After the passing of their partners, widows are left alone to deal with grief. But despite the sadness and loneliness, they should not be deprived of enjoying a good sex life. I chat with sex coach Lexus Powell to find out how widows can enjoy pleasure and intimacy unapologetically – even while navigating grief. Inspired by her own experiences as a divorced person, Lexus explains the benefits of dating yourself and acknowledging your sexiest aspects to reclaim your sensual self. She also breaks the stigma and shame surrounding self-pleasure, emphasizing how this solo activity can empower and boost your sex life. 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   How Widows Should Deal With Their Sex Life With Lexus Powell Voices Of Widowhood: Healing Through The Holiday My guest is Lex Powell. Through her brand Talk with Lex LLC, she creates safe spaces for conversations many are afraid to have, whether it’s about pleasure, intimacy, divorce, or healing. Her work blends faith, humor, science, and soul-guiding women to find peace, unlock pleasure, and live unapologetically free. This conversation and the voices of widowhood healing through the holidays are about sex. It’s because sex is part of being an adult. This conversation with Lex, you don’t want to miss. Even though our spouse has passed, there are many of us who still want to feel sensual. We want to reclaim our body. We want to understand what it’s like to take ourselves on a date and much more. This conversation with Lex is important because the holidays bring something different. This is a point of rediscovery and finding the new you. Let’s get into this conversation now.      Lex, welcome to the Widowhood. Thank you for having me. Thank you for the widowhood. If there were a ticker tape that would show what the real pressure is when you’re thinking about that? Widowhood? Yes. I think it would be love. It’s like the opposite for me. Love, whether it’s loss of love or newfound love. It’s just a healing journey of love. When I think about when I asked you to have a conversation, it’s predominantly to an audience or community that are widows and widowers and talking about sex. What did you think of that? I immediately went to my experience when it comes to experience and loss. A loss of love through divorce. It immediately made me think of how the loss of love through divorce and the loss of love through whatever unexpected situation may occur can mirror each other. Experiencing Isolation, Guilt, And Identity Crisis After A Divorce They can. Thank you for bringing that up, and thank you for being willing to share. In our pre-podcast conversation, we discussed the similarities and the differences between divorce and widowhood, because oftentimes people will say, “They’re the same.’ They’re not. You and I were very much in tune with that reality. To your point, grief often has very common core experiences. They may be heightened, obviously, based on the loss itself, but some of those core things are similar. I want to share some things that I know that I experienced on the widower’s side. If you would tell me your version of that, from being divorced, isolation. Isolation in terms of divorce looks like you may lose your married friends because they don’t want to pick sides. No one reaches out. No one checks on you. No one wants to get in the middle of it. Some friends you find out you had because you were married versus single, and you learn the difference in single and married, and divorced. Divorce is like its own conundrum of people. It’s its own category, its own bucket. When people discover your divorce, is like, “Oh.” It becomes something that it feels like they don’t want those cooties, so to speak. I will counter that with sometimes people who are widows feel like they’re married friends, like they’re going to get the death cooties or something’s going to happen to their spouse because I’m in proximity with you. Not being able to talk about it. It feels like they think that because you went through a divorce or you may be in the process of one, that now their relationship or marriage is going to be in jeopardy or have some problems. Their partner may not feel that way, but their partner may feel, “I don’t want you to talk to her anymore or go over there with her anymore.” What about something like the third wheel or the appearance of the single friend that’s available and not wanted around their spouses? Yes. The one if you’re dating after a divorce, it’s like you feel unsure whether or not to share your experiences with your friends who are married. For that reason, you feel guilty for having a good time dating and excited to share it because of the fear of judgment, because they knew you when you were married. They knew you when you were happy and married at some point, and now you’re happy and dating on the tail end of a divorce. If you’re not sad as they think you should be, that is something that you go through, of feeling like it’s just a guilt that they try to push off on you. Sometimes you do fall into that bubble of, “Maybe I’ll just keep it to myself.” Ultimately, starting over. Your friend circle, starting over. You have to rediscover the qualities in a friend you want in the single life, and whether you’re dating or you find that person,