The emotional turmoil of loss requires more than just time; it demands the intentional “work” of navigating grief. Certified grief educator and certified life coach Brian D. Smith, host of the Grief 2 Growth podcast, joins the conversation to share how he transformed his own pain after the sudden loss of his daughter, Shayna, into a calling to help others. Brian details his practical GEMS method—Gratitude, Exercise, Mindfulness, and Self-care—as a foundational daily practice for healing and discusses why the expectation of happiness during the holidays can be so difficult, the power of forgiveness to release emotional ties, and how to offer genuine support to those who are grieving without unintentionally minimizing their experience. 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   The Grief 2 Growth Journey: Finding Meaning After The Unimaginable With Brian D. Smith Voices Of Widowhood Healing Through The Holiday Welcome to the special series of Voices of Widowhood: Healing Through the Holidays, a space where we share honest and healing conversations about love, loss, and the unique challenges the holiday seasons bring. I’m honored to welcome our very first guest in this series, Brian Smith. Brian is going to share with you some interesting ideas about GEMS, moving forward versus moving on, and things to say and not to say to people who are grieving. For those who are holding space for others who are grieving, he has special tips for you on how to support someone who is grieving during the holidays. Let’s get into this conversation now.     Hello, Brian, welcome to the Widowhood. Thank you. It’s good to be here. When you hear, “Welcome to the Widowhood,” what ticker tape runs across your mind when you hear a statement like that? It’s weird. In my work, I’ve been running across a lot of widows lately, a lot of people who have lost their spouses. It’s men and women, but mostly women. It’s different for me now than a few months ago. At the age that I am now, a lot of people are losing their spouses. It has become fairly common in my life. Brian D. Smith’s Essential Grief Work: Navigating Loss & Shayna’s Story Speaking of the work, before we dive into this rich and meaningful conversation, I would like to allow you to introduce yourself and to share the work that you do, how you serve those navigating in grief, and why your work is such an essential part of this conversation. Brian, thank you so much for joining me in taking these moments to share with our readers who you are and the heartfelt meaning behind your work. Thank you. What I do is I try to help people navigate loss in life, particularly the loss of a person. My story is that my daughter Shayna passed away suddenly at age fifteen. It was June 24, 2015. My personal experience with loss made me dive deep, do this work for myself, and find things that worked for me. I thought after a few years of doing that, after probably four or five years into my journey, maybe I could help somebody else. There were people who inspired me early in my journey and helped me get to where I finally got. I wanted to be able to help people get there. I work a lot with parents who have lost children. I’m part of an organization called Helping Parents Heal. I’m on the board with Helping Parents Heal. We’ve been doing that and working with parents for about nine years or so. I became a certified grief educator and certified life coach several years ago. My work is expanding now, working with people who have lost spouses, parents, and pets. Grief is not just a matter of losing a person. They could be losing a job. It could be getting a divorce. There are lots of different things that can trigger grief events. What I try to do is help people. What do I do? How do I navigate this? You feel like your life is over. How do I continue my life? How do I honor my loved one? How do I honor the pain that I’m going through, but also maybe transform this in a certain way? What I try to do is help people get to that point. The Effort Of Healing & “Grief 2 Growth” Podcast Thank you for sharing that. Thank you for sharing about Shayna. We may share our story every day. It may sound like rote to people. I believe there’s still a little bit of a price to pay when we share about them. We may have learned how to manage that grief. It’s not just a carefree conversation that our emotions and who we are are not connected to. What would you say to that statement? Yes, absolutely true. It’s interesting because I do a lot of podcasts. I have my own podcast, but I also do a lot of speaking events and stuff. People might think, “Ten years. He’s over it. He has moved on. He’s passed it.” That’s not true. I believe that the grief always stays with us. It might change in form. It might affect us differently, but I will always miss my daughter. It’s still the tenth anniversary that came up. Those anniversaries, birthdays, etc., still hit hard. I appreciate you saying that this is not something like it’s over, it’s past, and we move on. I don’t think we ever do that. I know that I won’t. As long as I love my daughter, which I always will,