Getting Back Up Podcast: Finding Life After Death
Two fathers. Two stories of loss. One mission to get back up.
Real conversations with two men learning to navigate life, raise children, and find love again…after loss.
Hosted by Jamal Jones and David McClain, Getting Back Up: Life after Death is a real, raw, and often humorous podcast about what comes after the unthinkable—losing a partner, facing grief, and finding your way through it. As two widowers, now devoted girl dads (and one remarried man), Jamal and David create space for honest conversations around healing, identity, and starting over.
Getting knocked down is part of life. Getting back up is how we live.
Episodes
55 episodes
50: What Happened When We Put Widowers in a Room Together | Widower Reset
Episode 50: What Happened When We Put Widowers in a Room Together | Widower ResetWhat happens when you put a group of widowers in a room and give them permission to stop being strong for a weekend?Jamal and David created th...
49: Dad, I Need to Talk to Mom
Episode 49: Dad, I Need to Talk to MomSometimes there are moments in raising children when you can almost hear the words: “I really wish Mom was here for this.” For a widowed father, those moments can be especially difficul...
48: Nobody Knows What to Do With the Empty Chair
Episode 48: Nobody Knows What to Do With the Empty ChairWhen your spouse dies, your family doesn't simply become the same family minus one person. The entire family changes.In this episode, Jamal and David explore the roles...
47: The Signs You’re Healing (Even If It Doesn’t Feel Like It)
Episode 47: The Signs You’re Healing (Even If It Doesn’t Feel Like It)Healing after loss rarely announces itself. There’s usually no big breakthrough or morning when you wake up and suddenly feel “better.” More often, it shows up ...
46: The Man I Never Expected to Become
Episode 46: The Man I Never Expected to BecomeLoss changes us. That's unavoidable. But every so often, if we're paying attention, we realize grief hasn't only taken something away—it has quietly shaped us into someone we never exp...
45: The Lasts We Never Saw Coming
Episode 45: The Lasts We Never Saw ComingSome of the hardest moments after losing a spouse aren't the anniversaries we prepare for. They're the milestones we never realized would become "lasts."In this episode, Jamal and David re...
44: Grieving a Future After Loss
Episode 44: Grieving a Future After LossGrief isn't only about losing the person you loved. Sometimes it's about losing the future you spent years imagining together.In this episode, Jamal and David explore one of the least talked...
43: What If I Forget Her? The Fear of Letting Go
Episode 43: What If I Forget Her?One of the fears many widowers carry isn't losing a memory—it's losing the connection behind it.In this episode, Jamal and David tackle a question that often goes unspoken: What if I for...
42: I’m Tired of Being Strong (Holding it together after loss)
Episode 42: I’m Tired of Being Strong (What everyone sees after loss)For many widowers, strength becomes a role they never asked to play. You keep showing up. You take care of the kids. You pay the bills. You go to work. You handl...
41 - I Don't Feel Like Myself Anymore | Identity After Loss
Episode 41: When you don't feel like yourself After loss, there comes a moment many widowers quietly experience: you look in the mirror, go to work, attend a family event, or scroll through old photos and think... I don’t...
40: Why Am I Still Angry?
Episode 40: Why Am I Still Angry?For many widowers and grieving spouses, anger doesn’t always show up in the beginning. Sometimes it arrives later—after the funeral, after the shock, after life gets quiet again. And when it does, ...
39: I Felt Guilty for Laughing Again, After Loss
Episode 39: I Felt Guilty for Laughing Again After LossThere’s a moment many widowers and grieving spouses experience—but rarely say out loud: the first time you genuinely laugh again… and immediately feel guilty afterward. <...
38: When Your Child Has an Emergency — Why It Hits Different After Loss
Episode 38: When Your Child Has an Emergency — Why It Hits Different After LossThere’s a moment every parent dreads—the call you weren’t expecting… the one that makes your heart drop before you even have the full story. In th...
37. When Life Hits Again - Unemployed after loss
Episode 37: When Life Hits Again - Unemployed after lossWhat happens when life knocks you down… again?In this episode, Jamal and David step into something raw and unfiltered. Just weeks after being laid off, Jamal shares ...
36: Finding Passion & Purpose Again
Episode 36: Finding Passion & Purpose AgainThere comes a moment in the journey where survival isn’t the question anymore… it’s now what?In this episode, Jamal and David dive into one of the hardest transitions after l...
35: In-Laws or Out-Laws? — Dealing with Their Family After You Move On
Episode 35: In-Laws or Out-Laws? — Dealing with Their Family After You Move OnMoving forward after loss isn’t just about you—it can shift every relationship connected to your past. In this episode, Jamal and David tackle one of the most ...
34: Bitter Sweet Sixteens - Navigating Fatherhood Through Milestones
Episode 34: Bitter Sweet Sixteens — Navigating Fatherhood Through MilestonesTurning sixteen is supposed to be a celebration — a moment where parents look at their daughters and realize childhood is slowly giving way to adulthood. B...
33: Am I Depressed… or Am I Grieving?
Episode 33: Am I Depressed… or Am I Grieving?In this episode, Jamal and David take on a question many widowers wrestle with quietly: Am I depressed… or am I grieving? It’s a question that usually shows up late at night, in the q...
32: Telling the Story With Heart — A Conversation with Dr. Nicole Clark
Episode 32: Telling the Story With Heart — A Conversation with Dr. Nicole Clark In this episode, Jamal and David sit down with Dr. Nicole Clark, Emmy award-winning anchor and reporter for Spectrum News Texas — but befo...
31: Grief Beyond Death — A Conversation with Jocelyn Barrera of The Christi Center
Episode 31: Grief Beyond Death — A Conversation with Jocelyn Barrera of The Christi CenterIn this on-location episode in Austin, Jamal and David sit down with Jocelyn Barrera, Executive and Clinical Director of The Christi Center,...
30: “If Only I Had…” — Living With the Loop of Regret (Part 2)
Episode 30: “If Only I Had…” — Living With the Loop of Regret (Part 2)In Part 2 of our conversation on regret, Jamal and David move from awareness to release. Many widowers quietly believe that suffering proves love — that carryin...
29: “If Only I Had…” — Living With the Loop of Regret (Part 1)
Getting Back Up: Finding Life After Death (Season 1)Episode 29: “If Only I Had…” — Living With the Loop of Regret (Part 1)In Part 1 of this raw and reflective conversation, Jamal and David open up about one of...
28: What Must Be Carried (Pt. 2 ) w/ Whitney Lyn Allen
Getting Back Up: Finding Life After Death (Season 1)Episode 28: What Must Be Carried (Pt. 2 ) w/ Whitney Lyn AllenIn this second half of our conversation with grief coach and author Whitney Lyn Allen, w...