Grief doesn’t have a timeline, and healing isn’t linear. In this episode, Tina Fornwald sits down with Kimberly Byers, author of Grief Almost Had Me! Peace Brought Me Out, to explore the realities of widowhood, loss, and the power of community in healing. Kimberly shares her personal story of navigating grief, why she believes widowhood should feel like a sisterhood instead of isolation, and how self-care plays a crucial role in the healing process. She also discusses her faith, the importance of journaling, and how her books provide a step-by-step approach to moving forward after loss. If you’re struggling with grief or know someone who is, this conversation is a powerful reminder that peace is possible, even after loss. 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   Grief Almost Had Me: The Journey Of Finding Peace And Strength With Kimberly Byers Kimberly, welcome to the Widowhood. Good afternoon, good day, and good evening, Ms. Tina. When you hear, “Welcome to the Widowhood,” what comes to mind for you? What Widowhood Really Means And Finding Support For me, I’m thinking what is going on with widows today? How can all the widows come together and be a community? I think of widowhood as a neighborhood, sisterhood, or brotherhood. We are going through something together collectively. What would that collective environment do for a widow? If a widow is tuning in to this conversation and she goes, “I want to be by myself. I’m not trying to talk to anybody. This is hot trash, and why would I want to get connected with you or any other widows?” Why?     I would say that that widow or that widower would need to listen in, relax a little bit, and know that when you are in something like this for however long, you are in a safe place. One of the things I would say is grief is not a time thing. You are in a safe place. Let’s talk about it. How can we relate? How can I support you in what you are going through right now? When you say “Support you,” that word can have a lot of different meanings in different spaces. What does support look like when you speak of those words? When I speak about support, I’m speaking from a place where I would say I’m going to be able to relate to what you are going through. When I say support, talk to me. I’m open to listening to you. A lot of times when you are talking to individuals, they are not actively listening. I want to be able to actively listen to you and then make sure that I understand what you said by repeating back. Not verbatim, but I want to highlight some of the things that you said for me to be able to support you going forward. When I talk about the support, what did you highlight? For instance, if someone says, “I feel like I don’t have any time to do anything for myself anymore, even though it’s just me, but I’m doing everything still. I’m still taking care of the kids, I’m still working, I’m still cooking, I’m still helping with homework, and all these things. How can I do something for myself?” I want to help them to understand that self-care is so important. You have to be able to provide and figure out how you can separate those two things and bring self-care into your world because that right there is a big help. It’s a big help for me even when someone says, “What are you doing for self-care?” That’s a big help because then it triggers something. I’m like, “I didn’t do X, Y, and Z for myself. I didn’t go get a facial, or maybe I will go get my nails done over the weekend.” Support that person through whatever they are going through at that time by active listening. Introducing ‘Grief Almost Had Me’ And The 7-Step Workbook Based on where that has taken us, I do have two of your books here. I have Grief Almost Had Me: Peace Brought Me Out! 7 Steps From Grief to Peace by Kimberly Byers, and Grief Almost Had Me: Peace Brought Me Out! The 7 Steps Workbook. Where can someone find these books? Both of the books are available on Amazon, but if you go to my website ByHersPOM.com, you can purchase both of those books from that site or Amazon. Thank you. We are going to travel down the books a little bit. I’m not going to give it all away, but enough that you see what you could possibly benefit from if you were able to walk with Kim in these books. Kim, what’s your favorite color? My favorite color is blue. Here you are all blue down and I had on blue too. Good job. We are going to start with the workbook. There’s always something very interesting with the first page or so, as far as the writer’s mindset or what their goal is. I’d like to read that if you don’t mind. I don’t mind at all. “Welcome. First, I want to give honor and thanks to God because this book would not have been possible without His grace and mercy. This book is dedicated to the memory of my mom, Valerie Gray Davis, my brother, Terrance Rd Byers, my uncle Daniel Roy, my aunt and cousin, Patricia Williams, and many others who have succumbed to cancer. May these steps provide you comfort and peace. Our loved ones would not want us to