87. Managing Through Grief & Building Deeper Connections

I’ve been trying to figure out how to have a dialogue about what’s happening in the world today. There are a lot of discussions being had about police violence and racial justice — and you should absolutely seek those out and educate yourself if you have not lived through that experience — but I think I can better serve you by starting a discussion about grief and introspection.

Everyone was already experiencing some degree of emotional burden after months of disruption during the global pandemic and subsequent shutdown orders, and some are now just becoming aware or starting to pay attention to the emotional burdens that have been carried by generations of Black Americans. And a natural result of all of this is grief. So, in this episode, I want to help you manage through grief, building deeper connections in the process.

This is a sensitive topic and this episode will likely make you feel uncomfortable. I was uncomfortable recording it and sharing it. But this is the time to sit with that discomfort. Understand that moving through difficult times of grief and building a higher level of understanding will help us build better systems to grow within, which will allow us to affect change on a greater level without.

7 Stages of Grief:

• Shock and Denial
• Pain and Guilt
• Anger and Bargaining
• Depression, Reflection, Loneliness
• The Upward Turn
• Reconstruction and Working Through
• Acceptance and Hope

Questions you can ask yourself or use to open up a dialogue:

• What stage of grief are you in? If you can’t move past the first two stages, you will get stuck in a habit that makes you unable to produce positive change.
• How do we create new systems that allow us to step into inclusion, step into creativity, step into connection with each other? You have to know where you are first, and where you’re potentially at fault.
• How can I be of service? How can I show up as a heart-centered leader right now?
• Where did I learn how to be discriminatory? Was that my story, was that the way I truly felt, or was that what I was told?

Now, let’s turn this into a conversation! 

Text message Kareen at 917-540-5782 to get your direct questions regarding the content of the podcast answered. 

Take a screenshot of your phone while you’re listening, share it on Insta with your biggest takeaway, and tag me: @kareenzwalsh or @yourbadassjourneypodcast. And if you have any questions about what we discuss in this episode or a problem you’re currently experiencing, I want you to slide into those DMs or send an email to [email protected] so that I can answer it on a future episode.

I encourage you to also reach out to someone you care about and start a dialogue about how they can be more inclusive, and figure out ways to build their businesses or align their careers with more inclusion and assistance.