And, SCENE. We made it through a whole season of Keep Grief Weird! In celebration of the end of the season, we made a recap wrap-up episode for you. Look at all these topics we traveled through this year:
Keep Grief Weird- Season 1:
8- Music & Grief (Tracy’s fave!)
9- Grief Brain (MC’s fave)
10- Grief Types (Tracy’s fave!)
12- On Healing, Where to Begin
15-Grief & Other Relationships
As we close the chapter on season one of Keep Grief Weird, we wanted to pause and reflect on what we’ve explored together over the past several months. In this recap, we wanted to take a moment to revisit the key themes we've uncovered and share some final thoughts on the strange, messy, beautiful experience of grief.
Grief Is Not Linear
One of the most important takeaways from this season is the understanding that grief is not a linear process. The traditional five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance) often are packaged up with a misconception that grief is something we can move through in a tidy, predictable way. Check the boxes in order and you’re done! But as we've explored throughout the episodes, grief doesn’t unfold in neat stages. It hits like waves. Sometimes it fades away and other times it comes roaring back. It’s cyclical, non-linear, and entirely unique to each person.
You might wake up one morning feeling okay and then be knocked down by a wave of sadness later in the day. You might experience moments of joy and peace, only to be swept back into the depths of sorrow. These fluctuations are not a sign that something is wrong. Instead, they reflect the natural ebb and flow of healing. Grief, as we’ve learned, has its own rhythm, and we need to give ourselves permission to move with it rather than force it into a structure that doesn’t fit.
The Myth of "Moving On"
We’ve also addressed the cultural pressure to "move on" from grief, as if it’s something we can leave behind or overcome. This myth can create unnecessary guilt and shame for those who find themselves still grappling with loss months or even years later. But here’s the truth: grief doesn’t end. It changes, it evolves, but it doesn’t go away. And that’s okay.
We talked a lot this season about how grief is like having a child. When you lose someone that you love, you are gifted this tiny being that is with you for the rest of your days. In the beginning, that tiny being is loud and disruptive. Needy and demanding. It takes up all of the space and time and you can’t quite remember who you were before they got here. And then as time goes by, they grow and you grow and you travel through a thousand stages together. Sometimes they need you less, sometimes they need you more.
This is awful feeling at first, but then it turns hopeful. The fact that our relationship with grief is lifelong means that our relationships are too. We transcend death. When we lose someone, the love we have for them doesn’t vanish. Instead, it transforms into grief, into memory, into the ways we carry them forward in our lives. Rather than "moving on," we move forward, integrating the loss into our evolving stories.
The Intersection of Grief and Joy
Another powerful theme throughout Keep Grief Weird has been the idea that grief and joy are not opposites but can, in fact, coexist. We often think of grief as a purely negative experience — dark, painful, heavy. But as we discussed in every episode, moments of joy can and do emerge even in the midst of grief. Whether it’s laughter in remembering a loved one or finding beauty in unexpected places, grief can open us up to a new kind of appreciation for life.
We’ve also explored how allowing space for joy in the grieving process can be healing. It doesn’t mean we are dishonoring our loss or minimizing the depth of our pain. Rather, it’s a reminder that we are still living, and life—despite its inevitable losses—offers us moments of connection, meaning, and even light.
Grief Is Personal and Cultural
One of the most fascinating things we uncovered this season is how grief is both a deeply personal experience and one that is shaped by cultural norms. Every society has rituals and practices around death and mourning, and these can either support or hinder our individual grieving processes. In some cultures, grief is communal and visible, while in others, there’s an expectation to grieve privately or quickly.
We spent time talking about parasocial grief—the collective mourning we experience when a public figure or celebrity dies. This phenomenon reveals how grief extends beyond personal relationships and taps into something collective. It shows that even in our individual losses, we are part of a larger community that is also reckoning with loss in its own way.
The Role of Rituals in Grief
Speaking of rituals, we also explored how rituals — both personal and communal — can play an important role in navigating grief. Whether it's lighting a candle, writing a letter, creating an altar, or participating in a memorial, rituals give us a way to externalize our grief and honor our loved ones. They create a bridge between the internal world of emotion and the external world of action, allowing us to process loss in tangible, meaningful ways.
Rituals can also help you move into active grief and out of passive grief. Throughout the season, we’ve talked about the rituals that have helped us as well as encouraged listeners to develop their own grief rituals, ones that feel authentic to their experience. This might be as simple as setting aside time to sit with your emotions or as elaborate as organizing an annual celebration of your loved one’s life. The important thing is that these rituals serve as touchstones, reminders that grief is part of the ongoing fabric of your life.
Grief in the Digital Age
One of our more contemporary explorations was the intersection of grief and technology. We discussed how social media, AI, and even holograms are changing the way we grieve. For example, we can now keep someone’s digital presence alive through their social media accounts, or even interact with AI versions of them.
While these developments can offer comfort, they also raise questions about the nature of memory and what it means to truly "let go." Is it possible to fully grieve when digital traces of a person remain so present? How do we navigate grief when technology can create the illusion that someone is still with us?
These are questions that we’re just beginning to ask, and they will continue to evolve as technology advances. But it’s clear that grief in the digital age looks different from anything we’ve encountered before.
Nostalgia Corner! It wouldn’t be an episode of Keep Grief Weird without a good ol’ fashion ramble around nostalgia corner. This week we spent some time wondering what 80’s-90’s sitcom super power we’d like to have. Do you remember these shows and this trope? Zach Morris could pause time. So could Evie. Would you rather swing on a star? Or would you rather be a robot like Vicki from Small Wonder?
Well, no one wanted to be the robot girl from Small Wonder. Although we do have AI now and robot people are a thing… I do wonder a lot what happened to that actress and what your teenage years look like when you spent pre-pubescence playing a robot in a frilly dress.
As we close out season one, we want to thank you for joining us on this journey. Our hope is that whether you’re grieving the loss of a loved one, a relationship, a job, or even a version of yourself, that Keep Grief Weird has helped you feel seen, heard, and supported in your journey.
Grief is strange, and grief is sacred. It’s a reflection of the depth of our love and the value we place on what we’ve lost. As we move into the future, let’s continue to keep grief weird — to honor it in all its messiness, to find joy in its midst, and to hold space for the ways it changes us.
Thank you for listening, sharing, and grieving with us.
Message us here or at keepgriefweird@gmail.com, and tag us on Instagram @keepgriefweird and use our hashtag- #keepgriefweird to share your weird griefy things!
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THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!
