listening to grief

I’ve been listening to Nora McInerny’s podcast, Terrible, Thanks for Asking. Have you listened yet? 

The episode I listened to today was an interview with a woman whose son, Henry, died the day before he was born. It’s a gorgeous episode, like much of Nora’s work. Terrible, Thanks for Asking recently won a Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (AWMF). The award celebrates female luminaries by recognizing their outstanding achievements across new and traditional media platforms.

Why am I telling you this, aside from the fact that it’s a great podcast, and you should go check it out?

Because the attention Nora’s podcast is getting is great news for grieving people. That the show won a Gracie award is also great news for grieving people.

Why?

In our own personal lives, it can be difficult to find people – anyone, at times – who can really hear what it means to lose someone you love. It can feel almost impossible to share your pain without being cheered up, corrected, or having your pain dismissed. For all those people in your life who can’t, or don’t know how to, bear witness to your grief, Nora’s show (and other resources in print and on the air) corrects and educates them in ways you can’t – or don’t want to.

For whatever reason, people are tuning in to stories about death, loss, suffering, and grief in record numbers. Maybe because there’s no pressure to respond or to “do it right,” they’re listening. And because they’re listening, they’re learning.

They’re learning. Whether they intend to or not.

So this is fantastic news for us, and for all those who come into the grief world after us. People are listening. I don’t know yet what they’re taking from these shows, but they’re listening. And listening is the beginning of everything.

The culture is changing. It hasn’t changed yet, that’s for sure. But the success of Nora’s show gives me hope.

If you listen to her show, let me know what you think. And as we’re recording our own refuge in grief podcast, leave a comment and let me know what you’d love to hear.