The Adapted Life
Welcome to The Adapted Life Podcast, a dedicated space for those who have faced profound challenges, particularly those who have navigated the journey of having a child born with severe disabilities. This podcast serves as a sanctuary for connection, offering support and strategies for building resilience when life unfolds differently than we envisioned.
In this series, I share my personal journey with my disabled son, detailing the ups and downs we experienced together. Our story is one of love, hardship, and ultimately, adaptation. But now, my focus has shifted to the complex and often lonely path of adapting to life after the loss of my son.
Grief is a powerful, consuming force that changes everything. It can feel isolating and overwhelming, reshaping how we perceive the world around us. Through this podcast, I hope to explore what it means to grieve, to honor the memory of my son, and to find ways to move forward while carrying his spirit with me.
We'll discuss practical approaches to adapting to loss, including how to find joy in small moments, the importance of community support, and strategies for navigating everyday life when the ground beneath you has shifted. This journey is deeply personal, yet universal in its themes of love, loss, and resilience.
Join me as we create a conversation around grief and adaptation, turning our experiences into pathways for healing and connection. Every story shared strengthens our community and reminds us that while loss is an inevitable part of life, we have the capacity to adapt and find new meanings, even amidst heartache.
The Adapted Life
WHAT WE CARRY FORWARD
In this episode, I had been pondering the work I've been doing on self-love and releasing attachments. I asked myself, what does this mean to caregivers who carry with them a lifetime of changes that traumatically altered the course of their lives.
While I do believe that letting go of attachments that result in negative results, is important, we also can't always do it so easily. In accepting and sending love to these "attachments", we allow ourselves to heal, to learn from them, and to be aware and grateful for the positive ways our life has been enhanced by them. Even though, yes, great pain. Great grief.
So often as I work on myself, I find concepts that become a bit convoluted and challenging. This is is one of them. As special needs parents, caregivers, we are literally attached to our loved one, because we are responsible for keeping them alive.
The RSV Super Bowl Sunday Story. I told the story of the very beginning of my trauma with my son Daniel, when he was 8 weeks old. It is so fresh in my mind, and very hard to let go of. In telling the story, I found myself feeling such appreciation and love and empathy for younger Julie. and John. And what they went through. I sent that story some love. But I believe it will be forever a part of me and who I have become as a human.
I hope you enjoy the episode. If you have a story that you would like to tell, or would like me to read for you, feel free to email me at juliehasselberger@gmail.com
You can follow my you tube channel or instagram. Sending love from my adapted life here in Sandy Hook, CT. Keep moving forward with love and gratitude. XOXOXO
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