“You can’t be sad forever.” A professor said that to Shelby two months after her mom died, and I’m still not over it on her behalf.

Whether you’re the one grieving or the one trying to support someone who is, the words we use can make a person feel seen or completely unseen in a split second. In this episode of Life With Grief, I’m sitting down with grief coach, author, and podcaster Shelby Forsythia to talk about what to say (and what to skip) when someone is grieving, how to talk to yourself with more compassion, and the three simple phrases from her new book, “Of Course I’m Here Right Now”.

We also get into Shelby’s own story of stacked losses, the unexpected moment that finally cracked her grief open, and the three permissions to grieve from her book Permission to Grieve.

In this episode, we dig into:
✨ Shelby’s story of cumulative loss
✨ What did (and didn’t) help her cope back then
✨ “The Day of the Stolen Wallet”: the lightning-bolt moment that finally let Shelby grieve her mom
✨ The three permissions to grieve
✨ Why “losses become gains” doesn’t have to mean toxic positivity, and why grief is a creative act
✨ The three stories almost every griever tells themselves
✨ What to say to someone who is grieving instead of platitudes
✨ Why cracking a window beats an “Extreme Home Makeover” when you’re supporting a grieving friend
✨ How to rewrite hopeless thoughts

Press play, then send this one to the person in your life who keeps saying the wrong thing (or nothing at all).

Connect with Shelby:

• https://www.shelbyforsythia.com/
• https://www.instagram.com/shelbyforsythia/
• https://www.shelbyforsythia.com/grief-grower-podcast
• https://www.shelbyforsythia.com/of-course-im-here-right-now
  

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