Life After Losing Mom

Welcome to Life After Losing Mom With Kat Bonner. In this episode, we’re joined by Stephanie Ragar. Stephanie shares how fighting her anxiety has changed her life.

What To Listen For

• Stephanie’s mom’s sudden cancer diagnosis.
• How keeping it together is actually Stephanie’s biggest downfall.
• Anxiety’s role in Stephanie’s grief process.
• How sometimes it can be challenging to talk with someone who doesn’t quite understand what you’re going through.
• What to look for in a therapist.
• The life-changing power of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR.)
• How your body can know exactly what to do to get you through the grief process.
• “Grief Triggers” and what to do about them.
• There’s no right way or wrong way to grieve.
• How grief can take its toll on your physical health.
• Discussion about company grief policies.
• The importance of sharing your grief story.

Stephanie is not alone in grieving the loss of her mom, but openness and sharing of her story helps give other women going through the same thing comfort and hope. Stephanie opens up about the hard reality of processing grief while dealing with anxiety, getting help, and the importance of sharing your story as a method of processing.

Resources From This Episode:

• Stephanie on Facebook
• Stephanie on Instagram

Follow Kat:

• Visit The Website
• Subscribe to the Podcast
• Join The Life After Losing Mom Facebook Community
• Like On Facebook
• Follow On Instagram

Welcome to Life After Losing Mom With Kat Bonner. In this episode, we’re joined by, Diane Langness. On this episode, Diane shares how joining the military gave her confidence and how you can have more confidence in your life.

What To Listen For

• Diane story of piecing together the facts about how her mother died in an accident.
• How Diane and her sister were left to basically raise themselves.
• The impact that seeing a woman in uniform had on Diane’s life.
• How getting involved with other women who have lost their mom enabled Diane to realize she’s not alone.
• How losing her mother at a young age played into Diane’s self-esteem growing up.
• The idea that being kind to yourself is key to managing your grief.
• Strategies for increasing your confidence.
• How Diane remembers that her mom is always with her in spirit.

Resources From This Episode:

• Diane On Facebook

Follow Kat:

• Visit The Website
• Subscribe to the Podcast
• Join The Life After Losing Mom Facebook Community
• Like On Facebook
• Follow On Instagram

Welcome to Life After Losing Mom With Kat Bonner. In this episode, we’re joined by Priscilla Cope. She is a student, dispatcher, wife, chihuahua mom, and paranormal investigator. She’s staying busy as she moves through life without her best friend.

What To Listen For

• The story of Priscilla’s mother's sudden diagnosis of bladder cancer.
• Priscilla’s experience with having a deaf mother and how Priscilla’s first language was actually sign language.
• How hard it can be losing your mom at a crucial age, such as during the teenage years.
• How Priscilla’s mom had to just stop treatment to be with her family in her final days.
• How Priscilla’s grief caused her to block out much of her memories from high school.
• Priscilla’s experience needing to care for her 8-year-old brother and how that caused her to avoid processing her grief.
• The link between depression and grief.
• How Priscilla began to self-mutilate as a cry for help.
• Dealing with a parent that’s alive and doesn’t want anything to do with you - and how that’s so much worse than a parent being gone that loved you.
• Priscilla’s experience of doing everything herself.
• The story of Priscilla’s significant other kicking her out.
• Priscilla’s story of being put on suicide watch and then making a huge life change and moving from Philly to Florida.
• How to use arts and nature as an outlet for expression and a way of keeping yourself busy.
• Realizing that grief can cause you to stop playing music and doing the things you love and that keep you healthy.
• How to take it day by day and remember that your mother’s spirit is here with you.
• Priscilla’s journey to being a funeral director.

Priscilla’s advice is to be patient with yourself. Try taking each day one step at a time and experiment with ways to stay healthy. It could be exercise, nature or the arts. The key is finding whatever works for you.

Resources From This Episode:

• Priscilla’s Instagram
• Priscilla’s Facebook

Follow Kat:

• Visit The Website
• Subscribe to the Podcast
• Join The Life After Losing Mom Facebook Community
• Like On Facebook
• Follow On Instagram

Welcome to Life After Losing Mom With Kat Bonner. In this episode, we’re joined by Sharnelle Gervais. She lost her mom in a tragic accident when she was only 15 years old.

What To Listen For

• How Sharnelle wishes she could’ve said goodbye to her mom for closure because it still doesn’t seem real.
• How Sharnelle had to immediately step into a caretaker role for her siblings when her mom passed.
• Kat’s observations on how age affects the way you process grief.
• Sharnelle’s struggle watching her father move on and begin a new relationship.
• Kat’s tips for “feeling what you’re feeling” in order to process grief.
• How PTSD can affect memory.
• What to do when you realize all the ways your mom won’t be apart of your life in the future.
• The role of anger in the grief process and how to deal with it.
• How Sharnelle began to experience other teenagers taking their parents for granted.
• Sharnelle’s experience of living in a small town and it’s effect on her social life.
• How losing your mom makes it hard to let any other mother figures into your life.
• Sharnelle’s realization that she was going to have to figure out how to take care of herself because no one else would.
• That comparing yourself to others can steal joy from your life.
• Setting up constructive boundaries in relationships.
• How to confide in a significant other.

Sharnelle is not alone in losing her mom at such an early age, but her raw honesty about losing her mom helps give other women going through the same thing comfort and hope. Without sugar-coating her feelings, Sharnelle opens up about the hard reality of processing grief while supporting others and learning to let new people into her life.

Resources From This Episode:

• Sharnelle on Facebook
• Sharnelle on Instagram

Follow Kat:

• Visit The Website
• Subscribe to the Podcast
• Join The Life After Losing Mom Facebook Community
• Like On Facebook
• Follow On Instagram

Transcript

Voiceover: 00:00 In 2013 Kat Bonner lost her mom in a tragic car accident. She figured out how to manage her grief and is helping other women do the same. On this podcast, you'll hear from other women who have lost their moms and discover the exact coping strategies you need to get through the day and be in the best place you've ever been. Don't miss another episode. Subscribe today. More information can be found Katbonner.com/podcast and if you'd like to join a group of likeminded women had to Facebook and search for the life after losing mom community. Lastly, if you're looking for help managing your grief book a complimentary connection call Katbonner.com
Kat: 00:48 so before we get started with the episode, I just want to share something with you. I'm sure you've heard multiple times that grief is an individual process. Well, the people you heard this from aren't wrong because it very much so is you're probably wondering how can someone help me when they grieve differently than I do? That's why I'm so passionate about one on one coaching that is totally customized to you and your pain points. I let you guide me two ways. I can help you. I can only take on three clients at a time. So the spots are limited. I'd love for you to tell me how I can help you in your grief journey.
Speaker 2: 01:34 [inaudible]
Sharnelle: 01:36 I was 15 when my mom passed away. She was in aquatic accident. So we lived in our little small village, about a half an hour away from, uh, a larger city. And uh, our or her parents lived on an acreage just outside of that village. And we'd always just ride our quads up to the acreage and then ride them home while we were all at school one day. And my mom was going about her regular day and she, um, was riding her quad home from my grandparents house and she lost control of the quad and ran into a power pole. And then by the time emergency services arrived, she was in stable condition, but, um, she ended up going into cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital. Um, so she didn't end up making it. They couldn't revive her. So I remember it like it was yesterday. I was in school in the town half an hour away and I got a text from my uncle saying that he was going to pick me up and I thought it was really weird, um, because I always just would ride the bus home.
Sharnelle: 02:45 So I was like, okay. So he picked me up and my broth...

Welcome to Life After Losing Mom With Kat Bonner. In this episode, we’re joined by artist and mother, Deborah Morbeto.

What To Listen For

• How Deborah’s mother passed suddenly.
• How the element of surprise makes processing a traumatic event even more difficult.
• Deborah’s mom’s fear of death and its role in her life.
• How unhealthy relationships can take a toll on your health even when you’re physically healthy.
• The oxygen mask metaphor for relationships and how that’s crucial in your relationships.
• How Jada’s relationship with her mom evolved from tumultuous teenage years into a best friendship
• The mixed messages that we receive in today’s culture.
• How to be a woman in modern times.
• Why it’s important for women to own property and a secure financial plan in place.
• How hard it can be to watch someone spending money they don’t have to buy things that won’t bring them what they actually need.
• The sense of loneliness and isolation you feel when you lose your only parent.
• How losing your mom can feel like losing a limb.
• How to process emotions through creativity and art.

Deborah lost her mom suddenly when she seemed to be in good physical health. But her mom wasn’t healthy emotionally and ultimately led to her demise. Deborah uses art and creativity to process her emotions and teaches others to do the same. How you process is up to you but it’s important to try and find an outlet or activity that works for you.

Resources From This Episode:

• Deborah’s Facebook Page
• Deborah’s Website

Follow Kat:

• Visit The Website
• Subscribe to the Podcast
• Join The Life After Losing Mom Facebook Community
• Like On Facebook
• Follow On Instagram