Let's talk about grief....
My theme for June on the podcast is going to be 'grief'. It's something that universally effects us all and yet can still be a slippery subject to approach. In some shape or form, at some point in our lives we all experience grief. Many of us are grieving right now in different ways - loss of work, freedom, financial loss, time with loved ones, death of loved ones, future plans, our lifestyle, our identity, our sense of purpose… Despite being in a collective crisis we are all navigating our own experience of it and in the same way we all navigate our own experience of grief.
If you've been following me for a while you will know some of my own encounters with grief, when my brother and sister died in 2014. I wrote an article about it here. What I have learned from my own experience of grief cannot be summed up in a newsletter or blog post. What I do know, is that it continues to shape me every day. For all that I lost, I also gained too. Grief for me, shows up in unexpected ways - holding people at arms length in order to protect myself from becoming too connected, whilst having more faith and trust in myself than ever before knowing I have survived really tough experiences.
When I talk to others about their experience of grief I can feel hugely connected from sharing common human feelings and at the same time feel lonely when my experience doesn't match theirs. I remind myself that although our experiences are completely unique our human emotions are the same - they just show up in different ways.
So, my plans for the podcast...
I would like to have a few short interviews with people on their experience of grief (up to 10 mins) and stitch them all together to create an episode (or two). I am looking for a variety of experiences - death, loss of any kind, miscarriage, divorce, loss of dreams/ future plans..... I think there will be common threads in there and something that people can relate to.
My guess is that this will be very useful and relatable to people right now, and hopefully a reassuring and uplifting take on grief .
If you would like to be interviewed and share your experience on the podcast, please reply to this email with...
Brief description of your grief experience (what happened)
Your perspective on grief - how has it changed you? what have you learned?
One rule - Please share from the scar and not the wound. Make sure you feel safe to share your experience publicly. I want people to be in a position to talk openly without causing themselves harm.
PS - If you like these little thoughts you can follow me on Instagram and subscribe to my podcast
Photo by Giga Khurtsilava on Unsplash