Grief is a Language ™ with John Onwuchekwa

John Onwuchekwa
  • 5.0 (11)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

Grief Is A Language™ is a podcast about grief, loss, love, loneliness, healing, and what it means to be human. Hosted by John Onwuchekwa, each episode weaves together powerful stories, conversations, and insights from psychologists, neuroscientists, artists, authors, comedians, and everyday people navigating loss. Together, they explore grief in all its forms—from the death of a loved one to divorce, friendship, identity, illness, and the life we imagined but never got to live. Because grief isn't a journey to finish. It's a language we learn.

  1. 22h ago

    Generational Grief: How Do You Understand the Pain Your Family Never Talked About?

    What do we lose when we know what our parents lived through, but not how they felt while living through it? Rich reflects on his mother’s cancer, his parents’ immigration from the Dominican Republic, and his desire to understand how they processed fear, sacrifice, faith, and trauma. The conversation explores the emotional history families leave behind—and how sometimes the stories we’re looking for were preserved in songs instead of words. RESOURCES: John Onwuchekwa  Website | johno.co  IG | @jawn_o Grief is a Language™ is produced by EPYC Media Network

  2. 3d ago

    Grief Is a Written Language: How Putting Loss Into Words Can Help Us Process It

    What happens when grief is too complicated to say out loud? In Part 2 of Grief is a Language™ conversation with Dave, Rich Perez, and James Roberson, they explore grief as a written language and how putting words on a page can help us understand what we’re feeling, preserve the people and stories we’ve lost, and leave something behind for the generations that come after us. From Rich discovering the letters his son writes to a grandmother he never met, to John writing directly to his brother Sam ten years after his death, the conversation explores why the page can sometimes hold what conversation cannot. They also unpack intergenerational grief, the stories families never tell, and why both the raw emotion of the moment and the clarity that comes with time deserve to be recorded. KEY POINTS 00:00 – How writing helps us slow down and process grief 06:32 – Using writing to make sense of difficult emotions 09:32 – How grief can become creative expression 14:02 – Writing as a path to emotional clarity 17:10 – Letters that preserve connection across loss 19:55 – Why writing can hold what’s hard to say 22:34 – John writing to Sam 10 years after his death 30:53 – Writing as an emotional heirloom 39:51 – Generational grief and family silence 54:23 – How time can bring clarity to grief QUOTES  “Writing was not the goal for me. Clarity was, and I think that I write because I don't know what I think until I read what I say.” – Rich Perez “I would say write it when you feel it. Whether it's the immediacy of it, or 10 years down the line... some stuff might get mumbled up. It might not be what it needs to be, but I feel like if you if you spend time with it, you'll go, ‘Oh, I see what this meant,’ and I can apply it to what's going on in in my life later.” – Dave  “In the heat of the moment, you're not meant to have the clarity that you're gonna have… Don't put that pressure on yourself.” – John Onwuchekwa  “It does seem like every generation has found a way to communicate their hope... There's nothing like listening to someone sing through their pain. And so, I think what we were left with wasn't stories. We were left with songs.”  – James Roberson  RESOURCES: John Onwuchekwa  Website | johno.co  IG | @jawn_o Grief is a Language™ is produced by EPYC Media Network

  3. Oct 8

    How to Listen When Grief Speaks Through Your Body

    Grief does not always arrive as words. Sometimes it shows up as exhaustion, tears, tension, or a body that simply refuses to keep pushing. In this conversation, John and the guests explore what can happen when we stop treating the body like something to overpower and start listening to what it may be trying to tell us about loss. RESOURCES:  John Onwuchekwa  Website | https://www.johno.co/  IG | https://www.instagram.com/jawn_o/  Grief is a Language™ is produced by EPYC Media Network (visit at https://www.epyc.co/)

  4. Oct 5

    10: Grief Is a Body Language: Why Loss Can Feel Like Exhaustion, Anxiety and Shutdown

    What if your body knows you’re grieving before you do? In this Part 1 episode, John Onwuchekwa sits down with Dave, Rich Perez, and James Roberson for a deeply honest conversation about grief as body language: the exhaustion, tears, anxiety, tension, and physical reactions that can surface when loss has nowhere else to go. Together, they unpack grief after death, friendship changes, leaving ministry, losing community, and other losses that don’t always come with funerals. They explore why we’re often taught to push through pain, what happens when grief refuses to stay buried, and how learning to listen to the body can give us language for what we’re carrying. KEY POINTS 00:00 – Introduction 01:08 – Grief is a body language. 06:21 – Why your body remembers loss long after it happens. 13:00 – Grieving relationships that end without a funeral. 18:09 – When grief shows up as anxiety, exhaustion, and physical pain. 27:13 – Why grief has no expiration date. 35:10 – Learning to listen instead of pushing through. 41:24 – Giving yourself permission to cry, rest, and slow down. 56:02 – How creativity, movement, and reflection can help us process grief. 1:09:32 – Why there is no such thing as “small” grief. 1:24:38 – Healing by making space for what the body is saying. QUOTES  “Grief is gonna come out, and it's either gonna come out in a beneficial way where your life is still intact, or it's gonna come out in a way where it ruins everything... grief is not biodegradable.” – John Onwuchekwa  “God sent two prophets. My wife was one, and my body was the second one.” – Rich Perez “There is a pain you just got to sit with... we've not been taught that in church to sit with pain. You've been told to be delivered from it, but there is a pain you need to sit with because it's there to teach you something about God, about you.” – James Roberson “We need to treat grief not based on how we feel about the thing... It is not the size of [the] thing. It is the proximity of where that thing lies next to your heart.” – John Onwuchekwa  RESOURCES: John Onwuchekwa  Website | johno.co  IG | @jawn_o Grief is a Language™ is produced by EPYC Media Network

  5. Sep 24

    Tembi Locke on the Grief You Can’t Escape and the Beauty You Can Create

    Tembi Locke shares how widowhood changed her relationship with grief and inspired From Scratch. Using grief as a rock in the road, she explains why she stopped trying to get around her loss and instead learned its shape, lived beside it, and eventually used it as raw material to create something new. RESOURCES: Tembi Locke  Website | tembilocke.com IG | @tembilocke John Onwuchekwa  Website | johno.co  IG | @jawn_o Grief Is A Language is produced by EPYC Media Network

  6. Sep 21

    9: When a Writer Can’t Find the Words for Grief: From Scratch Author Tembi Locke on Widowhood

    In this episode of Grief Is A Language, John Onwuchekwa sits down with Tembi Locke for a beautiful conversation about grief, language, memory, writing, love, and the slow work of turning loss into something that can hold meaning. Together, they explore why grief is not something to rush, fix, or “move on” from, but something we learn to speak with more honesty, patience, and tenderness. Tembi reflects on writing through the loss of her husband, the loneliness of not having words for grief, the friends who could and could not meet her in it, and how memoir became a way to reclaim a painful story with beauty and care.  “Grief was my first time where I had no words.” – Tembi Locke  This conversation is for anyone who has ever felt silenced by loss, rushed toward hope, or unsure how to explain the ache living inside their body. It is a reminder that grief has its own language, its own timeline, and sometimes, its own kind of beauty. KEY POINTS - Grief often begins where language ends. - Tembi shares how writing helped her “alchemize” grief into meaning. - John explains why grief is not a journey with an ending…  - They unpack why rushing people toward hope can do more harm than good. - Tembi reflects on losing friends who could not understand the pace of her grief. - Grief has a body language, heart language, and silence. - Memoir becomes a way to reclaim trauma, memory, love, and identity. - Beauty can make grief less frightening to approach. - Healing often requires patience, precision, boundaries, and permission to move slowly. QUOTES  “I was writing to better understand my own experience.” – Tembi Locke  “If we don't have language for grief, we kind of don't know what we're doing.” – Tembi Locke  “Grief is a language aimed at connection.” – John Onwuchekwa “I've got to befriend and get to know this thing that is now a part of my path.” – Tembi Locke  “The problem with both grievers and comforters is that we live in a world that is very impatient when it comes to our grief.” – John Onwuchekwa RESOURCES: Tembi Locke  Website | tembilocke.com IG | @tembilocke John Onwuchekwa  Website | johno.co  IG | @jawn_o Grief Is A Language is produced by EPYC Media Network

  7. Sep 16

    Why We Police Our Own Emotions While Grieving

    Grief and joy are often treated like opposite emotions, but what if they can exist at the same time? John Onwuchekwa and Jessica Hurley unpack the “shoulds” we place on grief, why we police our own emotions, and what it means to let grief and joy intersect. RESOURCES: Jessica Hurley  IG | @jessicahurley__ John Onwuchekwa  Website | johno.co  IG | @jawn_o Grief is a Language™ is produced by EPYC Media Network

  8. Sep 14

    8: Anticipatory Grief: Learning to Live While You’re Waiting for Loss with Jessica Hurley

    In this deeply reflective episode of Grief Is A Language™, John Onwuchekwa is joined by EPYC Media Network’s founder and producer Jessica Hurley for a conversation about anticipatory grief, ambiguous loss, joy, purpose, patience, and the loneliness that often accompanies them all. Jessica shares what it was like watching her newborn fight for his life in the NICU, caring for her father through stage four cancer, navigating divorce, and wrestling with the guilt of experiencing joy while carrying grief. Together, she and John explore why grief and joy aren't opposites, why purpose can't be rushed, how patience changes the meaning of suffering, and why people don't need silver linings nearly as much as they need someone willing to stay with them. They also unpack why healing isn't a destination, why hope creates the patience we need to endure, and how learning the language of grief can transform the way we experience every form of loss. KEY POINTS 00:00 - Introduction  02:36 – Grief and joy can exist at the same time. 04:14 – Why grief makes us afraid to experience joy. 08:43 – Grief and joy aren't opposites; they intersect. 15:16 – Stop trying to assign purpose too soon. 17:18 – Patience is the missing ingredient in grief. 28:01 – Healing isn't something you finish. 38:52 – People don't need silver linings; they need presence. 50:51 – Stories create hope because our stories aren't over. 56:19 – Purpose grows like a plant, not a building. 01:15:08 – Leave space for the "almost" in your story. QUOTES  "The only person that's shaming me is me." – Jessica Hurley "People don't need silver linings. People don't need the lights on. People need something to address the deeper problem, and it is the loneliness that they feel." – John Onwuchekwa "The wealth of my experience has been the hardest grieving moments." – Jessica Hurley "The healthiest people that I know tend to use “heal” in the present tense. I am healing and I am healthy. I am not healed." – John Onwuchekwa   RESOURCES: Jessica Hurley  IG | @jessicahurley__ John Onwuchekwa  Website | johno.co  IG | @jawn_o Grief is a Language™ is produced by EPYC Media Network

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
11 Ratings

About

Grief Is A Language™ is a podcast about grief, loss, love, loneliness, healing, and what it means to be human. Hosted by John Onwuchekwa, each episode weaves together powerful stories, conversations, and insights from psychologists, neuroscientists, artists, authors, comedians, and everyday people navigating loss. Together, they explore grief in all its forms—from the death of a loved one to divorce, friendship, identity, illness, and the life we imagined but never got to live. Because grief isn't a journey to finish. It's a language we learn.

Information

  • Creator
    John Onwuchekwa
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    24
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026

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