What happens when life has already surprised you in the worst possible way?

After loss, staying open to possibility can feel complicated. When you’ve experienced something you never imagined could happen, the instinct to control what comes next can become a form of protection. But what if possibility doesn’t require optimism, certainty, or believing that everything will work out?

In the final conversation of our three-part Summer Shifts Series, Lisa Keefauver and Nina Rodriguez explore what it means to meet life differently after loss.

Together, we look at the space between what happened and what comes next, and consider whether getting unstuck is less about figuring out the future and more about becoming available to what life might still hold.

This conversation explores:

• Why control can become a grief response
• The difference between being surprised by life and being open to surprise
• How loss can change our relationship with uncertainty
• Lisa’s daily practice of wonder through breast cancer, widowhood, and multiple losses
• Nina’s reflections on losing her grandfather after experiencing the sudden death of her brother
• Why possibility is not the same thing as toxic positivity
• What happens when we shift from “I have to” to “I get to”
• Small practices that can help us notice beauty, wonder, and aliveness again
• The role of creativity, curiosity, and agency in life after loss
• How we can make room for joy without asking grief to leave
• The story of Dr. Tasha Faruqui and her family's "suck the joy out of life" motto (Watch their episode here)
• Mary Oliver’s invitation to pay attention, be astonished, and tell about it
• Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s poem “Because Today Vulnerable Feels Alive”

About The Summer Shifts Series:

This episode is the final installment of our three-part Summer Shifts Series, exploring what can happen when we approach life after loss through curiosity, creativity, and possibility.

Part 1: Living Into the Questions (replay)
What if you didn’t need answers to move forward?

Part 2: Shifting Our Stories (replay)
What story are you still carrying, and what might you write instead?

Part 3: Meeting Life Differently
How are you letting life surprise you?

Together, these conversations explore a different way of thinking about getting unstuck:

LOSS → IDENTITY DISRUPTION → STUCK STORY → CURIOSITY → CREATIVITY → POSSIBILITY

A note from Nina:

After loss, we can spend so much energy trying to figure out how to move forward that we forget something important. We don't have to know what comes next in order to begin meeting life differently.

Possibility isn't a promise that something good will happen, but a willingness to notice, wonder, try something without knowing where it leads, and letting life surprise you.

And sometimes, that is enough for today.

What might become possible if you stopped asking yourself what comes next and started asking what is here now?

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Grief and Light is an award-winning, independent podcast exploring the honest, messy, and deeply human experience of loss. We're on a mission to foster a more grief-informed, hopeful world, one conversation at a time. 

🏆 Ear Worthy Best Life Lessons 2026 · TalkDeath Readers' Choice Best Podcast 2025 · Women Who Podcast Awards 2025 Winner · Podground Editor's Pick

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Connect with Nina Rodriguez:

• griefandlight.com
• @griefandlight
• Resting Grief Face on Substack

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