23. Navigating Grief, Sex, And Comedy with Kelsey Chittick The Brave Table with Dr. Neeta Bhushan

Hello Brave Table fam, welcome back for another juicy episode. Today’s guest is Kelsey Chittick, a writer, mama, comedian, inspirational speaker, and author of Second Half: Surviving Loss and Finding Magic in the Missing.
What you’ll get out of this episode… 
- Reframing grief to experience joy, hope, and a zest for life 
- Healing modalities for grieving, including alternative, psychedelics, and holistic approaches 
- Explaining loss of life to your children and how to guide them through a traumatic event
- Learning how to experience and embrace the full range of human emotions, working through every stage of the grief process, and not placing a timeline on your grieving
- Having unapologetic confidence in who you are
- Getting out of your head, into your body, and owning your sexual exploration
- Letting go of the reigns as a high-achieving woman
- How to do the work during challenging times to come out stronger on the other side
 
Kelsey suddenly lost Nate—her husband, former NFL player, best friend, and father to her children—while she was at A-Fest (where the two of us met) in Jamaica and he was back home with the kids. Her life changed in an instant. 
Before Jamaica, Kelsey had lived much of her life in her head. She felt uptight, constantly nervous and high-strung, and didn’t allow herself to let loose. She was also an anxious traveler, so she was initially hesitant to go to Jamaica, but Nate insisted that she do. 
As soon as she landed, she felt a sense of calm, and during the days that followed, she broke out of her shell, felt an awakening happen within her, and decided she wanted to live fearlessly and do great things, but prayed that she wouldn’t have to go through something hugely challenging to get there. Moments later, the call came that Nate had passed suddenly in front of his two children. 
What followed was a journey of incredible strength and resilience as she navigated a flurry of feelings—grief & joy, devastation & hope, and everything in between. Kelsey contemplated what life would be like for her family on the other side of such a devastating event, and quickly recognized that the only way out of it would be to go through it. 
Kelsey shares that it is possible to find yourself again and lead a joyful life—even after a massive, deeply heart-wrenching, and completely unexpected loss. She shows us the value in experiencing the full range of human emotions, finding what healing practices and modalities can best support you (plus opening your mind to unconventional ones including alternative therapies and psychedelics), and honoring your grief in ways that still give you pleasure. All with a little dose of laughter along the way. 
More resources on things discussed in this episode… 
- Purchase Kelsey’s book, Second Half: Surviving Loss and Finding Magic in the Missing.
- Find her on Instagram and listen to her podcast, Keep On.
- The book Kelsey speaks of at the beginning of the episode is The Code of the Extraordinary Mind: 10 Unconventional Laws to Redefine Your Life and Succeed On Your Own Terms by Vishen Lakhiani
- More about being brave during challenging times.
- More on finding joy in sex with Alexa Bowditch.
- My own experience with grief with my family.
- Kelsey’s favorite ritual right now, Dr. Joe Dispenza’s meditations.
Thanks for listening, and I hope you loved this episode! Thank you so much for being here, and see you next time!