Ep. 208 – Leslie Gray Streeter is the author of Black Widow, a story about coping with loss but with a celebration of faith, love, and the people who show up when we need them most. Leslie's entire story hinges on having a great attitude - as a widow, her perseverance and ability to look at the positives, even with humor, were key to her survival. Her memoir takes you on her journey, through the initial shock of the loss of her husband, to finalizing the adoption of their son, to moving in with her mother, her new co-parent. Leslie has spoken extensively about how a good attitude is crucial to navigating our collective grief surrounding the Covid-19 epidemic and beyond. In this episode, Leslie shares how her “perfect” life completely fell apart after the sudden death of her beloved husband six years ago and how she picked up the pieces. Listen in to learn how Leslie mourned, grieved, healed, and moved on to live fully while still respecting the memory of her husband. You will also learn how you can use hard moments like losing a loved one to shift your mindset and live fully.

Key Takeaways:

• Get help and take it easy on yourself to grieve and heal after losing a loved one to death
• Learn to stay in the moment and in your feelings without rushing anything
• Learning how to say no as a complete sentence and asking for what you’re worth

"Be willing to accept that things don't always go as planned. If we have to make changes to our plans, we will change them, and not allow things to steal our ability to be happy." - Leslie Streeter

In this episode you’ll discover:

Leslie shares how her husband’s death completely shifted her life, plus her adoption story [0:37]

How her life was shaken plus how she honored her husband’s memory after his death [3:59]

The difference between grief and mourning and the process of grief before healing [6:53]

She shares some tips and advice on how to handle grief and the healing process [10:00]

How to pick up the pieces after losing a loved one, especially a spouse [13:09]

Leslie on how she picked up her pieces and changed her life [15:06]

She explains how loss changed her mindset from how she viewed her life and career [18:09]

How she’s helping women learn to move on even after losing life as they knew it [21:27]

She shares a few tips on how to live truly and fully after losing a loved one [24:26]

Give yourself permission to not know everything and be joyful in what you already know [27:46]