215. Podcast Update! + The Sacred Pause: Giving Yourself Permission to Pivot After Loss

Have you ever found yourself doing all the things, showing up, checking the boxes, keeping the pace, but quietly wondering if something needs to give? If you've been feeling that pull to pause, pivot, or finally make room for the thing that's been calling to you... this episode is for you.

This week, I'm getting really real with you. I'm sharing a personal update about Mourning Sips & Soul Shifts—and more importantly, the why behind it. Because the honest truth is, this decision didn't come from nowhere. 

It came from a lot of self-reflection, some really vulnerable conversations with myself, and the three key reasons I made this decision and how I got here that I think you're going to deeply relate to—grief journey or not.

Here's what we're getting into:
✨ The announcement: what's changing with this podcast and why
✨ Burnout in grief: what it actually looks like (hint: it's not always a breakdown)
✨ The pressure to keep producing, and why consistent output means nothing when you're running on empty
✨ Embracing slowness in a culture that glorifies busy. and what grief has taught me about truly living vs. just moving through life
✨ Fear disguised as logic: how many of us stay stuck in things that no longer serve us because change feels scary
✨ The exciting things I'm making room for, including a book I am no longer putting off
✨ A gentle invitation for you to ask yourself: do you need to take a sacred pause somewhere in your life, too? Where does your energy need to be reallocated? 

This episode is for the person who has been going, going, going... not because they love the pace, but because slowing down feels terrifying. The one who has been holding on tight to everything they can control after loss took so much from them. The one who knows something needs to shift, but hasn't quite given themselves permission yet. If you see yourself in this, I know you'll get so much from this episode.

Click here to get your copy of Love Like Thunder, Grief Like Rain: https://earthgrief.love/

Transcript

Welcome and Podcast Update

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Morning Steps and Soul Shifts on Life with Grief. I am your grief and soul purpose coach, Tara, and I have a little update for you all today. We're we're doing a little bit of a pivot with this one, but honestly, this this update, this little announcement, it's nothing that crazy. If anything, I hope, I hope it's exciting because of what this update is ultimately making room for. But what I will share with you in just a moment really is just something that I think it's just a part of the natural evolution of having a podcast. At least for some of us, you just have to pivot a little at times, depending on where you are in life. But I wanted to share that with you all. Number one, because I love you all so much, and we lean into the raw and the honest here. We keep it real. And in the spirit of this update, I wanted to actually take this as an opportunity to have a slightly bigger conversation around exactly that. Honoring where you are and pivoting as needed. I always think that deserves more time and attention. And it doesn't get it sometimes, I think. Welcome to the Life with Grief podcast. I'm your host, grief and soul purpose coach, and fellow griever, Tara Accardo. So I will just jump right in here in a moment. I don't want to make you wait too long for this for this announcement because I know that can be annoying, having someone draw it out. But I will go into detail as to why. And I really hope you stick around for that because as I was thinking about this, there are just some really important takeaways and lessons to be learned there. And that is the whole point of this conversation today. So it's it's twofold. It's to share this little update, this little announcement with you. But also, I want to make it about you guys, and I want you to be able to take something away from this little chat we're having today. So stick with me on that. But

New Episode Schedule!

SPEAKER_00 2:04

the news, so to speak, is for the foreseeable future, I will be launching two morning sips and soul shifts episodes per month versus like four or five. As I do now, it just kind of depends on the month and how many weeks the month has, but it's typically, it's typically four. Currently, for those who don't know or haven't caught on to this cadence, those episodes, these episodes, this one I'm doing right now, typically launches once a week, every Monday. Now I'm essentially cutting that in half. I could have easily made a little announcement about this and just moved on. But again, I wanted to share the why behind this, not to like overshare or that I felt the need to kind of overexplain. But when I was coming to this decision, a lot came up for me. And I really hope that having this conversation and sharing so kind of vulnerably with you guys, I hope that actually helps you and gives you permission to take a step back in your own life where it's needed, to honor the sacred pause, whatever that might look like for you. To let yourself just be, to explore other things that are lighting you up or interesting you, to go where your heart is feeling pulled. And so as I was thinking about this, there's sort of like three, three things, three pillars, if you will, that is sort of the structure of like why I made this decision and why I'm choosing to do a couple, basically, it's just a couple less episodes per month. And so I'm gonna share those with you today, ultimately. And I have no doubt you can relate to one or two, or maybe even all three of these in some

The Toll of Burnout

SPEAKER_00 4:05

way. So, first and foremost, I wanted to start with burnout. Let's talk about burnout and how real that is. And let me just start by clarifying: burnout doesn't always look like a breakdown, right? Like I can confidently say, like, thankfully, I've not had a breakdown. Like, that is not what this has looked like for me at all. Sometimes it looks like going through the motions, showing up, doing the thing, checking the box, but feeling disconnected from why we might have started something in the first place. And that just for the record, before I get too ahead of myself, that is not the fact at all with this podcast. I'm very much connected to my why. It's actually coming back to why I started this. And it's it's getting back to my roots, is actually why I made this decision. More to come on that. But that disconnect that we can sometimes feel that is a signal that is worth paying attention to. And just having the awareness to even know we are in burnout territory is a feat in and of itself. Sometimes we're so go, go, go that we don't even allow ourselves to be aware of the fact that we are not doing as well as we might think we are, right? And there's this pressure, especially in the online space, especially as a creator, to keep going, to keep producing, to keep showing up consistently, or you risk falling behind. But consistent output means nothing if the person behind it is running on empty, you know? And I think we talk a lot in grief about how loss depletes us in ways that we do not always see coming, that we cannot possibly see coming until we're in it. Your capacity shrinks in a lot of ways. Your energy is already being used to just exist through something very hard. And yet we still try to hold everything else at the same level as it was before, you know, work, relationships, responsibilities, our creativity, all of that as if nothing is changed. Or that's at least what it feels like the expectation is sometimes. But something has changed. Everything has changed, you know? And burnout, specifically as it relates to grief, because you know, again, this is life with grief. I want to bring it back to the griefy stuff here a little bit. Burnout specifically in grief is not a personal failure. It is what happens when you keep pouring from a cup that has not been filled. I know this painfully well from experience. More so when my mom's health was declining. I did not realize how much I was truly burning the candle at both ends until I got down to like the very last little level of wax that was there, you know? And I genuinely feel that the bravest thing you can do is not to push through. It is to put the cup down for a second and actually let it fill back up. It's far harder and far braver to stand up for yourself and be like, no, you know what? I need to just pause. I need a break. Let me actually put this down versus just putting on a brave face and just powering through and keep going, going, going. Like that is not doing anyone any favors. And recognizing burnout is one thing, but giving yourself permission to respond to it is another. And that second part, I think, is where so many of us, myself included, get stuck because we've been conditioned to believe that slowing down means falling behind, letting people down, or being less than, right? But none of that is true. And so as it relates to this lovely podcast, I am not at burnout. I'm very grateful to say I'm not at burnout, but I could see myself getting there because of what this podcast entails, the two episodes, sometimes three a week, if I'm doing one of my five-minute grief talks, which I are on YouTube right now. In addition to everything else I have going on and everything else that I want to do. There is a lot, a lot of love and energy and effort that goes into these episodes. And I want to very quickly follow that up by saying, I love it. I love it. This podcast is my second baby, other than my daughter. It was actually really my first baby because my daughter came after, but I digress. I don't see this podcast as work. I see it as freedom, I see it as creativity, I see it as my outlet, I see it as something that is cathartic and healing and expansive. And sitting down with you in a solo episode like this, where we can just talk, me and you, or me at you, I guess. But I always want this to be a dialogue as much as possible. It gives me so much joy. Like it is genuinely hard to put into words. And I don't want it to go anywhere anytime soon. That all being said, I'm always I'm always so cautious to say, like, oh, there's so much work that goes into this podcast because I never want it, I never want to call it work. I never want it to seem like a burden. I want no negativity around it. But I will be so, so very real with you. It is so much work. It is. It just is. Any podcasters here that are listening, like you know. And for me, like I'll just I'll speak for myself. It's not just writing my notes and recording and doing a little editing and then posting it and just hoping people, you know, listen. Again, fellow podcasters here who might be listening, you know this. It's all of that, which in and of itself is a lot, but it's the promotion of it. It's creating clips and social posts to share out into the world. There's a lot that goes on with the social media part, at least on my end. It's, you know, the blog post that accompanies the launch of a new episode. It's the email telling people it's live. Like the list goes on. And I put in a lot of work to help make this podcast as discoverable as possible for as many people as possible. Like it's something I'm very proud of because I I think it has helped it grow, you know? So it's it's all been worth it.

Time and Bandwidth

SPEAKER_00 11:17

But I guess until and unless I hire help or I get help from someone, which I'm just not there at this point. I'm a one-woman show. And many of you may or may not know this, but I do have a full-time job on top of this as well. And a second podcast with my husband called Taste Toast Travel, which is amazing and that fills up another part of my soul, and that's really fun. But I also have my husband, I have my marriage that's important to me, and I want to give time to that. And of course, my daughter, who also needs my love and attention. And then, of course, as many of you probably know, I'm a grief and a sole purpose coach on top of this. And so I have I have clients. Like I got a lot going on. So when it comes to time management, let me tell you, I will I will give myself some credit where credit is due here. We all need to be a little bit better about giving ourselves some credit and highlighting our strengths. I've gone time management locked down. I don't often highlight strengths of mine because I don't know, I just always want to seem humble and not braggy. But time management is a strength of mine. Almost to a fault, truthfully. If I have a free minute, I will feel it. I think a lot of women are that way. I think a lot of moms are that way. It's always like, okay, what can I do with this free five minutes that I have? Does laundry need done? Do dishes need done? Is there something work-related that I need to take care of? Like it literally does not end. And for the longest time, I've been trying to lean into a slower lifestyle. More to come on this in a little bit. But like, I preached that. I aspire to that. But when it comes to the act of actually slowing down, it is so, so hard. I struggle. I am realizing that I have wired myself to do, do, do, create, create, create. But sitting and just like being I'll be so real with you. I have some work to do there. And it's funny because I have people in my life that like praise me for everything I'm doing and juggling, and that is so kind and wonderful. But then I'm like, wait, am I really getting to experience life in the way that I want and need to? So it's actually some conversations like that that have been very revealing for me as well. Because I was like, okay, this is great. This sounds like a strength, but like, is it? You know, I've had to kind of, I've had to have some very real and honest conversations with myself. Like, do I really want that gold star for never stopping to just be? Not really. And so that's something I had to get really honest with myself when I started feeling this shift. Now, that being said, because of the work I have done in the last several years since my parents died, I am more in touch with my body and understand how my mind works. And I know when something is starting to feel misaligned or when I'm expending a lot of energy and know that I need to reallocate some of that to what feels more aligned again. So, really, that's where I'm at. And I'm just really honoring that. And so, in this conversation today, I just want to gently empower you to do the same. And hopefully, you are learning something from me and the mistakes that I have made in this chat we're having today. Okay, so that was kind of like pillar one that led me to this, to this update, if you will.

Slowing Down and Savoring Life

SPEAKER_00 15:12

The second that I already alluded to, that I said we were gonna come back to, is slowing down to life and embracing slowness. We live in a culture that glorifies busy. At least that is how it feels a lot of the time. We live in a society that treats rest like it's something you have to earn, at least here in the United States. I don't want to speak for other countries, but this, I just I see this a lot, I feel this a lot here in the US. A society that equates productivity with our worth in a way. And to bring it back to grief for a second, grief, if we let it, has this incredible way of calling all of that out, of forcing us to ask, wait, is this actually how I want to be living? And grief or no grief, right? Like I will always grieve my parents, of course, right? But I won't say it was like my grief from them directly that like led me to a decision like this, for example, but it it's now how I'm living my life that I don't think I lived my life like before my parents died. But it's like their deaths and all of the loss that I went through in the grief and all the things like it has woken me up to have realizations and awareness around things like this. Hopefully that makes sense. But my point is there's a big difference between moving through life and actually living it. I was aware of this before, but I am keenly aware of this raising a toddler now too, and literally watching her grow up before my eyes and just wishing more than anything I could slow down time. And so much of the time we are just moving task to task, week to week, milestone to milestone. Even one of my like really good friends, she's like, oh gosh, I have the Sunday scaries, or you know, oh thank God it's Friday, happy hump day, whatever, you know, like those expressions. And I've become more attuned to those now and how much I don't like them. I'm just like, no, can we just focus on how beautiful the day is? No matter I like I almost want to forget about what day of the week it is. Like it's hard sometimes, right? When we have nine to fives or whatever, but I don't, I don't want to live my life for the weekends. I want to enjoy my Tuesday because I'm just enjoying my Tuesday, you know, not because I'm trying to check something off a list. And so to finish my thought before I interrupted myself, so much of the time we're just moving without pausing long enough to feel any of it. And grief has a way of cracking that open and making you realize how much of your own life you have just been sprinting past. And that is something I've continued to just awaken to, and I got to a point where I was like, I cannot keep doing this, I don't want to keep doing this. And so to clarify, I've heard I've said sacred pause here once or twice. That sacred pause isn't doing nothing necessarily. It's creating a space to actually hear yourself, to figure out what you want, what feels right, what lights you up versus what you've just been doing on autopilot because it's what you've always done or what you've what feels expected or what's safe and comfortable to you. And post-loss, our relationship with time genuinely shifts. I think a lot of us feel this. You become more aware of it, sometimes painfully so, right? Especially if you've lost a loved one, for example, who you thought you would have years more with, decades more with. And that awareness that we now have after loss, as heavy as it can feel, is also a really twisted gift sometimes. I use that term very loosely because I never want it to seem like, oh, like the our our loss was a gift somehow, and this is just the silver lining. Like, no, no, no. But it does awaken us to that. And I think that's an important thing to be aware of. So it's an invitation to be more intentional about how you're spending your days, your energy, and your attention, right? And slowness is not the enemy of growth. Sometimes the most expansive, meaningful growth happens in the quiet, happens in the pause, in the moment when you finally stop moving long enough to let something new take root. And that is ultimately what I am doing here. You don't have to have it figured all out before you slow down, because that clarity often comes from the slowing down, not before it. But for me, I know that there are things that like I feel like I meant to do that I want to work on outside of the podcast that I knew was going to require the slowing down to even be able to explore them. So that's kind of how it came about for me. But also as it relates to to this slowness and kind of slowing down for life a little bit, the other aspect of this that I wanted to share was I wanted to let these morning sips episodes and the content in these breathe a little better. I, of course, want myself to be able to breathe a little more between each one. But also, all of what you take in in these episodes, I want you to be able to have time to digest them a little bit before another episode comes out somewhat quickly after the next. I am a machine when it comes to content creation. I work in digital marketing. I could do it, but I've had to sit and really ask myself do I want to? And the short answer is yes. If I had more time, if there were more than 24 hours in the day, if other things in my life were different, yes, the circumstances might be a little different. I think that's the case for a lot of us, but that's not the season of life. I'm in, and I just knew something's gotta give. And as it relates to these episodes, what I don't want is for any of us to miss the point of why a piece of content, i.e., an episode, is being created in the first place. I never want to just churn and burn. That was never the intention or the point behind this podcast. I want intentionality behind things, behind episodes, and pondering and processing and reflection. And we we are in a world where we take in more content faster than people did in entire lifetimes. You've you've probably heard this once or twice somewhere. But I have a couple, I literally got a couple fun facts here because I was like, you know what? What are what are the actual numbers behind some of this? One day of modern data consumption is estimated to equal the total lifetime information intake of a 15th-century human. Okay. In 2011, studies showed people consumed five times as much information daily as in 1986. Think about that for a second. Which, if you were like me and are perhaps a fellow millennial, 1986 is like, you know, 25 years ago because all of our minds are still stuck in the year 2000. I'm not sure if you've seen any reels or anything on social about that out there, but I have, and it's quite funny because I think a lot of us feel the 80s are a lot closer than they actually are. But no, no, 1986 was indeed 40 years ago. So that's kind of alarming. But we have over 4,000 interactions or like touches, digital touches per day. Think about that. Like genuinely think about that. What are we actually letting sink in? What are you actually letting sink in in your day-to-day life? That is also something I've had to ask myself because here I am trying to live a more slow, intentional life and preach that too. And I have found it incredibly difficult to pause and shut off my brain. And I don't know, simply put, I need to take my own advice. But for me, as a content creator and as someone who writes and creates for this very podcast, I want that to be reflected. That was always the intention from day one. And I've loved doing two episodes a week for a while now. It's worked out beautifully. But again, season of life that I'm in, I have to walk the walk, you know? All

Navigating Fear

SPEAKER_00 24:51

right. So last pillar, I guess, here, last thing I wanted to touch on today. And this is this is an important one. And this this is one I've really had to grapple with myself, is doing things that don't necessarily feel aligned out of fear. Fear is really sneaky. It rarely shows up and announces itself. Instead, it often disguises itself as logic, as responsibility, as just being realistic. And before you know it, you are making decisions from a place of fear and perhaps even calling it strategy. That is a question that is worth asking yourself too, I think. In your own life, in your own grief journey, how many things are you still doing, still holding on to, still pushing through, not because they're serving you, but because you are afraid of what changing them might mean. I think that's really, really important to sit with. Loss already took so much from you that you didn't choose. It is valid. It makes sense that you would maybe want to hold tightly to the things that you can control, the things that do feel safe. Even if those things are no longer aligned with where you are or where you're going. I think that's another tough conversation we have to have with ourselves sometimes. But staying somewhere out of fear in a relationship, a job, a habit, a version of yourself isn't necessarily safety. It is just a slower kind of stuck. And here's what I want you to hear pivoting is not quitting, changing direction is not failure. It takes so much courage to look at something you've built, something you have worked so hard for, and say, I need to do this differently now. That is not weakness, that is wisdom. And grief of all things has a way of teaching us that life is too short and way too precious to spend it on doing things out of fear. But the beauty is you get to choose alignment and you get to choose you now. So I want to gently encourage you and implore you to do that. And it's really interesting too because I I feel like there's something in the water actually going on with this. I don't know what it is, but going into this year, like into 2026 specifically, I have seen multiple entrepreneurs that I follow, female leaders, female entrepreneurs that have various businesses, make pretty big pivots, pretty big leaps from things that they were doing that were successful or things they were known for. Two examples off the top of my head, Jenna Kutcher with her Golddigger podcast. She decided to end that before a thousand episodes. That was like her whole thing. I listened to her episode on why she ended it. And I just now being in the space that I'm in, I'm like, oh my God, I really resonate with that. Not that I'm ending this podcast, it's quite the opposite. But I empathized with where she was feeling like she was in life and needing to open up more space and time to explore other things. Amy Porterfield is another one that comes to mind. She is known for Digital Course Academy. I actually went through DCA as well. And she's now no longer doing that. I think she's sunsetting the program completely. Like she's just not doing the whole launch around it anymore. She's working with, I think, more female business owners who are making a certain amount of money. I can't remember exactly what it is now, but those are just two women that I'm aware of that have these, you know, multi-million dollar companies who have pivoted in some really big ways. And seeing them do it, that didn't, that wasn't the catalyst for me. My my journey, my realization came later. But I bring them up because I've been following them both for years and they're just beautiful examples of what it means to have something established, but then just feel in your gut like you are being led somewhere else and and not being fearful to lean into that. And so as it relates to this podcast, I will be so, so honest with you. I have fears around this update, even though it is quite literally just taking a step back on a couple episodes each month, which in retrospect is like probably not even a big deal. But it just is a testament to the fact that like I've gotten myself in such a headspace that to me, this idea of having more episodes will help me reach more people and grow the podcast. And that is all certainly true to a point. Absolutely. I I if I'm being really honest, I don't think I would have gotten to the point that this podcast is at now without adding extra episodes and doing that hard work. Like it's it's helped, it's paid off. But I've also had to ask myself at what cost in terms of my mental health and just my overall bandwidth. But because this is a safe space here, I'll tell you, it scares me to do less episodes, even if it's only a couple less each month, because I am worried how it will affect my progress. But even right there, what I just said that I'm I'm worried that would be operating from a fear-based mindset when I think about it that way. And so I've had to get out of my own way. I really had to turn that thought on its head and be like, okay, Tara, consider this something that will give you the brain power, the time, the energy to put quality work into other things that are lighting you up now as you continue growing and evolving that are also a priority and not continuing to spread yourself so dang thin. And in this process, I also have to trust that the right people will continue finding this podcast. It is a little scary. It's very scary because this podcast means a lot to me. But you know, those are the pros and cons that I've had to weigh. So I just want to pause and let you think about this in your own life too. Where does some of your energy maybe need to be reallocated? If not just for your own sanity, simply to free up some space for the next big, wonderful thing that is meant for you. Because who knows what that could be if you only allowed yourself to open up to it and allow the time and the space for it. And I heard this once, it was in during one of my coaching cohorts, and they basically were like, you can't be pregnant with multiple ideas at once. And now, of course, twins and triplets and things just popped into my head. So I guess you technically could be. But but think about it, you you want to give your all. I think most of us want to give our all to one thing and make sure it's really good and it's really working. But if you spread yourself too thin across too many projects, then everything's only getting, you know, 30%, 40%, 50% of you. And then it all suffers a little bit. And I've totally done that to myself in these last several years with various things. And I have learned a lot in the process. So this is also this new iteration of me, who is just being aware of that and not falling into the same trap and not making the same mistake. So those are kind of the three, the three things I guess you could say that led

Making Room for New Things

SPEAKER_00 33:12

me here. But my sort of like fourth unofficial thing that I've already kind of alluded to is exploring other things that we are feeling called to do. And that's where in the very beginning, when I was like, I hope this is actually exciting because it's making room for some exciting things. This leads me to my next point, if you will, like an announcement, but not kind of. I want to write a book. I am writing a book, actually. I already started it. It is happening. It's something that has been on my heart and mind for literally years. And up until now, I was like ideating on it, kind of noodling on it, trying to just intuitively gain direction and clarity on what I wanted it to be and where I wanted to go with it, the flow of it all. But it wasn't honestly until very recently that I really got that and was able to sit with it and be like, whoa, yeah, this feels good. And not only does it feel good, but like then I was I got so energized, I was like, I can't sit on this any longer. Like, I need to write. I need to write badly. I need the time to do this. Like when you know you just feel so pulled and called to do something that you can't ignore it, like you cannot not take action on it anymore. That is where I am with this book. And God knows how long it will take or how it will all come to fruition. I don't know that yet, but I am trusting the universe. I'm chalking it up to the universe. I am trusting that divine timing is real and it's all gonna fall into place and it's gonna be amazing. But that book is no longer a lower priority for me. It is, it has shot up on the list of priorities. And as you can imagine, if you have written a book yourself or you just know this, it's something you need time to do. You have to be diligent about it if you ever want to write and actually get it done. And I realized with the cadence of this podcast as it is, I'll literally never be able to do it if something doesn't change a little bit. So that was another indication to me. I'm like, ah, okay, something, something's gotta give here. And it's powerful though, because this book is something that I know I am meant to write. Like it just is. Again, it's been on my heart, on my mind for years, which is exciting. But it's also hard because this podcast is something I know I'm meant to do too. And I know these conversations are helping people, but I just had to have that come to Jesus moment with myself and be like, Tara, it's okay. It's okay. Give yourself permission to explore other things. That is what life post-loss gives us the gift of. And we're very blessed if we have the choice to be able to do that, you know? So I essentially had to tell myself give yourself permission to serve people in another way that is at least for now, maybe not a weekly episode, but in another beautiful way, what will hopefully be a long-lasting resource in the form of a book that they can carry with them and continue to come back to. And it's just like the podcast, but in a different form, kind of at the end of the day. But yeah, I need time and I just don't have it right now. So this is my way of making it, I guess.

Exploring Deeper Work

SPEAKER_00 36:56

Also, Substack. I am leaning much more into Substack, at least lately as well. I am just feeling a little nudge to get back to my roots of writing. And that is ultimately how Losses Become Gains was born, if you were not aware, through my blog. I do ultimately do writing for solo episodes because, of course, I want to have some notes and a direction for the conversation and what I want to talk about. But that's very different than, you know, writing a piece for Substack or a blog post or a book, right? So I've been wanting to make a little bit more room for that. And I have also been craving more depth in terms of like kind of my personal writing, my personal work, the sole purpose work and coaching that I do, topics where we go a little deeper into life beyond loss things versus like the in-your-face grief things, if you will. So, like the kind of earlier days of grief versus like the years later and the discovering new iterations and versions of ourselves. Like, you know, those are two very different ends of the spectrum. But I I resonate with both. I love aspects of both. But that was another thing I had to give myself permission to release because so much of me and my branding and like all the things, it's all about the grief. And that's beautiful and that's valid, and that's always going to be a big part of me. But I had to let myself go beyond the grief, which is ultimately what I'm always encouraging you gently to do as well, depending where you are in your journey of loss. Because personally, I am in a different phase of my grief from when I started Losses Become Gains and even this podcast as well. You know, I was feeling called and led in that direction to go deeper and talk about grief a lot, but maybe not quite 24-7 in the way that I have been basically up to this point. But honestly, when I realized how much I have out there that still addresses that like earlier grief, quote unquote, like those things and those coping tools, I realized there is still plenty of resources that I've already created and will continue to create for grievers. Maybe this is you listening, who are there right now. Maybe you are in the more of the thick of it and things like that, and you're not totally ready for the beyond the loss stuff just yet. And that's beautiful. That's okay. I want to meet you where you're at too. Countless episodes here where that is addressed. So many aspects of coping with grief are here at the forefront. My five-minute grief talks on YouTube that I briefly mentioned earlier, started those a little while back. Those have been super fun. My one-on-one grief coaching, right? So again, I had to have this moment with myself. Been talking to myself a lot lately, if you can't tell, where I'm like, Tara, it's cool. There is still plenty you've already put out there for those who are in that phase. And there's still gonna be new morning sips and soul shifts episodes that are still coming. Like they're not necessarily going anywhere, right? It's just a couple less per month. Like, Tara, relax. It's fine. So I've had to talk myself off a ledge a few times here, if you can't tell. But I just want you to know that too. And I think that's another insecurity I have is I don't want people thinking I'm veering too far in any direction. I think what's tough for me is I I embody both. I work with clients on different ends of the spectrum, right? Like I appreciate everyone and where they're at, which makes it tough to sometimes because that means I'm not just talking to like one type of person. I'm not necessarily always talking to the person in the early grief, and I'm not always talking to the person who's kind of beyond it. And my heart feels tugged and pulled sometimes, but that's my problem. That's not a you problem. And that, and my point is that I want you to know that I've still got you. And that is still my mission to help you navigate life with grief. Whole concept of this lovely little podcast. And that will never not be the case. And so, in many ways, I hope that this kind of like new direction and all of that will just continue to help it grow in new ways because I genuinely do see really big, amazing things for this podcast. And it's exciting to think about, but I have other things that are exciting me too that I want to lean into and I want to honor that and see what comes of those as well. And then I also just have some other stuff in my personal life that require time and attention too. Again, my marriage, my daughter, maybe one day we'll be adding a second baby to the family. We we will see. I don't know what the future holds, but I just knew with all that I have talked about today, and I promise I'm wrapping this up, that I had to look at bandwidth. I had to look at the new things calling to me and sparking joy for me now that I want to lean into, and I had to look at what's sustainable. And again, for this season of life at least, these are the adjustments that I'm making to maintain that sustainability. So I wanted to share this slightly more in-depth than I maybe otherwise would have, because again, as I said in the beginning, I genuinely think there is an important lesson to be learned and recognized here. How our evolution, especially post-loss, and frankly, our priorities as well, requires pause and re-evaluation at times, and that it's okay to take that time to do that. And it's okay to pause, it's okay to pivot and to not feel guilty about that. The things that taking a sacred pause makes room for could unlock so much more than we even realize, and perhaps things that we are meant to do, but simply can't right now because we're not really letting them in, or we just don't have the bandwidth, or whatever this looks like for you. So I hope this almost is a word of encouragement to you in a way, perhaps an invitation to take a step back in your own life where needed and feel that out for yourself as well. So, looking ahead, here's where we're at. The long and short of it is you will see a couple less solo episodes each month. Not sure for how long, but for now, that is how it will be. And I feel very at peace with that decision while I dive into these next projects and this next iteration of my work. However, because it's me and I can't Can't always help myself. I can't guarantee that bonus episodes won't come about here and there. I already have some things kind of in mind. So, really, the best thing you can do if you're not already is just make sure you're subscribed to the podcast wherever you enjoy listening or watching on YouTube so you don't miss an episode here. So that's that's really the update. Again, I mentioned Substack, so you can catch me on there as well if you are on that platform. I hope you are. It's a really beautiful space. I'm really loving the long form, really more in-depth, like rich intentional content. I think that's like very much where my heart is right now. So that's been really fun. I'm writing some kind of different, different stuff on there. My one-on-one coaching is something incredibly near and dear to my heart. So I have that available in various program links, but also one-off sessions in case you just need to talk something out or need to pick me up. I offer that with both grief coaching and soul purpose coaching. So that is all linked on my website. This is all in the show notes, and you can, you know, learn more there and all the good things. Also, I would love to do a cohort type situation. That is something I'm feeling really called to explore. I'm kind of just sitting with that right now, seeing what feels right. There's a part of me that's leaning towards, you know, parent loss or both parent loss even. Again, lots of ideating going on here. But if you are interested in joining like a really beautiful, really intimate cohort around something like that, please let me know because I would absolutely love to put one together. But of course, I just want to make sure people actually are interested in in group work. Some people really prefer one-on-one, some prefer group, or some people just aren't ready for help yet. So I love just hearing from you, engaging where you're at. But I will say a cohort of super engaged and like aligned people is what I had when I was going through the six-month process of getting my sole purpose coaching certification. And I'm not exaggerating, it like changed the chemistry of my brain. It was incredible to have that community. I made friends that I still talked to. It made the process so much more fun and effective. It's the best. But again, I would want it to be like a really small, really meaningful, like close-knit group. That really means a lot to me because I also want to make sure people really get some attention and FaceTime and all the things, you know? So there's that.

What Stays the Same

SPEAKER_00 46:28

But all of that to say, I will say guest episodes, which go out on Thursdays, will remain the same. I have zero plan to change those or that cadence, probably ever. Uh, because frankly, there are way too many incredible people and stories and journeys of life with grief and loss to share. And so many people that want to come on, and so many people that I want to come on. And so, yeah, I simply cannot change that right now. And truthfully, those episodes are incredible because they honestly help me as a host, as a coach, as just a fellow person, a fellow human, touch other forms of grief that I don't have personal experience with. And I think that's very, very important because I am so intent on meeting you wherever you're at in whatever loss you are going through. So it means so much to me to offer those episodes. Just too, too important to scale back on those at this point. But I I do hope you're enjoying those too. And be sure to give different guest episodes a chance. And saying that, for example, I'll use a recent example. We had someone um speak really more specifically to like infertility, grief, and loss, but there was so much in that episode around partnership and navigating grief and loss within a marriage or within a partnership. And so, even if we, you know, there are episodes out there with guests who have a very, you know, various experience with loss that maybe isn't the same as yours on paper. Please tune in if you feel called to, because there are just so many nuggets of gold and so many amazing coping tools and things that come out of some of these guest episodes that aren't even necessarily related to the loss that we're like speaking about, or you know what I mean? Like the loss in the title of the episode. And I just I would be remiss if I didn't mention that because every single conversation opens my mind, blows my mind a little bit. And friendly reminder too, timestamps are always included in episodes. So you could always like skip ahead a little bit too if that particular loss doesn't pertain to you, but you just want to hear what other wisdom and guidance and things that they shared. So just want to throw that out there. And last but not least, I mentioned this a couple times very briefly, but I have my five-minute grief talks that I have been doing so far, just exclusively on YouTube. That could change, but you can definitely check those out as well. Those are just meant to be some really powerful, inspiring, bite-sized little five-minute videos that touch on a variety of griefy topics. I do kind of like one topic per video. And honestly, they've just been so fun. And I've gotten a lot of really lovely feedback on those and that they're, you know, helpful and help people feel very like seen and validated. So I will definitely keep those coming too. But yeah, I hope you tune in and watch those because they're just such an easy, digestible little conversation. So honestly,

Wrap Up and Invitation

SPEAKER_00 49:40

like a lot changing, but also not a lot changing at the end of the day as of right now. Really, just a couple less episodes of this podcast per month, but lots of exciting things to come. Clearly, I have a lot on my mind, a lot I'm noodling on. I went back and forth with even doing this episode because I don't have some of it figured out, but again, I just always want to be so real and as authentic as I can and open and honest with you guys. And sometimes I think it's just nice and refreshing to hear someone just speak openly and honestly about what they're thinking and feeling and what they have going on. And I've, you know, seen other creators and people do this too. And I just always really appreciate bringing the wall down a little, you know, and that realness. And it just makes us all feel a little more human at the end of the day. But that all being said, truthfully, I would love to hear from you as well. What sort of support are you looking for? How can I be of service to you? What do you wish that you had but don't see out there? I'm all ears. I have other really exciting, really kind of cool and unique ideas that I didn't even talk about today because I'm not, I'm not even putting it out there yet. So stay tuned. But I have some things in the works, but I'm always, always open, always all ears. So you can DM me on Instagram, either at Losses Become Gains or at Life with Grief Podcast. You can shoot me an email, hello at lossesbecome gains.com, or you can click the drop me a line or voice note link here in the show notes and share your thoughts there. Truly, I am so open to you and your needs, and I just always want you to feel very super supported and loved on here. Always. So thank you so much. If you made it to the end of this with me, I genuinely appreciate you being here and witnessing where I am in my life right now and where my heart and my mind is. Let me know if you can relate in some way. It doesn't, you don't have to have a podcast to feel this way. Like this can show up in so many aspects of our life. And I just want this to be an amazing dialogue. So tell me in the comments wherever you are listening. And again, just a friendly reminder to subscribe if you are not already. Share this podcast with someone who could use it or just with your community. And I'm sending you all a lot of love, and I'll see you in the next one.