09/09/2026
A few weeks ago, I woke up to a text I never expected to receive.
The daughter of my dear friend Stephanieโa woman Iโve known for nearly 30 yearsโshared that her mom wasnโt doing well and invited those who loved her to come to the hospital to say goodbye.
As I drove the hour there, I began feeling Stephanie.
For those who know me, you know I am deeply intuitive. And what I felt more strongly than anything was an overwhelming sense of **joy and freedom**.
โIโm free!โ
Again and again:
โIโm free!โ
At the time, I believed she was still alive.
When I arrived, her daughter hugged me tightly.
โIโm sorry, Auntie. Iโm sorry.โ
Thatโs when I learned Stephanie had already passed.โค๏ธ
Stephanie wasnโt only a dear friend. She holds a very special place in the story of ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ๐บ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ง.
I have often called her one of the โposter childrenโ for why I wrote the book.
After losing her husband, Stephanie carried tremendous grief and guilt for yearsโparticularly the belief that she should somehow have been able to save him.
Later, after being diagnosed with stage-two colon cancer, she began questioning what she had been carrying emotionally all those years.
She reached out to me, and we did release work around some of those emotions.
Afterward, she told me about the changes she experiencedโthe guilt she released, her changing perspective, her happiness, her travels, her hiking, and the way she began living differently.
And she generously agreed to share her experience as one of the Grief Survivor Case Studies in ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ๐บ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ง.
At her Celebration of Life, as I sat with Stephanieโs family and friends, watching nearly four dozen people experience the loss of the ๐๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ฎ๐๐, something became very clear to me again:
When we experience a loss, we arenโt necessarily grieving only what just happened...
A new loss can touch every unprocessed loss that came before it.
A death can awaken another death.
A hospital room can bring us back to another hospital room.
A divorce can awaken an earlier abandonment.
A song, smell, photograph, birthday or anniversary can open an emotional door we thought we had closed years ago.
And that doesnโt mean there is something wrong with us. It may simply mean there is something still asking to be felt.
This is why we need healthier conversations about grief.
So, in honor of Stephanie, for the next 13 ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ด, Iโm opening up a deeper conversation about Healthy Grief.
Not 13 weeks of sadness. ๐ญ๐ฏ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ต๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ต๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ป.
About love. Loss. The body. Triggers. Relationships. Healing. Death. Joy.
And even freedom.
Next week, Iโll introduce you to Stephanie in a very special way: Through her own voice.
Before her passing, Stephanie recorded her Grief Survivor story for ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ๐บ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ง. Iโm honored that her voice, and what she learned through her journey, can continue touching others.
For nowโฆ Stephanie, thank you for trusting me. Thank you for sharing your story. Thank you for helping inspire ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ๐บ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ง.
Rest well, Sis. I love you!
๐ฌ๐ผ๐โ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ. โค๏ธ
