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
Finding Next
The Adapted Life, Finding Next
Podcast
Season 4
Episode 32
I have been wandering around in a place called grief and trauma. As I write this, I can share that I most definitely am not the same person I was before my son passed away on January 12, 2024.
For 26 years I loved and sacrificed for my son. But there is so much more to my story that was going on at the same time. Trauma, dissociation, depression, betrayal, confusion, and fear.
What do I do now? Which way do I go? Certainly not to my early career dreams, because that is not my timeline anymore. Come along while I explore and learn how to take brave steps into the new version of me. What do we do next, after loss, after the remaking has happened.
When Daniel passed away, I sat with my reality at age 58, that I had no idea who I was. Or what to do next.
This episode is my evidence that I have a lot of purpose still to discover. And that I am a woman independent of my story, but also empowered by my story.
For the time being I will call my podcast, The Adapted Life, Finding Next. It will forever be a place of love and compassion for my Daniel. For what he taught me about life. And for other women who may just possibly be like I was. Surviving and caring for someone else, shrinking themselves because who has time, swallowing trauma and living on bread crumbs, metaphorically. I am so grateful, and inspired. I am still hurt and grieving.
Could it be, that by dealing with some trauma, some other energy is now leaking out. I just feel so many things, for myself, for others, and I love that my weird ness is not something to calm down, or quiet down, or shhh…. It is simply me.
So, I’m adapting and learning. Seeking and still also hurting and full of pain. But the direction has changed. I took back my power by affirming that, no, that thing was not ok.
I am proud that I was a Mom and caregiver. I am also seeking avenues for healing with my other children for what it has cost them.
Thank you for taking the time to listen and connect.
Keep working on getting closer to your inner light.
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