#44 There Is No ‘Back to Normal’: Ashley Biddick on Rebuilding and the Long Road Forward

Three years after her husband Jake died, Ashley Biddick returns to Resilient Souls as a regular contributor, drawing on both her own experience of loss and insights from her professional work as she explores what rebuilding can look like when life has changed.The focus is on what life looks like beyond the first raw days and weeks, into the months and years that follow when life still hasn’t gone 'back to normal'. Ashley explores the ongoing physical effects of trauma, changed capacity and identity, and some of the secondary losses that can follow a life-changing loss. She talks about grief and joy coexisting, noticing small “glimmers” of hope, finding people who “speak the language of loss”, and sometimes taking the next step before you feel ready: doing it heartbroken, doing it lonely, doing it scared.Ashley and Stewart also return to the question of faith and the wrestle with God when suffering doesn’t make sense. There are no neat answers, just a grounded conversation about living with what cannot be changed while making room for what might still be possible. In this episode, you’ll discover:Why there may be no simple “back to normal” after life changing loss, and what rebuilding can look like instead How grief and trauma can continue to affect your body, energy and capacity long after the initial crisis Why major loss can impact your sense of identity, and how to begin making peace with the person you are becoming How grief and joy can coexist, and why small “glimmers” of beauty and hope can matter What it can mean to “do it heartbroken, do it lonely, do it scared” without simply telling yourself to toughen up How friends, community and faith can help when there are no easy answers and the road forward still feels uncertain … and much more.Explore More from Resilient Souls: Resilient Souls ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠Resilient Souls ⁠⁠⁠Podcast⁠⁠⁠ or search ‘Resilient Souls’ wherever you get your podcastsResilient Souls ⁠⁠⁠Blog on Substack⁠⁠Stewart’s ⁠Book⁠⁠⁠Follow Resilient Souls on: ⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠Instagram /⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠Get Involved or Reach Out: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join the Community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Book Stewart to Speak⁠⁠⁠Support the Work⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Contact Us⁠⁠⁠Need Help? In ⁠Australia⁠⁠⁠ or for ⁠⁠⁠Overseas⁠⁠