81 {Sally Douglas} Grieving after mum’s unexpected death

Trigger warning: grief, miscarriage

Grief has been a common theme on this podcast, but often it has been discussed as a side effect, or an addition to the main challenge.

You might remember that we spoke to Imogen from the Good Mourning podcast in episode 61. In this episode I catch up with Sally Douglas, the second half of Good Mourning, about the loss of her mother and the long lasting impacts of grief.

Sally Douglas is an author and the co-founder of Good Mourning, the movement changing how we think and talk about grief by humanising the taboo topic. Since launching, she's become one of the leading voices in grief education, the podcast has grown to be one of the top in the grief category, she and Imogen have built a community of over 150,000 and written a book. She's also a PR coach and consultant, helping purpose driven brands be seen and heard.

In this episode Sally shares:

- The experience of losing her mum in her early 30’s’

- What it was like losing her mother while overseas

- The practical challenges of loss

- The physical and emotional toll loss can take on us

- The different grieving styles (instrumental and intuitive)

- How she found grief to be isolating

- How the loss of her mother made her following miscarriage even harder

- The way she shamed herself for feeling lonely

- What she gained from the experience

Key Quotes

“Grief can make you peel back some layers on previous things that have happened in your life.”

“It was the loneliness of grief. It is so very lonely and isolating, even if you’ve got good support.”

“Grief has so many different faces...just because someone carries it well doesn’t mean it isn’t heavy.”

“It (grief) can be a huge source of fractured relationships. We don’t understand that there are different ways that we grieve.”

More about Sally

You can check out the Good Mourning podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/good-mourning-grief-podcast/id1529978129

You can also find out about their book and community here: https://www.goodmourning.com.au/#1

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business you can find it through the websites:

www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

Or you can follow them on Instagram:

@Altitudefitnessarmidale

@trialtitudeperformance

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