The Young Widow Podcast

Ep #26: Why We Keep Everything

 
Hi, welcome to the Young Widow Podcast. I'm Britany, your host, and I'm happy you could join today for episode 26: Why We Keep Everything. 
So I just came off of a conference weekend where I was speaking in Houston and this question came up by somebody that was attending the conference and it was in a different workshop than I was hosting.
And I jotted down in my notebook that I wanted to do a podcast on this as soon as possible, because I'm a 'why' person and what that means is that I wanna know why my brain does things. Why do I have these weird habits and grief?
And so if you're like me, I wanna explain the science behind why we keep everything after our person dies.
And there are three major things here that we're gonna talk about: memory connection, the dopamine factor, and then loss aversion.
And so with that, let's just jump in and I'm just gonna start from my perspective. 

Ep #25: Grief Took My Appetite

 Hi, Welcome to the Young Widow Podcast. I'm Britany, your host, and thanks for joining today for Episode 25: When Grief Took My Appetite. All right, so this one's going to be a little bit more of a harder one to record. You know, I hesitated to even sit down and record this one in a longer version. If you've been on my Instagram, I did a shorter reel of this, but there was so much feedback on it that I wanted to dive into this one. This is something I still struggle with today and I think that's what makes it worth talking about because I'm five years in grief.
And so let's jump in. 
Today we're going to talk about grief and food, or for a lot of us, the way grief completely destroys our relationship with eating. And not in the way people might assume  not the dramatic, I can't eat because food is repulsive. No, food stopped existing. I stopped caring. I stopped noticing hunger at all.
Why grief messes with our appetite, not just emotionally, but what's actually happening in our brain and nervous system. 
And then we're going to talk about how food became an afterthought and grief not just for me, but for so many of us and why it's so damn hard to change even years later.
And then I'm briefly going to touch on why some of us have a different response to food, which is eating everything that we want to eat whenever we want to eat it. 
So Let's jump in!

Ep #24: Breaking Through Groundhog's Day in grief

So, we all get to this place in grief..sometimes more than once..where everything just starts feeling… stuck. It’s like, Is this life now? Is this all there is? Because every day looks exactly the same. You wake up, do the things you have to do, go to bed, wake up, repeat. And at some point, you realize you’re not even living… you’re just existing.
That’s what I call grief-induced Groundhog’s Day.
So today, we’re going to talk about how to start breaking out of it.
Here’s what we’re going to cover:
Why this feeling hits so hard at the beginning of the year..what’s actually happening in your brain after weeks of holiday grief.
How small shifts can jolt your brain out of autopilot..and why even the tiniest changes can help.
Examples of easy ways to start making those shifts..so you can start today if you wanted.
How this connects to small wins in grief..because momentum, even tiny momentum, matters.
Alright, let’s get into it.

Ep #23: Memory Loops of Grief and Death Anniversaries

Hi there, and welcome to The Young Widow Podcast. I’m Britany, your host, and as always, I’m so grateful you’re here with me.
This week has been a really emotional one for me. It marks five years since my husband passed, and my brain seems to be stuck on that number — five. Five years. It feels like it should be a lifetime, but at the same time, it feels like I lost him yesterday. I’ve caught myself reliving so many memories from five years ago, like a loop I can’t quite get out of.
I talked about this with some of my widow coaching clients earlier this week, and I realized how important it is to share this with all of you. Today, we’re going to dive into:
What implicit versus explicit memories are and how they play a role in grief.
What’s happening in our brain to create those relentless memory loops.
A little about timeline grief — the new part of your brain that processes grief as time passes.
And finally, why these things combined make anniversaries feel so raw, even years later, like you’re back in those first few days of loss.
So let’s jump in and get started.

Ep #22: New Year, New Type of Grief

Hi, and welcome back to the Young Widow Podcast. I’m Britany, your host, and today we’re diving into something that I know many of you have been thinking about—or dreading—as the year comes to a close: the grief of a new year.
 
Today we are going to talk about the difference between Christmas Grief and New Years Grief, what is happening in our brain and why it feels different emotionally, and then some small recommendations as we move into the New Year grief period.
 
The holidays can feel like a storm of emotions—especially Christmas. It’s deeply personal. Christmas tends to revolve around family, traditions, and memories that are tied to intimacy and closeness. But New Year’s grief? That’s different. It doesn’t necessarily pull at the same strings. Instead, it pokes at timelines, milestones, and the relentless passage of time. New Year’s is about looking forward, setting goals, and planning ahead—and that can feel impossible when you’re grieving. It forces us to face the reality of time moving forward, with or without our person—highlighting a different kind of grief tied to fear of the unknown.

Ep #21: Finding Your Voice

Welcome to the Young Widow Podcast for Episode 21: Finding Your Voice. I'm Britany, your host and I'm happy that you could join today.
I want to dive into a big challenge that many of us face in grief and is really important with the holidays coming. It's important that we talk about it now and we get it out there and it's finding our voice and advocating for ourselves.
When we lose someone it's easy to get lost in making sure everyone else feels comfortable around us, that everyone else has having their grief managed. And then also we get lost in worrying about what others think about our choices and how they feel about it. But here's the thing, prioritizing yourself and setting boundaries isn't selfish, it's necessary in grief.
So today we're going to talk about:
Why prioritizing your needs isn't selfish and why you're the only one who really knows what you can handle. 
We're also going to cover how to handle triggering questions, using an approach. I call acknowledge advocate and redirect. Steps to start finding and using your voice. 
And then why being selfish is critical in the art of healing while going through deep grief. 
So Let's Dive In!

Ep # 20: Holiday Anxiety in Grief

Hi, Welcome to the young widow podcast and thank you for joining me today for Episode 20: Holiday Anxiety in Grief.
 
I am Britany your host and happy you could join today. Today I want to talk through Holiday anxiety – and why it is only October? It is so very normal in grief to experience anxiety – especially the first and second year WEEKS ahead of the actual holidays itself. So today we are going to talk about
Why does this happen so early
What kinds of things can be triggering
What kinds of things can I do to plan for it
What expectations should I have for myself and others
 
If you’re feeling anxious, overwhelmed, or like you’re stuck in this,, you’re not alone. I want this episode to be a real, raw conversation between us. No fluff, no platitudes—just some honest talk and actionable things that helped me and might help you too.
 
I know there’s a lot of pressure out there to feel a certain way or act a certain way around the holidays but we are going to break it all down

Ep# 19: Working Through Regrets

Hi, Welcome to the young widow podcast and thank you for joining me today for Episode 19: Working Through Regrets.
 
I am Britany, your host and I am happy you could join me today. Second podcast rolling out this week, finally getting back into my groove and lets not jinx it!
 
So today, I want to talk about Working Through Regrets.
 
What regrets do we have?
Why do we have them?
How do they affect our healing and growing in grief?
 
And then, I am going to leave you with a small exercise that I use in my coaching that I would like you to try if you have regrets.
 
So with that, lets jump right in.