5d ago

14 Days to 26.2: The Little Surrenders

Fourteen days before the New York City Marathon, an acute right-heel injury leaves host Thérèse facing the possibility that she may not reach the finish line she has spent months preparing to cross. The sudden uncertainty reveals a familiar caregiving instinct: the need to anticipate every crisis, control every variable, and ignore personal pain so the people we love receive the care they need. Drawing from her 25 years as a family caregiver, Thérèse explores how overriding physical and emotional pain becomes a survival mechanism—and why healing in "The After" requires learning to listen to ourselves again. Inspired by her namesake, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and her "Little Way" of trust, Thérèse begins practicing surrender not as one dramatic act, but as a series of small, repetitive releases. She cannot guarantee what her heel will feel like on race morning, but she can rest, adapt, make wise decisions, and care for the body she has today. Because surrender is not resignation. It means doing what is ours to do without pretending we can control what happens next. In this deeply personal episode, Thérèse invites listeners to reflect: • What is true in this exact moment? • What is mine to do today? • What is my pain asking me to notice? • What can I release—just for now? Thérèse also makes a personal request: please send her love, positive energy, and prayers as she moves through these uncertain final fourteen days toward November 1st. "I surrender the outcome—not my responsibility. I surrender certainty—but never hope." • Learn more: NewYorkGirlAgain.com • Connect on Instagram: @NYGirlAgain • Connect on Facebook: @NewYorkGirlAgain

Oct 11

21 Days to 26.2: Replaying the Hurt and Reclaiming Your Dignity

Have you ever finished an entire argument with someone while washing dishes—when they weren’t even in the house? You found the perfect words, explained your pain, and demanded to be understood. But what happens when the apology or acknowledgment you deserve never comes? With just 21 days until the New York City Marathon, host Thérèse explores the mental energy caregivers waste trying to get a different ending to a story that has already happened. From the biological toll of rumination and delayed cortisol recovery to the power of establishing dignity without external validation, this episode provides a compassionate, practical guide to stopping the mental replay. In this episode, we explore: The Dishwashing Argument: Why we mentally replay hurt with absent people.The Caregiver's Hidden Anger: Processing broken promises, unhelpful opinions, and post-caregiving relational disappointments.The Cortisol Connection: How rehearsing past arguments keeps your nervous system in an active stress state.Dignity vs. Validation: Why your self-worth cannot depend on someone else admitting they hurt you.The 4-Step De-escalation Practice: Practical steps to catch the replay, settle your physiology, and return to the life in front of you.Weekly Reflection Question: When you notice the argument returning this week, ask yourself: "What am I hoping this conversation will give me, and what part of caring for that need is available to me today?" Join our growing community at NewYorkGirlAgain.com. Follow us on Facebook at @NewYorkGirlAgain and Instagram @NYGirlAgain

Oct 8

26.2 Miles and 25 Years of Caregiving: When Grief Becomes Physical

As Thérèse prepares to line up for the New York City Marathon on November 1st—her first 26.2-mile race in over a decade—training has forced her to pay close attention to her body. But as the miles add up, she finds herself thinking about everything that happened over those ten years: losing her mother, caring for her uncle and her father through their final years, and learning how to live in a world without the people who were at the absolute center of her life. GPS watches track distance, but they can't measure the physical toll of carrying 25 years of caregiving. What happens inside the body of the person who did the caring? In this foundational episode, we break down how emotional heartbreak lodges itself into physical physiology—from sudden blood pressure spikes and disrupted muscle protein synthesis to sleep deprivation, gut-brain interaction, and effort-reward fatigue. In this episode, we explore: The Caregiver Alert System: Why physically sitting down isn't the same as feeling safe enough to rest.Grief on the Central Nervous System: Clinical insights on why remembering a lost loved one can spike systolic blood pressure by over 20 points in minutes.The Science of Exhaustion: How interrupted sleep impacts muscle recovery, calorie regulation, and emotional resilience in "the after."Understanding Anhedonia: Why feeling unmotivated isn't a character flaw—it’s a brain recovering from chronic strain.Running Your Current Mile: How to honor what your body has survived while training for where you want to go next.Weekly Reflection Question: When you are struggling emotionally, where does your body carry it, and what is it trying to tell you? Join our growing community at NewYorkGirl.com. Follow us on social media: Facebook @NewYorkGirlAgain Instagram @NYGirlAgain

Sep 27

When Those Three Words Stop: "How Are You?"

When caregiving ends, the world often assumes the hardest part is over. The calls fade, the check-ins slow down, and life goes back to normal for everyone else—while you are left standing in the wreckage of a life that no longer exists. In this episode of New York Girl Again – The After, Thérèse speaks to the quiet gap between how long the world pays attention and how long loss actually lives inside us. She shares her own experience of the unbearable early evening hours after her father died, highlights the invisible secondary losses former caregivers carry, and offers a gentle, three-part practice to help name what remains unseen and ask for what you need. For anyone supporting a former caregiver, this episode is also an invitation to stay after the crowd has gone home. You deserve support in the "After." Join our growing community at NewYorkGirlAgain.com

Sep 7

Let Love Keep Moving: Linda, 9/11, and Twenty-Five Years Later

On the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001, Thérèse reflects on a date that folds twenty-five years into a single breath. Picking up where Season One's "Echoes of 9/11" left off, this episode moves past the immediate aftermath of the tragedy to examine the decades that followed—grieving while caregiving, becoming a person your loved one never got to meet, and learning to carry love and loss side-by-side. Thérèse honors the full life of her best friend, Linda Anne Luzzicone, unpacks the Dual Process Model of grief, and explores how the body holds onto time-linked anniversary reactions. Rather than seeking "closure," she shares how building a continuing bond allows love to evolve. To mark this milestone, Thérèse invites listeners to transform grief into action through simple, random acts of kindness—giving love a place to land and ensuring our loved ones continue to bring light into the world. What You’ll Learn / Key Highlights: Beyond the Biography: Remembering Linda Anne Luzzicone as a vibrant best friend, beyond the public narrative of Cantor Fitzgerald and the North Tower. When Grief Has to Wait: The unique burden caregivers face when public tragedy intersects with private family emergencies. The Dual Process Model: Why oscillating between acute sorrow and moments of everyday joy is a healthy, natural part of grieving. Anniversary Reactions & the Body: Understanding how time-linked reminders impact sleep, mood, and stress—and how to give yourself grace. The Grief of Growing Older Alone: Navigating the bittersweet reality of building a life, reaching milestones, and running marathons that your person never got to witness. Continuing Bonds Over Closure: How to let loved ones remain part of your story without keeping your life frozen in time. Let Love Keep Moving: A call to action for September 11th—and every day after—to honor those we’ve lost through quiet acts of kindness. Connect & Share: If this episode touched your heart, share an act of kindness in memory of someone you love this week. Join our growing community: NewYorkGirlAgain.com Follow us on social media: FB @NewYorkGirlAgain; IG @NYGirlAgainSubscribe & Review: If you're finding comfort here, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to help other caregivers find this community.

Aug 31

If Caregiving Ended but You Still Feel Lost, Start Here

When caregiving ends, why doesn’t life simply go back to normal? What happens when the appointments stop, the alarms go quiet, and everyone assumes you’ve moved on—yet you still feel lost, exhausted, or changed? In this reintroduction episode of New York Girl Again – The After, host Thérèse—a Registered Nurse, Certified Grief Educator, and former 25-year family caregiver—names the deeply overlooked life stage that begins once active caregiving ends. In this episode, we explore: What "The After" Really Means: Moving past standard bereavement into a distinct, real-world life stage.The Post-Crisis Paradox: Why former caregivers often collapse after the emergency is over, not during it.Who This Show Is For: Navigating identity loss, sudden silence, and the question of who am I now?Where We're Going: Upcoming topics covering grief, identity, nervous system regulation, money, career, family conflict, health anxiety, purpose, and joy.No forced positivity. No timetable. Just honesty, compassion, useful knowledge, and the stubborn belief that the end of caregiving is not the end of you. Connect & Share Your Story: NewYorkGirlAgain.comFacebook: @NewYorkGirlAgainInstagram: @NYGirlAgain

Aug 24

Movement Is Healing: Rest Is Part of the Rebuild

In this episode of New York Girl Again – The After, the Movement Is Healing series comes to a close with the one part of healing caregivers often struggle to allow: rest. After caregiving ends, the house may be quieter, the alarms may stop, and no one may need us in the same way — but our bodies do not always get the message right away. We may still feel alert, responsible, braced, and unable to fully come down. This episode explores why rest is not laziness, weakness, or falling behind. Rest is repair. Rest is recovery. Rest is how the body absorbs the healing work of movement. From broken caregiver sleep to nervous system recovery, muscle repair, and the quiet discomfort of stillness in the after, this episode is a reminder that we cannot build a new life on a body we keep treating like an emergency vehicle. As the Movement Is Healing series closes, we remember this: rest is not the opposite of movement. Rest is what allows movement to heal us. Follow along at NewYorkGirlAgain.com, join the community, and connect with me on social media as we continue talking about caregiving, healing, and life in the after. Please also consider supporting my Team for Kids NYC Marathon fundraiser. Every donation helps children discover confidence, strength, joy, and community through movement. https://fundraisers.nyrr.org/NYGirlAgain

Aug 17

Movement Is Healing: The Water Holds What We Carry

In this episode of New York Girl Again – The After, our Movement Is Healing series continues with the kind of movement that doesn't ask us to push harder, move faster, or prove anything. This week, we are stepping into the water—the pool, the lake, the ocean, or wherever our bodies can feel supported instead of demanded from. For caregivers in the after, so much of life has been about holding on: Holding worry and fear Holding grief and responsibility Holding ourselves together because someone else needed us to Water offers something completely different. It lifts the body. It quiets the noise. It reminds us that healing does not always have to come from effort—sometimes healing begins when we finally allow ourselves to be supported. In this episode, I share how the pool I originally built for my Dad during caregiving became, in the 'after', one of my own most healing places. What began as an act of love for him has come full circle to help me restore myself. This week, we are letting the water hold what we carry. Connect & Support: Share the Episode: If this conversation speaks to you, please share it with a friend or caregiver who needs a gentle reminder that they deserve softness, support, and joy. Join Our Community: Visit NewYorkGirlAgain.com and follow along on social media for more encouragement on healing, movement, and rebuilding life in the after. Support Team for Kids: Consider donating to my Team for Kids NYC Marathon fundraiser. Every contribution helps children discover confidence, strength, joy, and community through movement: Donate Here: https://fundraisers.nyrr.org/NYGirlAgain

New York Girl Again - The After

14 Days to 26.2: The Little Surrenders

21 Days to 26.2: Replaying the Hurt and Reclaiming Your Dignity

26.2 Miles and 25 Years of Caregiving: When Grief Becomes Physical

When Those Three Words Stop: "How Are You?"

Let Love Keep Moving: Linda, 9/11, and Twenty-Five Years Later

If Caregiving Ended but You Still Feel Lost, Start Here

Movement Is Healing: Rest Is Part of the Rebuild

Movement Is Healing: The Water Holds What We Carry

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New York Girl Again - The After

Episodes

14 Days to 26.2: The Little Surrenders

21 Days to 26.2: Replaying the Hurt and Reclaiming Your Dignity

26.2 Miles and 25 Years of Caregiving: When Grief Becomes Physical

When Those Three Words Stop: "How Are You?"

Let Love Keep Moving: Linda, 9/11, and Twenty-Five Years Later

If Caregiving Ended but You Still Feel Lost, Start Here

Movement Is Healing: Rest Is Part of the Rebuild

Movement Is Healing: The Water Holds What We Carry

About

Information