The L Podcast

Where my trauma survivors at?! This one is for you. After learning that my husband was diagnosed with melanoma, my brain kind of lost it inside. I had lost my grandmother and mother to melanoma so of course my brain said this was going to have the same outcome. But when this story had a happy ending and he's cancer-free, the first thing I did was shame myself for feeling all the fear, worry, and sadness because this "wasn't that bad after all". I had been through worst therefore this was "nothing". But it was something. When we've been through worst situations in our lives, it's easy to compare whatever hardships we go through now to them to make them feel smaller, but we also end up making ourselves feel smaller. So today we're talking about what we can try doing instead!

Getting a diagnosis, especially for diabetes, can turn your whole world upside down. All you can think about is how much your life is going to change and all the scary stories about complications. But you can either live in fear, or be like today's guest Devon Garrett and be brave! Devon has been breaking stereotypes of what it means and looks like to live with type 2 diabetes. This November, she's even running out of her comfort zone and will be running the NYC Marathon. This is a story that everyone can be inspired by.

You can follow and support Devon's marathon journey: https://beyondtyperun.funraise.org/fundraiser/devon-garrett

Anyone else feeling really f*cking overwhelmed lately? Yeah, me too. Sometimes life puts a lot on our plates, and then sets the world on fire, and then makes it winter, and then and then and then! Life can be a lot sometimes and with each situation or obstacle comes the feelings and emotions they invoke. So what happens when you have a lot of different shit going on in your life? You feel a BUNCH of different emotions. Simultaneously. Back to back. It's overwhelming! And this is what broke me down in therapy today. I'm overwhelmed by life right now, more specifically, all the feelings it's making me feel. I'm also an empath so I'm feeling everyone else's feelings too. Here's what my therapist told me to do: set emotional and physical boundaries. How do you do that? Let's talk about it.

Get your priorities straight. It's something our parents have all told us at some point. But what does that mean? What does that look like? Having priorities is a good thing. It can help you figure out where to spend your time and energy. It can also help make sure you're living the life that aligns with your morals and values. But having too many priorities is a one-way ticket on the hot mess express. Ya can't do it. The key is to change and adjust your priorities as needed—daily, weekly, monthly, even yearly. And it's okay if your priorities change. It might not be easy, but it's definitely worth it. Let's talk about it.

Today we're honoring the late Joe Hurd, my good friend Aubrey's husband, who passed away from Epithelioid Hemangioendothelioma (EHE), a rare sarcoma. I've shared about grief and the hardships of being a caregiver, but being a caregiver to a parent is very different than caring for and losing a partner. In this episode Aubrey shares the raw truths around her journey going from wife to caregiver, what you should never say to a widow, and why it's about moving forward, not moving on.

For anyone impacted by cancer, Aubrey recommends Gilda's Club, a non-profit support community for families and loved ones.

Please consider donating or joining Team Joe with the Sarcoma Foundation of America.

https://p2p.onecause.com/chicago/team/team-joe-8

Today marks seven years since my mom passed away. The first few years after she passed, I dreaded this day. It brought up the pain and sadness of her last days. This year, it's still sad but I'm able to celebrate her life, instead of focusing on her absence. It's taken seven years to get to this point though. It took about five for my friend Bill after losing his mom. Today we're talking about how grief changes over the years and how anniversaries can go from painful memories to spending a day at the spa because that's what our moms would've wanted.