In this episode, I have the pleasure of speaking with Chris who lost her daughter Aley to alcoholism 2 years ago. Aley was only 28. Chris shares her story of how she and Aley are connected with their hearts and souls, and how she is moving forward in life after experiencing such a traumatic loss.
I think it’s very brave and courageous of Chris to speak with me and I am incredibly grateful to her.
She describes her efforts to put her life back together in a healthy way,
learning from the grief,
finding her own self-worth,
finding her own strength after loss.
Here’s a glance at this episode…
[02:00 ] Well, it’s just been an incredible loss, an absolutely incredible loss, but as I’m going through it, I’m finding my purpose again. And much of that, much of my hope and purpose comes from the love that I shared with my daughter, Aley.[02:15] I was fortunate enough to, to find your group last. And, and I think it’s just a great place to start with sharing our thoughts about how we’re getting through this process and finding hope again.
[07:03] When you experienced something like that, Chris, how, how did you find the way to, to heal? I imagine you’re still on a healing journey, but describe to me when you first lost Aley, what was your life then in terms of what were you feeling? What were you experiencing?
[12:02] Aley was not only a daughter. She, she was my heart and soul. And to suddenly have that person gone, we need to be able to reach out. And I feel like much of that, my grief process was done alone, frankly. And so that’s kind of where I’m feeling the push from Aley’s soul to do whatever I can to inspire and to reach out to others who have also experienced this loss, whether it’s a parent, a husband, you know, a sister, it is devastating. And, but to know that there are other people who’ve experienced, that is so important.
[13:29] To be able to, to be able to hear her say that you need to keep moving forward is, is something that I hope others hear you say, because not everyone has that type of a relationship with the loved one that they’ve lost and they’ve not necessarily had the gift of that connection and those conversations and those knowings. So to be able to hear that is I, I think such a gift and such a blessing, and I thank you so much for, for saying that because we know all of our loved ones want us to move forward. All of our loved ones want us to live a full and happy life. They don’t want us to grieve and to be stuck.
[15:21] Help us understand what are the, some of the things that you’re doing in your day-to-day life that you feel are part of finding ways to move on without Aley there in, in your life?
[17:43] I think self care is one of the most important things to try to find those little moments of joy. For me, it might be nature or, you know, and, and building myself up. And that’s kind of where I’m at now. It’s it’s little steps each day to move forward. And certainly finding people such as yourself who, you know, have experienced this in a different way, but, but yet the same
[21:39] I had to find my purpose, as I’m trying to find my own reasons.So much of living with the addict, you’re always trying to fix them, you kind of invest in their lives and now it’s putting that back into, it’s still going into them, but in a positive way through the things that we’re learning about putting our own lives back together in a healthy way.
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