Words have the unique power of healing, restoration, and encouragement that you cannot find anywhere else. This is exactly what content creator Sedric Curvin is harnessing through his empowering poetry on TikTok. Tina Fornwald sits down with a non-widower guest who shares how he uses his creative talents to write poems and guide people on how to love, rediscover love, and reignite their purpose to love. He also discusses the role of forgiveness, empathy, and hope in continually improving and deepening his craft, enabling him to provide grieving people with the strength and inspiration they need. I am sharing my experience of loving the same man for 32 years, a mother to two adult children, a retired military officer, a breast cancer survivor, and my connections with others.   Anyone experiencing suicidal thoughts should reach out to a suicide hotline or local emergency number in their country: Psychology Today Suicide Hotlines and Prevention Resources Around the World. — Watch the episode here   Listen to the podcast here   Reigniting The Relationship Spark Through Poetry With Sedric Curvin Every conversation in the Widowhood is not just with widows. Our conversation with Sed is going to provide some encouragement, a different perspective on grief, and something that will warm your heart. Let’s get into this discussion now.       Sedric, welcome to the Widowhood. Thank you, Dr. Tina. Thank you. I know you are not a widower, but when you hear that, what comes to mind for you? What comes to mind for me is the loss of a husband or wife to their spouse. That’s what comes to me. I have some family members who have experienced it in the last couple of years. I know what that looks like from just being a part of the family. I also know what it looks like from having friends who have lost their loved ones as well. Understanding Encouragement And Forgiveness That’s fair. For the audience, the reason why I wanted you to be part of this conversation is that you have an amazing talent. One of the things I see often that people grieving need is for someone to give them encouragement. Encouragement comes in a lot of different ways. When you hear encouragement, what does that look like for you? It’s something I do very well for people. It’s to give someone a hope that there’s always hope ahead down the road. No matter what you go through in life, there’s always something looking towards you in the future. You don’t have to see where you’re at. You have to get back up and keep pushing. It’s knowing that there’s something in you that needs to come out that you just haven’t tapped into yet. That can be easier or more difficult depending on the situation, but the premise does remain the same. When you think of your life, what have been some difficult moments that you didn’t think or struggle to get back up from yourself? One thing that I struggled with, even when I was married, Dr. Tina, was learning how to forgive. I had to get up from that. It was something I had to learn to get over and overcome. It wasn’t easy. There are people whose loved ones have passed and struggled with forgiveness. What was that like for you in the struggle of that? Not just a lofty overview, but the real, gritty process of that. The unforgiveness affected me not just with where the unforgiveness was with the individual. It also affected my marriage. It affected my whole family. It took a grip. It had a grip on me like a vice. When unforgiveness has a grip on you, you don’t know it at the moment how it controls you, how it allows you to hold on to resentment, how it allows you to hold on to envy, and how it holds you hostage. Pretty much, you’re holding yourself hostage. You don’t know that at the time that you are holding on to it. The only thing you know is, “I don’t want to forgive this person or I don’t want to forgive this or I don’t want to forgive that.” That’s all you know. It’s not until you learn to forgive and let God come into your heart and show you why you need to forgive and release. What did you find in your experience in life? Why did you need to forgive and release? It was holding me hostage, and the person was living their life. I was the only one sitting here complaining about what I wasn’t getting. The way that came was writing the letter to the person, sending it to them, and putting it all out there in a five-page letter. Thank you for sharing that. There is something about releasing how we feel. For the people that are tuning in, their loved ones may not be here to read that letter, but there is power in writing it. There is the power of freeing yourself from what’s going on mentally in the struggle. It’s interesting you would use the word being held hostage. We can’t move, and that person is living their life. We are stuck in that place of not moving. How did it feel after writing that letter? I felt the release of a burden. I can relax. I can give it full control to God and trust Him. That He’s going to take care of it for me, rather than me trying to take care of it myself. Once you wrote the letter, did it matter if they responded or not to you? At the moment, it didn’t because it was about me letting go of something that was defeating me. It was keeping me from having the joy, peace, and happiness that I needed because I had to come to the conclusion that they don’t know how I feel. They are not the ones who are holding themselves hostage. I am. They