Jennifer Levin
Hi everyone and welcome to Untethered: Healing the pain from a sudden death. I am Dr. Jennifer Levin, and I specialize in traumatic death and helping individuals through the struggles, pain, trauma, and chaos of an unexpected death. In today’s podcast I am interviewing Riece Morris who shares with us the story of her mother who unexpectedly died from medical causes related to alcoholism. Riece is mother of 5 children who works as a certified life coach and Equus coach who firmly believes that life is meant to be LIVED and not merely endured. She has helped hundreds of women create lives of intention and purpose, release unhelpful patterns and beliefs, and create relationships with themselves that they never thought would be possible. She works with her clients both online and in person and specializes in helping women set and achieve their goals and she companions them along the way. Riece lives in Northern California with her husband, children, and animals.
Riece, I am so glad that you are here with us today. And I just want to start off, of course and welcome you and ask you to introduce yourself. Tell us a little bit about who you are, what you do anything that you're comfortable about sharing.
Riece Morris
Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for the invitation. I really appreciate it. So my name is Riece, I'm a life coach. I'm actually an Equus coach, which means that I use horses to facilitate coaching sessions with people, which has been such a privilege to get to do. I live in Northern California, I've got five kids that range in age from almost five to almost 19. Both of them have birthdays in the next couple of weeks, my youngest and my oldest. And I am married, I think I said I live in Northern California, I can't remember. But I'm in Northern California. I am an equestrian. I love horses, you know more than anything. It's my favorite. And I love coaching. I work primarily with women, and primarily with setting some kind of goal in their lives. And it really varies, everything from, you know, just learning to be more comfortable with their emotions to you know, setting money goals, or, you know, health goals, things like that. So it's a lot of different kinds of things. But it's work that I absolutely love.
Jennifer Levin
That's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. Okay. Well, I know you agreed to come and talk with us today about what happened to your mom and that she unexpectedly died in May of 2022. And if you would, walk us through what happened. How did you find out? What do you remember most? What are you comfortable sharing?
Riece Morris
Yeah. Um, so it was May of last year. And it was, you know, it was a very normal morning, I got up that morning, I usually get up around like 6:30 ish. And I had gotten, you know, my older two kids generally were at that time responsible for getting themselves ready for school. So I didn't really fuss with them much. But my younger three kids, I was working on getting them ready for school. I think at the point that I got a phone call, I want to say it was around like 7:30 or so that I got a phone call from my aunt. And I just remember I was in my bathroom, getting myself a little bit cleaned up so that I could take them to school. And I got a phone call from my aunt. And she told me that my mom that she just gotten a phone call from my mom's I guess you'd call it landlord. But my mom lived in a house, she rented a room from an older woman. And so this woman had called my aunt and said that an ambulance had just been called or had just come I don't remember exact timeline. But um, so my aunt was calling me. I live about 15 minutes away from where my mom lived at that time. And she was just kind of letting me know that that an ambulance had been called she was concerned, but maybe not overly concerned. But she really wanted me to go check on her. And just a little bit of backstory. My mom has been an alcoholic for as long as I can remember and has had a lot of a lot of like maybe health scares, you know, not necessarily. I mean, it's not like the ambulance was called frequently, but actually, she had been taken to the hospital not too long before that. And it was really, you know, it was kind of like they just told her stop drinking, basically. And so I wasn't overly concerned. And I basically just told my aunt, you know, maybe I'll go later today and check on her was very casual, not really overly concerned. And my aunt pressured me a little bit more to maybe I should call and check on her. Call the hospital and check on her. And I was like, okay, that's that's an okay compromise. I can do that. So I called the hospital. And they basically said to me, do you live locally? I said yes. And they said you should come. And it's really unlike me to not ask for any details. I asked nothing. I didn't ask any questions. I didn't ask how is she doing? I didn't ask why should I come? I didn't ask anything. I just immediately said okay, and got off the phone and started making some decisions about what I was going to do with my kids. Am I going to try and bring my kids am I going to try and call somebody to watch my kids? Is it faster just to take them to school? And I ended up deciding they were pretty much ready to go. I ended up deciding I was just going to drop them off at school and then go, and it's it's still so baffling to me that I didn't ask any questions. I didn't ask anything. I had no update on why she was even sent to the hospital, I mean, I knew that the room or the landlord had said that she had collapsed. She'd called for help. And she had collapsed. But that's all I knew I didn't, I didn't know why they taken her to the hospital as opposed to just like, you know, helping her in the field or whatever I didn't, I didn't have any details. And so I took my kids to school, I didn't tell them anything about what was going on. And I drove to the hospital. And there were a lot of little clues. Looking back, I didn't catch them at all at the time, but there were a lot of clues that she had already passed away when I got there. One was that I think when we spoke earlier, I think I said it was something to do with masks. It wasn't it was ID, they asked me for my ID when I came in. And I didn't bring my wallet in with me, I parked my car, and it was in my car, and I didn't bring it in with me. And the security guard actually intervened and just said, don't worry about it to the person and kind of escorted me through and I thought that was a little bit odd. Like if they needed ID, why didn't they want me to go get the ID. They also put me in a private room, which again, it just wasn't registering for me, I still just kind of thought, I mean, maybe there was a niggle in the back of my head, but I didn't if I wasn't picking up on it. And so I had to put a lot of pressure there was there was some, maybe a nurse or somebody that came in and spoke to me and she didn't want to tell me anything. You know, I asked, you know, how is she doing? And he said, we're going to have the doctor come and talk to you. And I ended up really insisting and just saying if you know, if you know, you need to tell me. Like, please don't stand here and know this about what's going on. If she's okay, tell me she's okay. And if she's not tell me that, and she did tell me that she had passed away. And I really at the time, I mean, I knew it was alcohol related. There was no question it wasn't. But I didn't know, you know why, or how, like, how had she actually died. And, you know, I called my aunt, the same one that had called me and that was just brutal. That was, you know, both of us just wailing at the top of our lungs. It was, it was so like guttural, like primal it was. So um, and, you know, I felt, it's interesting, looking back at some of the details that I remember now, like, I remember feeling so bad for these people that were watching this, like, it's such a silly thing to feel bad for them. But I just, I can't imagine I've certainly never experienced it. I can't imagine being in the room when someone finds something like that out. And that emotion that comes up. And so yeah, it was, it was crazy.
Jennifer Levin
Yeah. What do you remember about some of those really early grief experiences that you had?
Riece Morris
Um, I remember how surreal it felt at times. Like, I was lucky, I think I was lucky that I got to see her right away. That was for me, I'm not saying this would be true for everyone. But for me, that was really beneficial to see her body and to even be able to touch her body. That was for me, very important. And I remember so much it just feeling not real. But it was real, because I knew I mean, I was having all the like, terrible emotions. So it's not it's such a strange thing. It's not anything I've ever experienced before. But I, I also remember how, how it was this, like hodgepodge of different emotions, like it wasn't strictly just sadness that she was gone. There was also a lot of guilt, like, could I have gotten here faster and been able to see her? Why didn't I take it seriously, when my aunt was telling me she was taken to the hospital? Should I, I knew she was in one of her, you know, she she kind of phased through like, you know, coming, like I said, only live 15 minutes away. And so coming to my house frequently to see me to see the kids. And then she'd also go through phases where she just kind of disappeared and we didn't hear from her. We didn't talk to her for a while. And that was something she'd phase through dozens of times, right. But she had been in one of her withdrawal phases, right before obviously. And I hadn't seen her in a couple of weeks. I knew she wasn't doing well because that's that's kind of how that goes when she disappeared. She's not doing well. So there was a lot of guilt, a lot of shame should I have done more should I have gone to her house could I have prevented this like a lot of that going on. A lot of complicated emotions about the fact that our relationship wasn't closer, you know, we had what I have been calling a complicated relationship where I did kind of resent that she drank so much that she was so you know, unstable, like not not really consistently around for my kids, things like that. So I just remember there being so much like a swirl of all of it, like it was hard to almost distinguish I just I also remember the first night not being able to sleep, and I ended up going into the garage, because I could not stop wailing. I was wailing, like, like so loud and so dramatically, and I didn't want to scare my kids. I just went into my garage and closed the door, and my aunt had flown in that day, she flew and bless her, she flew in that day. So she was actually in my guest room, and my garage is directly below my guest room. And I've never asked her I am assuming it just must have been loud in there. But she ended up coming in and, you know, just comforting me in. You know, It was it was crazy. It was. I remember saying even that, if you had asked me before it happened, how challenging it would be to lose my mother. I knew it would have been hard, but I didn't. I didn't think it would be earth shattering to be honest. I I thought because we're not that close, because I knew her alcoholism was very serious. Because I didn't see her all the time. I thought it would be sad, but it wouldn't be. Yeah, it wouldn't rocked my world. And I couldn't have been more wrong about that. It was brutal. It was. Yeah, it definitely took a really big toll.
Jennifer Levin
Yeah, I can hear that. In the early stages of your grief. How did it affect your body, your mind? What was that like for you?
Riece Morris
Well, there were a lot of things that I didn't realize, I found out later after talking to people and reading about it. This is very, very normal. That this is a very typical grief experience. But I didn't realize that I would have brain fog that I was literally, I remember having conversations with people and having trouble following what they were saying like my, I don't know, it was almost like my brain was so full that it couldn't take something else in that's that's kind of how it seemed. But yeah, I remember I was working at the time for another coach. I was I was working in her group program. And we would have team meetings. And she's explaining something. And I'm not, it's almost like she was speaking a foreign language or something, like I wasn't following what she was saying. I couldn't keep up with the conversation. And that was really unexpected. And I also I definitely did struggle with sleep. Mainly just because I felt like my brain couldn't stop spinning on it. Like, just almost like it was on this repeat of, oh my gosh, she's gone. Like is this real, like just kind of the swirling thoughts and stuff in it. And so I definitely struggled with sleep in the beginning. And then, you know, that's what I remember initially. But I would say at least those first eight months or so. It was, things just felt different. Like, I was definitely depressed, I realized after again at the time, I didn't realize that's what I was going through. But I was having trouble getting out of bed, I was having trouble engaging with my family. And I also remember a lot of self judgment at the time in terms of like, it seemed almost over the top. Like, this isn't someone you were super, super close with. It's not like, you know, I thought of other people that I knew that were super close with their mothers and I just thought yeah, if they're if their mother died, then this kind of behavior would be totally warranted, you know, like not being able to get out of bed. That would make total sense, but for me, it didn't seem fair. It didn't seem appropriate, almost, like I felt guilty. You know, even about my kids and stuff. I felt like it's not fair that I'm doing this to them or that I'm experiencing this because there's not a good enough reason almost. And so that part was really hard all of the self judgment kind of feeling like it was almost like I felt like I hadn't earned that kind of grief. I know that sounds I mean, it sounds silly to me to say that now but that's that's what it felt like was like, this was not a significant enough loss for this kind of grief basically is what it felt like.
Jennifer Levin
Wow, I really hear that. How did the experience with your mom compare to other grief experiences that you've had in your life?
Riece Morris
So I think I've been kind of sheltered from a lot of grief experiences. I honestly the only I had never even lost a pet. I really genuinely had not even lost a pet like I did lose my grandfather when I was about, I think I was maybe 14 ish when I lost my grandfather. And that was really sad. But again, it was definitely not earth shattering. Like it didn't just feel like my entire life, like, changed in an instant. And I looking back, I think the hardest part of that was seeing how sad my mom and her sisters and my grandmother were, that was more difficult for me than the loss. I mean, not that I wasn't sad, of course, I was sad. But it just wasn't like this earth shattering thing for me. And so I was very unprepared, I really, I really didn't have a lot of experiences with grief, I haven't had a lot of that kind of loss in my life. And so I didn't, I really didn't, like I said, there were a lot of things about this that I just didn't, I didn't know that sleep disruption was normal and brain fog and all these other things. That, oh, my gosh, the we talked about this a little bit before, but like the existential-like questions that arose, I had no idea, like I was, I felt so settled in the idea that we have spirits that live on after our bodies died, like before my mother died, I think I would have said I was 100% confident in the idea. I didn't, I didn't necessarily have as much confidence in, you know, maybe like, who is God? And what kind of God is he and all that, but I was like, yes, for sure we have spirits and for sure our spirits live on after our bodies are dead. But there was something about losing my mom, that it was, it just threw that all into turmoil that I didn't, I no longer had that confidence in that belief. I knew I hoped it to be true. I sincerely hoped that my mother's spirit lived on but there was a very deep, very deep fear that it didn't. And especially because I felt like so much of her life was so hard. And so much of her life was so, in my opinion, sad. That the idea that that was all she got that that was it, for her experience was terrifying. And it brought all of that. And the same thing with like, all of a sudden being so scared that my kids were going to die. I had no I didn't know that that would be a part of the grief experience. I was like I said, just completely unprepared for that.
Jennifer Levin
Right? Well, I mean, it's obvious, this absolutely shook you to the core and changed every aspect of your life. And many of the reasons are because this was a sudden and unexpected death, which is so unique in so many ways compared to a death that somebody might anticipate, or have a long time to prepare for. And so it just explains why this was, on some levels, such a difficult experience for you. And I know one that you're still grieving, and will be grieving for such a long time. You mentioned at the beginning of our call that you work as a life coach, and you're a mom and you've got you said four children, five children five, yeah. What a handful. What a wonderful experience. How did you, how do you balance work and family and grief? How do you make room for all of that at the same time?
Riece Morris
So, you know, when you sent that question to me, I had a chance to kind of think for a minute and I really think balance is one of those things that we each get to individually decide what that really means. Because at the time, what I felt like was that I was not balancing at all that the grief had just overtaken everything and that I was doing a terrible job of managing everything. But I will say with the benefit of hindsight and some more time going by, I look back and I and I'm much more willing to be a little more flexible on what I would consider balance, and I look back and I, I wish I could just tell myself, you're doing a beautiful job, you're doing a great job of balancing all of it, that right now, it's okay for you to take your hands off the wheel in some areas, that your kids are okay. That it's okay for you to do that, that the work is going to be fine too that kind of taking a step back and, and not being as involved in my business and not doing all the things that I had done before that that's okay. And that's still balanced, that, that when you experience something like this, things shifting, either temporarily or even permanently, is okay. So like I said, if you'd asked me then I would say, I did a horrible job of balancing, but I'm much more willing looking back to say you did a great job. It really did.
Jennifer Levin
I love the way you said that. Because you're right, we think of balance is that everything's equal all of the time. And you just described it wonderfully, sometimes balancing is that one thing gets a lot more attention at one time, because that's what it needs at that particular moment. Yes. So. And you've alluded, we did have a conversation before. And you've done so much reflecting on your experience, as well. Did you get any professional or formal support to help you with your grief experience.
Riece Morris
So I did see a life coach that specialized in grief experiences. And that was incredibly helpful. I can't even overstate how helpful, she was really the one that pointed out to me all of the self judgment that I was kind of adding into the mix. And she was very gentle about it, it certainly, you know, it wasn't like she called me out on it. But she did just kind of gently point out that a lot of my pain was being compounded by all of the judgment that I was having of the pain, like instead of just letting myself feel really sad that I had lost my mother, which is a totally valid thing to feel sad over. I was putting all this extra criteria on it and saying, but you weren't close enough to feel this sad, you didn't see her often enough to feel sad. And when I could, when I started to see that, and, and I started to let some of that go and just gave myself permission to let it be as sad and as hard as it needed to be. I got so much relief. So I'm so grateful that I got help and that I saw somebody that knew about these things. She also was a big part of like, letting me she works with people that are grieving all the time. And she was a big part of saying like, that is totally normal. What like those kinds of questions you're having are totally normal. That kind of brain fog is totally normal. And it was so validating to me, because there really were times, Jennifer that I felt like I was going crazy that I felt like I was going crazy that I was like, this is not normal. Like maybe I need to be institutional. Because this is not normal. And she was like no, that's totally normal. And that was such a huge, like, a wave of relief that oh my gosh, there's nothing wrong with me. But I'm feeling that way.
Jennifer Levin
Yes. And that's one of the purposes of this podcast is to help people realize you are not crazy. What you are experiencing is completely normal. And I'm not a fan of the word normal. But it's so common. It's, I use the word on par a lot because it goes with the territory. But I can't tell you how many people come in and think oh my gosh, there is something truly, truly wrong with me. And one of my favorite lines is you are having a very normal response to a very abnormal situation. And that's exactly what you went through. We've mentioned you've done a tremendous amount of reflection, looking back and I know you're looking forward to still in your grief experience. What would you have done differently along the way? What would you have said to yourself along the way? If you had a grief redo, which I know you don't want. You don't want to go back to day one.
Riece Morris
Of course. But you know, I mean, I think the biggest thing is that if I could do it again, I would have so much more compassion for myself. You know, giving myself permission to feel all the big feelings and that I don't, that there's not some that's totally that's not even thing, you know, I wish I could just say that that's not even a thing that you have to meet X, Y and Z criteria before you can feel, you know, Y amount of sad, it's just not a thing. And, you know, one of the and it's so funny, because this is absolutely something I do with my clients all the time. But I didn't think to do it with myself is reminding myself, okay, if I had a close friend, or a, you know, heaven forbid, one of my own children like experiencing grief. And I saw that they were treating themselves the way that I was treating myself, I know I would have been able to tell them, what you're experiencing is totally valid. You don't have to justify it. You don't have to have a laundry list of reasons why it's okay that you feel what you're feeling. I know, I would have been able to say that to them. But I wasn't saying that to myself. And so if I could go back. That's exactly what I would say is that what I was experiencing was valid, that there that there was no justification needed, from anyone or you know, and so I think that was probably the biggest thing. The other thing, I wish, one other thing that I wish I would have done is reached out to some other people that had experienced that kind of loss. Because that's been super, super helpful to me is to just, and I think that's why the podcast is so brilliant and why it's so needed is because when you can hear from other people that are experiencing this, and I totally agree, I I love the word common even more than normal. Because when you can just understand that there's nothing wrong with you that this is happening, that this is something that lots of people experience, that can be such a relief. So I wish I would have talked to other people sooner or maybe just found your podcast, that would have been great.
Jennifer Levin
Thank you. So how many months has it been now?
Riece Morris
So let's see, May to now, what is that? Like? Nine months? Is that right?
Jennifer Levin
Okay. How would you describe your grief at this point in time?
Riece Morris
You know, it's really interesting, because there are times that it feels so much better, like just so much better, so much more at peace. So much less pressing, but there are also times that it is very heavy. And so it's, it's interesting, I had a day, just a couple of weeks ago, that I cried probably harder than I have, since the first week. I mean, honestly. So it's not, it's not super linear in terms of like, you know, in some ways, it is like meaning the times that I feel good have progressively gotten better and more frequent, for sure, that has progressively gotten better. But there are days that it that it feels super heavy still. So it just kind of depends on the day. I'm grateful that there that it feels easier some days, because there was right at the beginning, it almost at times felt like I was drowning in it. And so I'm really grateful that it doesn't always feel that way. And it gives me also hope for any other, you know, times in the future that I might experience grief, at least I'm going to know that there's relief that comes through time. Um, but I also think, you know, I had a conversation with a friend at one point about this that we were talking about, you know, I'm in the I'm in the coaching community, and we talked about this idea of like, you can't, you can't erase negative emotion from your life. Like, that's just not the reality of being a human being on this planet, right? Like we experienced this negative emotion. And we were talking about, like the idea of being able to erase grief. And I, and I honestly could say that I wouldn't like it almost felt, I don't know the word, like it almost feels sacred to mourn something that was important to you. Um, that without it like, it almost feels like it would be dishonouring maybe that doesn't make sense, but it almost feels like it would be dishonouring this thing that was important to you to not feel sad about it, to not have a part of you that's a little broken over it. Like I always appreciate that there's a part of me that broke when my mom died. Because she's my mom. Of course it did you know and so, I'm, it's weird, but I'm almost like grateful for it in some way. That it, it like marks the importance of it.
Jennifer Levin
Yeah, I really hear that. Yeah. When you're coping, excuse me, when your grief gets really, really intense, like you just said a couple of weeks ago, you had one of your worst grief days. What do you do? What works for you?
Riece Morris
Well, that same aunt I know, I brought her up a lot. But she really was, she, I think it was almost as hard for her as it was for me. I mean, not that I'm trying to compare it. I'm certainly not at all. I don't think there's any, like measuring of that at all. But there's like a camaraderie in that, like there is, there was a comfort to me that like someone else was feeling really shattered. And so I did reach out to her, I told her, I was listening to a song that brought it on, it was a song that just reminded me of her, the lyrics reminded me of her. And so just telling her that I was that I was experiencing that was super helpful. I told my husband again, I think that I think just letting people know that you're feeling that way. I think that's been useful for me. And I also try to remind myself, that this is part of the process, like this is part of the deal with losing someone is that there are going to be days that it feels really tender and really raw. And so just kind of reminding myself that, that not every day is going to feel like that can can also be helpful.
Jennifer Levin
Nice. Is there anything about yourself or your grief journey that kind of surprised you? Or that you didn't expect?
Riece Morris
I mean, just how hard it was. I mean, that almost sounds, that almost sounds like a little naive. But I like I said, I just, I didn't realize how it almost feels like the ground beneath you shifts, I just didn't, I didn't realize how many different areas that it would bleed into, I didn't realize. I didn't realize how hard it would be to use a lot of the skills that I knew already in this situation, like, you know, I've been, that's a big part of the work that I do with my clients. It's a big part of the work that I was doing in my own life before, you know, before any of this happened of like, processing emotion and finding emotion in my body and learning to be okay with it. And it was like, I don't know, I almost equate it to like, you know, it's like the Black Diamond Hill skiing like I was on the bunny hills, like processing, you know, my kids broke something and I'm processing frustration that was like the prep work. But it was like Black Diamond to go in. And like grief, grief was much heavier and much bigger than I ever expected for it to be. And so all of that was very, very surprising to me. Very unexpected to me. But now I know, now I know.
Jennifer Levin
And the question that I end with with everybody is, what advice would you give to someone who's brand new, and just experienced an unexpected death? And just has no idea where to start?
Riece Morris
I would say there is nothing wrong with you. This is incredibly hard, incredibly hard. I almost I almost don't think you can overstate how hard it is. I don't want to say, I don't want to say it will pass because it's not I don't think I mean, I know it's still pretty fresh for me. But I don't think it's ever going to pass. I don't think it's ever going to go away. But it's very, it's going to become easier to carry. It's going to become so much easier to carry and let it be hard while it's hard. It's not going to be forever that it's this hard. But give yourself permission to let it be this hard at the beginning because it is, it just is. And I also I just want to say to anybody else that might be feeling like their grief isn't proportionate somehow that you can't you can't measure any of that you can't measure any of that there's not like a formula of like, you saw this person this often or you had this amount of closeness. And so therefore your grief is going to be this amount. That's just not a thing. And if your grief is really intense, that's okay. You know, you don't have to, you don't have to justify it. And I hope, I hope that, that's an idea that can be useful to somebody else, too.
Jennifer Levin
Yeah. Anything else you would like to add?
Riece Morris
I, you know, I do just want to reiterate that talking to people is really helpful. Like, there were definitely times that I didn't want to talk to, especially, you know, right at the beginning, I wanted to talk about it a lot, like maybe the first week or two weeks or something like that, I wanted to talk about it a lot. But there kind of came a point that I didn't want to talk about it anymore. And I didn't, and I and I maybe felt like nobody else wanted to talk about it anymore. And I, and, you know, I think it's different for everybody who that person for you is going to be whether that's a counselor, or whether it's a friend, or whether it's a family member, or a spouse or whatever. I think it's going to be different. But I do think it is important to talk to someone, to talk to people about what you're experiencing. I think those were actually some of my darkest times, like during that time when I was really struggling. I think that's part of the reason that it was so hard, is I didn't and again, a lot of that came from that self judgment. But I didn't want to tell anybody how bad it was. I didn't want to tell anybody how sad I was feeling and how hard things were. And I really think, you know, that it would have been useful for me to just have shared that with somebody, that it really was affecting me more than I thought it would. And for longer than I thought it would. That was another thing was there. That was another piece of that judgment was like it's going on too long. Okay, it was okay for you to be this sad after a month. And after two months, but it's been five months, it's no longer okay for you to be feeling this sad. And so, again, that self judgment piece can be so insidious. And, and I think it would have been so, if I had been telling people that that's where I was, just like, I knew, like, if there was somebody else saying that to me, I knew I would be able to have compassion for them. I know that my loved ones would have had compassion for me if I had been sharing it with them, but I wasn't. And so I think just talking to people about it, and letting them know. And you know, find that safe person for you, whoever that is, like, you know, but find somebody that you can talk to and let them know how hard things are for you. Just share that.
Jennifer Levin
Great. So much. So much wise stuff today, and I can't thank you enough for just been so vulnerable and opening up and, and letting us in. So thank you. Thank you.
Riece Morris
Thank you so much for having me. And I just again, want to reiterate how grateful I am that something like this exists. I think this is an amazing resource for people that are experiencing it, being able to hear from other people what they're experiencing, like just discovering that it's okay and that you are normal. That's huge. And so I really appreciate this venue that you've put together and this resource for people that are going through this so thank you so much.
Jennifer Levin
It's definitely a passion project for me. Thank you again to Riece and just what a wonderful interview.
I first met Riece at a workshop in Flagstaff, Arizona that she was responsible for spearheading. The name of the workshop was called FEARLESS and the tagline was radical business growth. Riece gave a talk on emotions, during her presentation she shared about her experience of her mother’s unexpected death and how her emotions and grief impacted her ability to be fully present with her business.
Riece was FEARLESS that day. Not only did she educate the audience about how an unexpected death can impact your physical and emotional well-being, but she also talked about other things like the difficulty of balancing work and family, struggling with motivation, and how thoughts about her business had changed. She was also FEARLESS in allowing herself to be so vulnerable to the audience, many like myself, who did not know her or her story. However, just as she did in this interview, she demonstrated that sometimes the ways we think and feel about things is not always in our best interest. Riece believes that if we change the way we think about things it can have a profound impact on our life. In today’s podcast Riece shared, that due to the complexity of her relationship with her mom, she thought she did not deserve her grief reaction. However, I want to quote Riece and her presentation at the workshop where she stated - we are the witness of our thoughts, we are not our thoughts. When it comes to your grief, I encourage you to notice your thoughts without judgement and remember – you have the power to change the story you tell yourself about your grief.
I encourage you to connect with Riece on your own and you can do that through our facebook group called “Talking about the Podcast Untethered with Dr. Levin.” Riece’s email, bio and website information is posted in the facebook group. I cannot thank her enough for sharing her wisdom and reflections in this interview. She is truly an amazing woman.
Our next Podcast is March 1st. We are going to do something a bit different for our next podcast. I will be sharing an interview with Suzanne Fageol, Craig Weiner and myself titled Using EFT Tapping for Traumatic Grief. In this episode Craig and Suzanne interview me about how Tapping can be used as a way to benefit individuals who have experienced an unexpected death.
Thank you so much for joining today’s episode of Untethered Healing the Pain After a Sudden Death. For help with a sudden and unexpected loss, sign up for my free mini course, where I will teach you about the 3 Truths About Living With A Sudden and Unexpected Loss. Please visit www.fromgrieftogrowth.com to sign up.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
