Learn the story of my journey with grief after my father’s death by suicide and how it may differ from other grief experiences.

In this solo episode I share the story of my own grief experience after my father died by suicide 34 years ago. This is an ongoing journey that has shifted and changed over the years, teaching me a great deal about life, death and grief. The week this episode airs is the anniversary of Dad’s death, so I’m currently processing it once again and thought I would share the story with you. Hopefully this will be helpful to others who are dealing with grief after suicide or trying to help someone who is grieving. I want to decrease the stigma and shame that surround suicide so that we can get better about asking for, receiving, and giving help to those who are suffering. (Note: There are slides that accompany this talk if you watch on YouTube.)

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This episode includes:

• The shock and numbness of my first year of grief
• What I needed from others during my early grieving process
• Why I couldn’t talk about my father’s death for a long time
• How Hospice opened me to finally begin embracing my grief
• Why allowing myself to feel anger was difficult but pivotal in my grief process
• Why it didn’t really matter what other people said to me during my grief experience
• Why I have compassion for people who couldn’t be there for me
• How I used rituals and Travel to help me with my grief
• The devastating guilt that accompanies grief after suicide
• How my grief has changed over the years

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Get EOLU Podcast Merch here
• Conversations on Death with ChatGPT – Audiobook here; Print Book here
• Leave me a message by email: [email protected], Twitter, Facebook or Instagram
• Support your local bookstore by buying my books on Bookshop and Indiebound: 7 Lessons for Living from the Dying and The Journey from Ego to Soul
• Subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Stitcher Radio
• Check out the Series I’ve recorded in the past here
• Join the team at Patreon.com/eolu and receive free gifts like the “Mind if we talk about death?” mini-poster or Love Your Life sticker or coffee mug. PLUS get our regular bonuses: the monthly EOL News Update, occasional movie reviews from 2 Doctors and a Movie, and automatic access to A Year of Reading Dangerously!
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If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu and to Mark and Cheri McClure for buying me 5 coffees! Your contributions make all the difference.

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Karen Wyatt Karen Wyatt MD

Dr. Karen Wyatt is the bestselling author of the book 7 Lessons for Living from the Dying, which contains stories of patients she cared for as a hospice doctor and the spiritual lessons she learned from them at the end of their lives. Her other books include The Journey from Ego to Soul, Stories from the Dark Night, and The Tao of Death. Dr. Wyatt also hosts End-of-Life University Podcast, which features conversations with experts who work in all aspects of end-of-life care. She is widely regarded as a thought-leader in the effort to transform the way we care for our dying in the U.S. In addition, she is valued for her application of spiritual principles to illness and healthcare and teaches that in order to live life fully we must each overcome our fear of death and embrace the difficulties that life brings us.