomegains.com/letters

Support the podcast: https://buymeacoffee.com/lifewithgriefpodcast

📖 Life Beyond Grief Substack: https://taraaccardo.substack.com/

Connect with me:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lossesbecomegains/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifewithgriefpodcast/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/losses.become.gains
• Website: https://lossesbecomegains.com/
• Work with me one-on-one: https://lossesbecomegains.com/work-with-tara
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By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that the entire contents are the property of Tara Accardo, or used by Tara Accardo with permission. Except as otherwise provided herein, users of this Podcast may save and use information contained in the Podcast only for personal or other non-commercial, educational purpo...

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I don't think I've had a conversation on this podcast that captures the sheer whiplash of compounded loss quite like this one. My guest today is Emilie Eiden—flight attendant, grief and trauma-informed coach, and the heart behind the Instagram community Emily in Transit—and her story is one of those that reminds you grief doesn't wait its turn.

Emilie spent most of her twenties caring for her father as he lived with multiple sclerosis and cancer, watching him lose mobility year after year until he passed away when she was 26. Just when you think that's the whole story, she takes us into her thirties: a marriage that ended in divorce after eight years, and then—four months later—the unexpected death of her ex-husband.

In this episode, we cover:

✨ What anticipatory grief actually feels like when you're watching a parent decline for over a decade
✨ Why losing "the house" that held every holiday and celebration can feel like its own separate grief
✨ The complicated, often invalidated grief of divorce
✨ What it's like to grieve an ex-spouse after divorce
✨ How walking, therapy, journaling, and travel became Emilie's tools for processing compounded grief
✨ The difference between triggers and glimmers
✨ How a string of "failures" (six failed nursing board exams) led Emilie to the career and life she has now
✨ Why alone time and community aren't opposites, and how both showed up in her healing
✨ Emilie's grief and trauma-informed coaching certification and what's next for her

If you're navigating a loss that doesn't fit neatly into one category—a divorce, a death, or both at once—I hope this conversation reminds you that you're allowed to hold it all, and that there is life waiting for you on the other side.

Connect with Emilie:

• https://www.instagram.com/emilieintransit/

Learn more about Letters of Light 💌✨ https://lossesbecomegains.com/letters

Support the show

Letters of Light 💌✨ https://lossesbecomegains.com/letters

Support the podcast: https://buymeacoffee.com/lifewithgriefpodcast

📖 Life Beyond Grief Substack: https://taraaccardo.substack.com/

Connect with me:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lossesbecomegains/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifewithgriefpodcast/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/losses.become.gains
• Website: https://lossesbecomegains.com/
• Work with me one-on-one: https://lossesbecomegains.com/work-with-tara
• Shop the LBG Daily Journal: https://lossesbecomegains.com/journal
  
  

By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that the entire contents are the property of Tara Accardo, or used by Tara Accardo with permission. Except as otherwise provided herein, users of this Podcast may save and use information contained in the Podcast only for personal or other non-commercial, educational purpo...

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Can grief actually make you more magnetic? I know that might sound like a strange question—maybe even a little "woo woo"—but stick with me on this one.

This episode was sparked by an afternoon walk with my daughter, an episode of Sahara Rose's Higher Self podcast, and my word of the year: magnetic. As I listened to her talk about what makes a person magnetic—present, authentic, unbothered by the small stuff—I couldn't stop thinking about how much of that we, as grievers, already have access to. Not despite our loss, but because of it.

In this conversation, I'm walking you through how to alchemize your grief into magnetism, using six perspective shifts I've learned in the six years since losing both of my parents.

✨ How losing people teaches us to stop half-listening
✨ Why our sharpened noticingis a form of magnetism, not just leftover hypervigilance
✨ How dropping the performance of "I'm fine" gives other people permission to be honest too
✨ Why our forced familiarity with discomfort becomes a superpower others can lean on
✨ How grief teaches us to stop over-explaining our boundaries
✨ Why we become truth-tellers about what actually matters
✨ How holding joy and grief at the same time makes us more compelling, not more complicated
✨ Why our own brokenness becomes the thing that lets us meet other people's pain without flinching
✨ How releasing the need to be understood by everyone becomes its own kind of ease
✨ Why what we've survived becomes the bedrock of quiet, bone-deep self-trust

Episode with J.S. Park: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/223-11-years-at-a-trauma-center-a-hospital/id1688812587?i=1000772192456

Episode with Darnell Lamont Walker: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/139-facing-death-honoring-legacy-living-fully-with/id1688812587?i=1000720195925

Learn more about Letters of Light 💌✨ https://lossesbecomegains.com/letters

Support the show

Letters of Light 💌✨ https://lossesbecomegains.com/letters

Support the podcast: https://buymeacoffee.com/lifewithgriefpodcast

📖 Life Beyond Grief Substack: https://taraaccardo.substack.com/

Connect with me:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lossesbecomegains/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifewithgriefpodcast/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/losses.become.gains
• Website: https://lossesbecomegains.com/
• Work with me one-on-one: https://lossesbecomegains.com/work-with-tara
• Shop the LBG Daily Journal: https://lossesbecomegains.com/journal
  
  

By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that the entire contents are the property of Tara Accardo, or used by Tara Accardo with permission. Except as otherwise provided herein, users of this Podcast may save and use information contained in the Podcast only for personal or other non-commercial, educational purpo...

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I sit down with poet, therapist, and author Sara Rian to talk about the day her world changed. Sara's mom, Susan, died by suicide in July 2018 when Sara was just 28, and this conversation goes straight into the parts of grief after suicide loss that so many of us are afraid to say out loud.

We talk about what it's really like in those first immobilizing weeks. The police calls, the organ donation decision, planning a funeral while still in shock, and more.

Sara opens up about the anger she felt, not at her mom, but at a world that felt unsafe, and the guilt that lingered long after. She also shares how her mother's earlier suicide attempts throughout her childhood shaped an anxious attachment and a belief that her mom simply "couldn't" die.

This episode is also a love letter to healing tools that actually work. Sara talks about what saved her life: therapy, suicide-loss support groups, community, and writing "Insta poetry" starting just days after her mom died. She's since written seven books. We also get into how becoming a mom herself unlocked a whole new layer of grief she wasn't expecting.

✨ Why the early days after a suicide loss can feel physically immobilizing
✨ Navigating police involvement, organ donation calls, and funeral planning in real time
✨ Why Sara's anger was directed at the world, not her mother
✨ How childhood exposure to suicide attempts shapes anxious attachment
✨ The lifesaving role of therapy, support groups, and community after suicide loss
✨ How writing poetry within days of loss became a form of survival
✨ Becoming a mother without her own mom, and the grief that surfaced

If you've lost someone to suicide, or you love someone who has, this episode will help you feel less alone in it.

Connect with Sara:
🔗 https://www.sararianbooks.com/
🔗 https://www.instagram.com/sara_rian_books/

Learn more about Letters of Light 💌✨ https://lossesbecomegains.com/letters

Support the show

Letters of Light 💌✨ https://lossesbecomegains.com/letters

Support the podcast: https://buymeacoffee.com/lifewithgriefpodcast

📖 Life Beyond Grief Substack: https://taraaccardo.substack.com/

Connect with me:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lossesbecomegains/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifewithgriefpodcast/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/losses.become.gains
• Website: https://lossesbecomegains.com/
• Work with me one-on-one: https://lossesbecomegains.com/work-with-tara
• Shop the LBG Daily Journal: https://lossesbecomegains.com/journal
  
  

By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that the entire contents are the property of Tara Accardo, or used by Tara Accardo with permission. Except as otherwise provided herein, users of this Podcast may save and use information contained in the Podcast only for personal or other non-commercial, educational purpo...

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This week's episode is a little different! Instead of my usual conversation, I'm leaving you with something to hold onto while I'm away.

I'm off exploring Sicily with my husband and daughter, and it got me thinking about how loaded it can feel to want new experiences after loss—especially places or plans you once imagined sharing with the person you lost. So instead of a regular episode, I recorded a quick guided meditation on giving yourself permission to explore again.

This meditation speaks to:
✨ Why wanting new things after loss doesn't mean you're leaving your person behind
✨ A grounding practice to help you notice—without judgment—what you're actually curious about
✨ Why "I'm allowed to want this" might be the hardest and most healing sentence you say all week
✨ A gentle reminder that this might not be where you are yet, and that's okay too
✨ One small, low-stakes way to start exploring your own curiosity this week

If you've been feeling that quiet pull toward more—toward trying something new, going somewhere, wanting things again—this meditation is for you.

Support the show

Letters of Light 💌✨ https://lossesbecomegains.com/letters

Support the podcast: https://buymeacoffee.com/lifewithgriefpodcast

📖 Life Beyond Grief Substack: https://taraaccardo.substack.com/

Connect with me:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lossesbecomegains/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifewithgriefpodcast/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/losses.become.gains
• Website: https://lossesbecomegains.com/
• Work with me one-on-one: https://lossesbecomegains.com/work-with-tara
• Shop the LBG Daily Journal: https://lossesbecomegains.com/journal
  
  

By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that the entire contents are the property of Tara Accardo, or used by Tara Accardo with permission. Except as otherwise provided herein, users of this Podcast may save and use information contained in the Podcast only for personal or other non-commercial, educational purpo...

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I don't think I've ever had a conversation on this podcast quite like this one. Today I'm sitting down with Dr. Gillian O'Shea Brown, a psychotherapist, trauma specialist, and author who has found the most fascinating way to make trauma and grief work accessible: through Greek mythology.

Gillian grew up in Ireland where emotions were something to be feared, not felt (hello, banshee folklore). That background shaped her belief that "the opposite of depression is expression", and it's part of why she wrote Psyche's Awakening: A Guide to Emotional and Somatic Healing Through the Wisdom of Greek Myth, using figures like Narcissus, Sisyphus, Medea, and Chiron as allegories for the healing principles she's used with trauma survivors for over 15 years.

In this episode, we talk about:
✨ How Gillian bridges complex trauma and Greek mythology
✨ Why "the opposite of depression is expression," and what happens when we suppress our emotions instead of processing them
✨ What trauma actually is: when the past intrudes on the present
✨ A simple, real explanation of EMDR
✨ How the body holds onto memories we don't consciously remember and how to start noticing the clues
✨ Ego state work
✨ Complex PTSD vs. PTSD, and why relational trauma is often the death by a thousand cuts
✨ Repetition compulsion, and why we're wired to keep reliving familiar pain
✨ The archetypal emotional map journaling exercise Gillian uses to help people spot patterns across their relationships
✨ Why rediscovering playfulness and creativity might be one of the final steps of true healing
✨ An inside look at Gillian's book, Psyche's Awakening, and the archetypes she uses to map the healing journey

If you've ever wondered why you keep attracting the same dynamics, why certain sensations show up in your body when you're triggered, or how to start doing this healing work even if therapy isn't accessible to you right now, this episode is going to open a lot of doors.

Connect with Gillian:

• https://www.drgillianosheabrown.com/
• https://www.instagram.com/dr.gillianosheabrown

Learn more about Letters of Light 💌✨ https://lossesbecomegains.com/letters

Support the show

Letters of Light 💌✨ https://lossesbecomegains.com/letters

Support the podcast: https://buymeacoffee.com/lifewithgriefpodcast

📖 Life Beyond Grief Substack: https://taraaccardo.substack.com/

Connect with me:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lossesbecomegains/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifewithgriefpodcast/
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• Website: https://lossesbecomegains.com/
• Work with me one-on-one: https://lossesbecomegains.com/work-with-tara
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By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that the entire contents are the property of Tara Accardo, or used by Tara Accardo with permission. Except as otherwise provided herein, users of this Podcast may save and use information contained in the Podcast only for personal or other non-commercial, educational purpo...

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In today's episode of Mourning Sips and Soul Shifts, I'm talking about something I don't think gets named enough in grief: the shame spiral. That heavy feeling of watching everyone around you move forward—working, laughing, planning vacations—while you're still carrying the weight of your loss. If you've ever asked yourself "why am I not further along by now?", this episode is for you.

We dig into:
✨ Why grief comes with a hidden layer of shame, and why that shame is not a sign anything is wrong with you
✨ How productivity culture and unrealistic bereavement policies fuel the pressure to "get back to normal"
✨ Why comparing your grief to someone else's highlight reel—online or in person—isn't a fair comparison
✨ How well-meaning comments like "you seem so strong" can unintentionally add to the shame
✨ Why grief doesn't follow the neat five-stage narrative we were taught, and how that mismatch creates guilt
✨ Mindset shifts to help release the shame spiral

Mentioned in this episode (listen wherever you get your podcasts!):
Episode 86 | Navigating Social Media & Our Mental Health as We're Grieving: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/086-navigating-social-media-our-mental-health-as-were/id1688812587?i=1000680126476

Episode 148 | The 5 Stages of Grief: Myths vs. Reality (and What Grief Really Looks Like): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-5-stages-of-grief-myths-vs-reality-and-what/id1688812587?i=1000724369638

Learn more about Letters of Light 💌✨ https://lossesbecomegains.com/letters

Support the show

Letters of Light 💌✨ https://lossesbecomegains.com/letters

Support the podcast: https://buymeacoffee.com/lifewithgriefpodcast

📖 Life Beyond Grief Substack: https://taraaccardo.substack.com/

Connect with me:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lossesbecomegains/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifewithgriefpodcast/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/losses.become.gains
• Website: https://lossesbecomegains.com/
• Work with me one-on-one: https://lossesbecomegains.com/work-with-tara
• Shop the LBG Daily Journal: https://lossesbecomegains.com/journal
  
  

By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that the entire contents are the property of Tara Accardo, or used by Tara Accardo with permission. Except as otherwise provided herein, users of this Podcast may save and use information contained in the Podcast only for personal or other non-commercial, educational purpo...