When life threw me the kind of curveball that leaves you breathless, I had two choices: crumble under the weight of grief or rise from its ashes. This is Linda Carter, and you're about to step into a world where raw emotions converge with a celebration of the human spirit, right here on Grief Sucks Life After Loss. In our inaugural episode, I unfold the harrowing tale of losing my husband and his mother on a day that was supposed to be about festive candles and birthday wishes; instead, it became a marker of my own rebirth through mourning.
This isn't just my platform; it's a beacon for all who have endured the sting of loss. Here, we peel back the layers of grief in all its forms, whether it's the death of a cherished one, the end of a friendship, or the haunting presence of 'what ifs.' You'll find solace in shared stories, and perhaps you'll add your voice to this tapestry of healing. Every other Friday, a fresh episode will emerge—sometimes it's just you and me, other times we'll have the wisdom of guests who've walked this path. So brace yourself for an unscripted journey through laughter, tears, and the power found in moving forward together.
When life threw me the kind of curveball that leaves you breathless, I had two choices: crumble under the weight of grief or rise from its ashes. This is Linda Carter, and you're about to step into a world where raw emotions converge with a celebration of the human spirit, right here on Grief Sucks Life After Loss. In our inaugural episode, I unfold the harrowing tale of losing my husband and his mother on a day that was supposed to be about festive candles and birthday wishes; instead, it became a marker of my own rebirth through mourning.
This isn't just my platform; it's a beacon for all who have endured the sting of loss. Here, we peel back the layers of grief in all its forms, whether it's the death of a cherished one, the end of a friendship, or the haunting presence of 'what ifs.' You'll find solace in shared stories, and perhaps you'll add your voice to this tapestry of healing. Every other Friday, a fresh episode will emerge—sometimes it's just you and me, other times we'll have the wisdom of guests who've walked this path. So brace yourself for an unscripted journey through laughter, tears, and the power found in moving forward together.
Welcome to Grief Sucks Life After Loss. I'm your host, linda Carter. This is our first episode and I'm so excited to be here today. I'm solo. I wanted this episode to be an introduction to who I am, why I'm here and what to expect from this podcast. First, let me tell you this isn't going to be perfect. We've already had some mishaps, technical difficulties, and that's all part of it. It's just a learning curve. But let's dive into who I am. The short of it is I'm a mom of two. I have an almost 24-year-old daughter and a 15-year-old son. Two dogs, a cow, a pig it's a little bit crazy around here. I'm a small business owner. I have a craft studio, I'm a travel agent and now a podcaster. We'll see how that goes.
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I was married for 14 years to the love of my life and my best friend. We were together for 17 years. We had that love that everyone hopes for. Yeah, it's real and it was pretty amazing to experience. Unfortunately, our time was cut short.
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On December 6, 2021, my 40th birthday, my husband died suddenly. As if that wasn't enough, his mother also died this day. This all happened within 20 minutes apart. They weren't together. Two separate incidents.
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I think we all have that one death that changes our lives forever, and this is definitely mine. In three months we had lost my husband, my mother-in-law, her husband. Several long-term relationships changed. I feel like so much shit happened that I can't even recall it all. The first year was a fog, the second year was getting back to life and now I feel like I'm in full swing of life again. This was my kid's first experience with a major loss, so we had to navigate that as well.
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It's crazy how much life changes when loss happens. People disappear, people show up that you never thought would, and life is just never the same. Of course, there's a lot to my story. I will all surface as we go. I'm in a good place now, but that took time and a lot of work. There's no right or wrong way or timeframe to grieve. Don't let anyone tell you different. But here's the deal. It's okay to be down, but you got to get back up. You can't stay there. I'm here because I want to share my story. I want others to share theirs as well. I feel like something good was meant to come from my loss.
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We don't talk about grief enough, and the truth is the death rate seems higher now than ever. We have to help each other get through things like this. If this helps one person, then it's all worth it. I felt alone during my hardest times and I don't want anyone to feel that. Warning I'm kind of awkward when it comes to death. I'm learning that I'm not the only one, though, so that's a plus. We all deal with death differently, and that's okay.
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This podcast is for the real, raw, non-filtered emotions that we go through. Grief is a bitch, and it's not limited to death. This can come in any form of loss, friendship, death, what was, what could have been. There's so many ways and reasons you can be dealing with grief. I want to talk about it all.
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This will not be scripted. It'll be very little editing. This is a conversational style with no plan. Literally, we don't discuss anything prior to recording. We just start and see what comes from it. So far, it's worked great and I'm very excited about the outcome. Please don't think this is all about death, dying, crying, sad all the time. Of course, tears will happen sometimes, but not all the time. While sharing our stories, I also want to share the good memories that we have about the people that we lost. The plan is to release a new episode every other Friday, sometimes with a guest, sometimes solo, if I don't have anyone that wants to share. I hope you guys want to share. We may have a guest on more than once. We've got a lot to say. If you would like to share with us and be on the podcast, or if there's a topic that you would like for me to cover, please send me an email at griefsuckslifeafterlossatgmailcom. I truly appreciate you being here and I hope that this podcast helps you in some way.