The Courage Coalition
Solocasts and Guest Interviews for inspiring, educating and empowering listeners to embrace courage in all aspects of their lives. Fostering a coalition of individuals who are committed to living authentically and fearlessly in their dreams!
This is not a polished highlight reel it’s real stories, raw truth, and the kind of courage that changes lives. Each week, host Corree Roofener brings you unfiltered conversations and heartfelt solocasts that remind you you’re not alone in the climb.
From navigating money and mental health to breaking cycles in foster care and redefining success, every episode is about choosing faith over fear and taking your next brave step. The Courage Coalition is more than a podcast it’s a community of dreamers and doers who are ready to live authentically, even when it’s hard.
The Courage Coalition
"I Carry You”: When Grief Becomes Courage and Presence with Christina Stiverson
Some stories don’t thunder in with triumph they arrive quietly, hand to heart, and ask us to breathe. In my conversation with Christina Stevenson certified grief coach, retired U.S. Air Force officer, and author of I Carry You we talked about what courage actually looks like in the dark. The book’s title began with Addie’s toddler hands lifted high “I carry you” and became a ripple: the way our people carry us, the way we carry their light forward, and the way our stories carry others when words feel impossible. Christina reminds us that grief isn’t weakness; it’s love with nowhere to go until we choose to give it direction. That choice begins in the smallest places: noticing the smile in a hospital room, the sunset outside a window, the cardboard box on a doorstep that arrives the exact day you’ve forgotten how to ask.
Christina’s definition of courage took my breath away: courage is choosing what matters most while doubting yourself on a whole new level. It’s saying “home” when hospice asks where your child should spend her last days believing you can’t possibly do it, and doing it anyway. From that place, she offers two journal prompts that can reframe a life: “How could the worst day of my life become the best?” and “What do I value more than the pain?” These aren’t instant answers; they’re invitations to presence. If you’re just beginning, start smaller five lines of gratitude, a simple prayer, one memory you want to keep. Evidence collects. Light gathers. And healing, as we both believe, is an evolution layer by layer, lesson by lesson never a finish line, always a becoming.
If you are navigating loss (of a person, a season, a dream), let this be your permission slip: tell your story on paper, to a friend, or just to yourself. Share the parts that still shake your voice. Vulnerability doesn’t erase the ache, but it transforms the way we carry it. Christina said it best: death isn’t the worst thing; not living is. May we choose the next brave step toward presence, toward gratitude, toward being fully here with the people we love. And if this conversation touched you, pass it on. You never know who needs to be carried today.
Find "I carry you" the book by Christina Stiverson here: https://a.co/d/1Enhu6p
Follow Christina here: https://www.facebook.com/christina.stackstiverson
Contact Corree about a podcast question or conversation here: correeroofener@gmail.com
To work with Corree and maximize your business' potential, go to: https://crfinancialfoundations.com/
Are you ready to walk with us for https:/https://fosteringthesummit.org Join us as we change the statistics for children aging out of foster care.
Also, follow me on https://www.instagram.com/correeroofenercoach/ for more inspiration and practical wisdom for your business and life.
Until next time, keep shining bright!
- Corree