Grieve That Sh!t

Sharon Brubaker and Erica Honore

Grieve That Shit isn't here to comfort you with clichés or tidy slogans about "better places." This podcast digs straight into the wreckage of loss—the nights you can't breathe, the mornings you can't move, and the ache that takes over your whole body. Hosted by grief specialist Sharon Brubaker, it's an unfiltered look at what grief actually does to you and how to face it head-on. Sharon brings her own story, real conversations, and practical tools that cut through the noise. If you're done with people minimizing your pain and you want the truth about grief, this is it. Grieve That Shit is where the rawness lives—and where real healing begins.

  1. 1h ago

    The Grief You Didn't Know You Were Carrying with Elizabeth Part 2

    Episode Description "Healing didn't just change her life. It changed her purpose." In this episode of Grieve That Sh!t, Sharon Brubaker sits down again with Elizabeth Keene for Part 2 of their powerful conversation about grief, healing, and what happens when you finally stop surviving and start living. After doing her own grief work, Elizabeth experienced something she never expected. She didn't just heal. She found her calling. What started as a random TikTok scroll turned into a journey that transformed how she sees herself, other people, and the entire world. Now, after working through decades of unresolved grief, Elizabeth is becoming a certified grief specialist to help others navigate the pain she knows so well. Together, Sharon and Elizabeth dive into the reality that every person you meet is carrying a broken heart somewhere. They discuss why grief is not a life sentence, how emotional pain accumulates over time, and why so many people remain stuck in survival mode for years—or even decades. Elizabeth shares the moment she realized her own pain could become a pathway to helping others heal, the surprising connection between grief and trauma, and why doing grief work gave her something no amount of therapy, self-help, or distraction ever could: Peace. This episode is also a powerful conversation about purpose. Because sometimes the thing that breaks your heart becomes the very thing that teaches you how to help someone else heal theirs. And sometimes your greatest pain becomes your greatest gift. What You'll Learn in This Episode Why everyone is a griever The difference between carrying pain and processing it How grief accumulates throughout a lifetime Why grief is often connected to trauma and survival responses What happens when you stop avoiding emotional pain Why healing doesn't erase your story How grief work creates more peace, joy, and emotional freedom The role grief plays in purpose and personal growth Why people stay stuck in grief for decades How healing changes the way you show up for others Questions to Sit With After Listening What pain have I been carrying longer than I realize? Am I surviving my life or fully living it? What losses have shaped the person I am today? What would my life look like if I stopped carrying the emotional weight? Could my healing help someone else someday? Homework for You Write down this question: "What pain am I still carrying that no longer belongs in my backpack?" Then make a list. Don't judge it. Don't rank it. Don't minimize it. Just tell the truth. Because every unresolved hurt takes up space. And healing begins when you're willing to look at what you've been carrying. Resources + Next Steps 👉 Join The Story Room 👉 Listen to more episodes of Grieve That Sh!t 👉 Learn more at: griefdiscovery.com Because grief is not the end of your story. It's often the beginning of the chapter where you finally learn how to live again. And when you heal your own heart, you become a safer place for someone else's.

    23 min
  2. 1h ago

    The Grief You Didn't Know You Were Carrying with Elizabeth Part 1

    Episode Description "What if the thing you've been carrying for years is actually grief?" In this episode of Grieve That Sh!t, Sharon Brubaker, grief specialist and founder of The Grief School, sits down with grief graduate and friend Elizabeth Keene to talk about a truth that changes everything: Not all grief comes from death. Sometimes grief comes from childhood wounds. Broken relationships. Disappointments. Rejection. Life experiences that never got processed. And years later, you're still carrying them around without realizing it. Elizabeth shares how she stumbled into Sharon's TikTok live completely by accident, asking a simple question about whether a romantic breakup could be considered grief. That question led her into grief work that uncovered more than twenty years of unresolved pain she didn't even know she was carrying. Together, Sharon and Elizabeth discuss the surprising ways grief shows up in everyday life, why so many people stay stuck in old pain, and what happens when you finally stop trying to "get over it" and learn how to process it instead. Elizabeth also shares the moment she experienced a physical release after doing grief work for the first time, how understanding the difference between thoughts and emotions changed everything, and why healing is possible even when you've spent decades believing it isn't. This episode is a powerful reminder that grief is bigger than death. And sometimes the healing you're searching for begins when you finally call it what it is. Grief. What You'll Learn in This Episode Why grief is about far more than death How unresolved life experiences continue affecting us for decades The 47+ different losses that can create grief Why people stay stuck even when they desperately want to move forward The difference between thoughts, stories, and emotions How grief work creates emotional and physical healing Why "just get over it" never works What happens when you finally process old pain How grief affects relationships, identity, and daily life Why healing doesn't erase your past—it changes your relationship with it Questions to Sit With After Listening What experiences from my past still carry emotional weight today? What pain have I been calling something else instead of grief? Have I been trying to think my way out of emotions? What losses have I never fully acknowledged? What would be possible if I finally put down the emotional weight I've been carrying? Homework for You Take out a notebook and create a timeline of your life. Start with your earliest memories and write down every event, relationship, disappointment, heartbreak, transition, or loss that affected you emotionally. Don't judge it. Don't minimize it. Just write it down. Then ask yourself: "What part of this might actually be grief?" Because healing often starts when we stop dismissing our experiences and start telling the truth about them. Resources + Next Steps 👉 Join The Story Room 👉 Listen to more episodes of Grieve That Sh!t 👉 Learn more at: griefdiscovery.com Because grief is not just about who died. It's about every experience that left a mark on your heart. And healing begins when you finally stop carrying it alone.

    23 min
  3. May 29

    The Grief Lesson Nobody Taught Us

    Episode Description "Your kids are already grieving. The question is whether they know how." In this episode of Grieve That Sh!t, Sharon Brubaker, grief specialist and founder of The Grief School, tackles one of the hardest parts of loss for parents: helping children grieve while you're grieving too. Because most parents believe their job is to protect their children from pain. But grief doesn't work that way. Children feel everything. They feel the tension. They feel the sadness. They feel the fear. They notice the silence. They notice the tears you hide. And when we avoid talking about grief, soften the truth, or pretend we're okay, they don't feel protected. They feel confused. In this powerful episode, Sharon explains why children do not need perfect answers. They need honest ones. They need to see what grief looks like. They need to learn that pain is something you move through, not something you avoid. Sharon shares why so many parents rush to fix, distract, or protect their children from grief, and how that often comes from their own fear of facing the pain. She also shares a deeply personal story about losing her favorite aunt at sixteen years old and how being left to figure grief out alone shaped her understanding of loss. This episode is a reminder that your children are watching. Not your words. Your grief. Because whether we realize it or not, we are teaching our children how to grieve every single day. And if we don't teach them? They'll end up where most of us did. Trying to figure it out alone. What You'll Learn in This Episode Why children experience grief differently than adults The truth about trying to protect kids from pain Why silence creates confusion during grief How children learn grief by watching the adults around them The difference between protecting your child and interrupting their grief Why honesty builds trust during loss Common mistakes parents make when talking about death How your own grief work helps your children heal Why children need presence more than perfect answers Questions to Sit With After Listening What emotions does my child's grief bring up in me? Am I protecting my child from pain... or protecting myself from watching it? What messages did I learn about grief growing up? How am I modeling grief for my children right now? What would change if I stopped pretending I was okay? Homework for You Take a piece of paper and write this question at the top: "What did I learn about grief growing up?" Then answer honestly. What did the adults around you teach you? Did they talk about grief? Did they hide it? Did they cry? Did they tell the truth? Because before we can teach our children how to grieve... We have to understand what we learned about grief ourselves. Resources + Next Steps 👉 Join The Story Room 👉 Listen to more episodes of Grieve That Sh!t 👉 Learn more at: griefdiscovery.com Because your child does not need a perfect parent. They need a grieving parent willing to tell the truth. And sometimes the greatest gift we can give our children is showing them that pain is not something to fear. It's something we learn to move through.

    20 min
  4. May 22

    Why Grief Feels So Out of Control

    *]:pointer-events-auto R6Vx5W_threadScrollVars scroll-mb-[calc(var(--scroll-root-safe-area-inset-bottom,0px)+var(--thread-response-height))] scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" dir="auto" data-turn-id= "request-WEB:fdf6c21b-5eed-4c55-a667-61b4c2eff342-6" data-turn-id-container= "request-WEB:fdf6c21b-5eed-4c55-a667-61b4c2eff342-6" data-testid= "conversation-turn-4" data-scroll-anchor="false" data-turn= "assistant"> Episode Description "What you thought grief was… it isn't." In this episode of Grieve That Sh!t, Sharon Brubaker, grief specialist and founder of The Grief School, breaks down the real definition of grief and why so many grievers feel overwhelmed, exhausted, numb, angry, and emotionally out of control after loss. Because nobody taught us what grief actually is. We were taught how to survive it. Stay strong. Stay busy. Push it down. Keep going. Humans really decided emotional pain should be ignored until it starts leaking out sideways into every relationship. Strange little system. But grief is not just sadness. It is emotional, mental, physical, and deeply connected to the body. It affects your brain, nervous system, thoughts, emotions, and reactions. In this episode, Sharon talks about the brain fog, exhaustion, chest tightness, numbness, anger out of nowhere, and the feeling that your whole life split in half after loss. She also explains why grief itself is not the problem. The problem is resisting it, avoiding it, distracting yourself from it, and pretending it is not there. Because unprocessed grief does not disappear. It waits. It builds. And eventually it starts showing up in every part of your life. This episode is also a powerful teaching on what it actually means to process grief. Not just talking about it, but learning how to lean into the pain long enough for your body to move through it. Because your body already knows how to grieve. It was designed to. What You'll Learn in This Episode Why grief is more than sadness What a full-body grief experience looks like Why grief causes brain fog, exhaustion, and numbness The difference between surviving grief and processing grief Why avoiding grief keeps people stuck What it actually means to process grief How unprocessed grief starts showing up in daily life Questions to Sit With After Listening What was I taught grief should look like? What emotions have I been trying to avoid? Am I processing my grief… or surviving it? Where is grief showing up in my body right now? Homework for You Write this question at the top of a page: "What was I taught to do with grief?" Then answer honestly. Because most people were never taught how to process grief. They were taught how to hide it. Resources + Next Steps 👉 Join The Story Room 👉 Listen to more episodes of Grieve That Sh!t 👉 Learn more at: griefdiscovery.com Because healing starts when you stop resisting the pain and finally understand what grief is actually doing inside of you.

    19 min
  5. May 15

    Why You Feel Exhausted, Numb, and Out of Control

    Episode Description "What you thought grief was… it isn't." In this episode of Grieve That Sh!t, Sharon Brubaker, grief specialist and founder of The Grief School, breaks down the real definition of grief and why so many grievers feel overwhelmed, exhausted, numb, angry, and emotionally out of control after loss. Because nobody taught us what grief actually is. We were taught how to survive it. Stay strong. Stay busy. Push it down. Keep going. Humans really decided emotional pain should be ignored until it starts leaking out sideways into every relationship. Strange little system. But grief is not just sadness. It is emotional, mental, physical, and deeply connected to the body. It affects your brain, nervous system, thoughts, emotions, and reactions. In this episode, Sharon talks about the brain fog, exhaustion, chest tightness, numbness, anger out of nowhere, and the feeling that your whole life split in half after loss. She also explains why grief itself is not the problem. The problem is resisting it, avoiding it, distracting yourself from it, and pretending it is not there. Because unprocessed grief does not disappear. It waits. It builds. And eventually it starts showing up in every part of your life. This episode is also a powerful teaching on what it actually means to process grief. Not just talking about it, but learning how to lean into the pain long enough for your body to move through it. Because your body already knows how to grieve. It was designed to. What You'll Learn in This Episode Why grief is more than sadness What a full-body grief experience looks like Why grief causes brain fog, exhaustion, and numbness The difference between surviving grief and processing grief Why avoiding grief keeps people stuck What it actually means to process grief How unprocessed grief starts showing up in daily life Questions to Sit With After Listening What was I taught grief should look like? What emotions have I been trying to avoid? Am I processing my grief… or surviving it? Where is grief showing up in my body right now? Homework for You Write this question at the top of a page: "What was I taught to do with grief?" Then answer honestly. Because most people were never taught how to process grief. They were taught how to hide it. Resources + Next Steps 👉 Join The Story Room 👉 Listen to more episodes of Grieve That Sh!t 👉 Learn more at: griefdiscovery.com Because healing starts when you stop resisting the pain and finally understand what grief is actually doing inside of you.

    19 min
  6. May 8

    The Truth About Why Grief Feels So Heavy

    Episode Description "Your life isn't broken. Your heart is." In this episode of Grieve That Sh!t, Sharon Brubaker, grief specialist and founder of The Grief School, breaks down why so many grievers stay stuck in pain for years… even while trying everything they can to survive it. After losing her nephew Austin, Sharon realized the problem wasn't that grievers were weak. The problem was that nobody taught us how to grieve. So we stay busy. We avoid the pain. We push it down. And we keep trying to "get over" something our body is still trying to process. In this episode, Sharon explains the real work of grief. Not just talking about it. Not pretending you're okay. But understanding what grief actually is, why your body reacts the way it does, and what it means to truly process pain instead of carrying it forever. She also talks about "completion", the unfinished conversations, emotions, and words that stay trapped inside the body after loss. The things you still need to say. The anger. The guilt. The love. The goodbye you never got. Because undelivered emotions do not disappear. This conversation is not about "moving on." It's about finally understanding what grief is trying to do inside you… so you can stop fighting yourself. What You'll Learn in This Episode Why grief feels like a full-body experience The difference between surviving grief and processing it Why staying busy keeps grief stuck What "completion" actually means in grief How unfinished emotions stay trapped in the body Why avoiding grief makes it louder over time How to separate love from pain Questions to Sit With After Listening Take your time with these. What have I still not said? What emotions have I been trying to avoid? Am I processing my grief… or just surviving it? What pain am I still carrying that was never expressed? Homework for You Write this at the top of a page: "What is still left unsaid?" Then let yourself answer honestly. Not the polite version. Not the strong version. The real one. Because grief doesn't stay stuck because you loved too much. It stays stuck when everything inside you goes unspoken. Resources + Next Steps If this episode hit you, it's because something inside you is ready to stop surviving and start understanding your grief. You don't have to carry this alone. 👉 Join The Story Room 👉 Listen to more episodes on Grieve That Sh!t 👉 Learn more at: https://stan.store/TheGriefSchool Because healing starts when you stop running from the pain and finally learn how to move through it.

    23 min
  7. May 1

    No One Taught You How to Grieve And Why That's a Problem

    *]:pointer-events-auto [content-visibility:auto] supports-[content-visibility:auto]:[contain-intrinsic-size:auto_100lvh] R6Vx5W_threadScrollVars scroll-mb-[calc(var(--scroll-root-safe-area-inset-bottom,0px)+var(--thread-response-height))] scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" dir="auto" data-turn-id= "request-69b4436f-8e58-8321-a0e7-71e602bf0813-2" data-testid= "conversation-turn-290" data-scroll-anchor="false" data-turn= "assistant"> Episode Description "You're not broken. You're trying to heal something you don't even understand." In this episode of Grieve That Sh!t, Sharon Brubaker, grief specialist and founder of The Grief School, breaks down the real reason so many people feel stuck in their grief. After losing her nephew Austin, Sharon learned that grief isn't just about loss. It's about what happens when you're left trying to survive something no one ever taught you how to process. No one gave you the language. No one gave you the instructions. And now you're trying to figure it out while you're in it. In this episode, Sharon walks through why grief feels so overwhelming, how misinformation and avoidance keep it stuck, and why staying busy, pushing it down, or trying to "get over it" only makes it louder over time. She also explains how grief actually works in your body and mind, why the pain keeps coming back, and what it really takes to move through it. This conversation is not about doing grief perfectly. It's about understanding it. Because when you understand your grief, you stop fighting yourself. What You'll Learn in This Episode Why you feel stuck in your grief How lack of understanding keeps grief from moving Why staying busy and avoiding emotions makes it worse How grief shows up in your body, thoughts, and identity The difference between surviving and actually healing Why grief keeps coming back stronger when it's not processed Questions to Sit With After Listening Take your time with these. Do I actually understand what grief is… or am I guessing? Am I trying to survive this… or actually heal it? What have I been doing to avoid feeling my grief? Where am I fighting against something I don't understand? Homework for You Write this at the top of a page: "What do I not understand about my grief?" Then answer honestly. Not what you've heard. Not what sounds right. The truth. Because you cannot move something you don't understand. Resources + Next Steps If this episode hit you, it's because something in you is ready to stop guessing and start understanding your grief. You don't have to stay stuck here. 👉 Learn more: https://stan.store/TheGriefSchool Because healing doesn't happen by accident. It happens when you finally understand what you're going through.

    23 min
  8. Apr 24

    Stop Trying to Protect Your Child from Grief

    Episode Description "Your child doesn't need the pain removed. They need you to help them move through it." In this episode of Grieve That Sh!t, Sharon Brubaker, grief specialist and founder of The Grief School, breaks down one of the biggest mistakes parents make when their child is grieving. After losing her nephew Austin, Sharon learned that grief isn't something you can protect someone from. Especially not your child. Because your kids already feel everything. They feel your silence. They feel your sadness. They feel what's not being said. They just don't have the words for it. In this episode, Sharon walks through what actually happens when parents try to shield their children from grief, why that instinct makes sense, and how it unintentionally creates confusion, fear, and isolation. She also explains what children really need, how to talk to them about loss, and why your own grief work is the most powerful tool you have to help them. This conversation is not about being a perfect parent. It's about telling the truth. Because your child is not learning from what you say. They're learning from what you show. What You'll Learn in This Episode Why children feel everything, even when they can't express it What happens when you try to protect them from grief Why avoiding the truth creates confusion instead of comfort How children process grief differently from adults Why your own grief work matters more than what you say How to talk to your child about death in a way they can understand Questions to Sit With After Listening Take your time with these. What am I trying to protect my child from? Am I avoiding their grief… or my own? What emotions from my child are hardest for me to sit with? What did I learn about grief growing up… and how is that showing up now? Homework for You Write this at the top of a page: "What am I trying to protect my child from?" Then answer honestly. Not the version that sounds like you're doing it right. The real one. Because clarity is what builds trust. And trust is what makes grief safer. Resources + Next Steps If this episode hit you, it's because something in you is ready to stop avoiding and start understanding grief, for you and your child. You don't have to figure this out alone. 👉 Join the masterclass: https://griefdiscovery.com Because your child doesn't need perfection. They need you.

    20 min
4.8
out of 5
32 Ratings

About

Grieve That Shit isn't here to comfort you with clichés or tidy slogans about "better places." This podcast digs straight into the wreckage of loss—the nights you can't breathe, the mornings you can't move, and the ache that takes over your whole body. Hosted by grief specialist Sharon Brubaker, it's an unfiltered look at what grief actually does to you and how to face it head-on. Sharon brings her own story, real conversations, and practical tools that cut through the noise. If you're done with people minimizing your pain and you want the truth about grief, this is it. Grieve That Shit is where the rawness lives—and where real healing begins.