Journey to Grateful
by Tim Bigonia
Through the loss of my wife to cancer, I've discovered that many people – my support system included – don't know quite how to navigate through daily life after loss. Whether grieving themselves or wanting to help those they attempt to support, it's an uncharted path for many. I’ve come to understand the most valuable asset my family and friends possess is the ability to lift me up when I’ve needed it most with the simplest of gestures. There is no perfect formula to help someone grieve, the being there, listening, and providing a slice of normal is often exactly what is needed. The most difficult task for those on the outside is understanding the many facets of loss that are present almost every single day. This podcast was created to help us understand the process of loss with the help of those who are living it.
Episodes
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EP227 - WHAT WOULD YOU THINK?
One of the quieter challenges of living with grief is facing decisions we wish we could discuss with someone we’ve lost. But what happens when those decisions exist partly because that person is no longer here? In this episode, Tim reflects on the questions he still wishes he could ask his late...
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EP226 - THE PEOPLE WHO NEVER KNEW YOU
One of the unexpected aches of long-term grief is realizing that the people becoming important in our lives today will never have the opportunity to know someone we loved before. Following a weekend visiting his sons at college, Tim reflects on a small but deeply meaningful moment that revealed a...
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EP225 - THE LIFE BEHIND THE WORD
The Life Behind the Word explores how the people we meet today may know the life we're living, but not the life we're carrying. After meeting a woman who deliberately described herself as a “remarried widow,” Tim reflects on the importance of honoring the relationships, experiences, and losses…
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EP224 — The Rest of the Picture
The Rest of the Picture explores the parts of long-term grief that often exist just outside what others can see. After an unexpected moment of tears arrived alongside genuine excitement about a major new step in his life, Tim reflects on why doing well and grieving are not opposites—and why...
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EP223 — Who Am I Becoming Now?
Who Am I Becoming Now? explores what happens when life after loss begins raising questions that don’t have—or need—prescribed answers. As people in Tim’s life gently begin mentioning dating, he reflects on why another relationship isn’t something he’s seeking, why dating is not a stage of...
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EP222 — The Quiet Loss of Being Expected
The Quiet Loss of Being Expected explores one of grief’s most ordinary and easily overlooked absences: losing the person who noticed whether you were home, expected your call, listened to the details of your day, or simply accounted for you in their life. Tim reflects on widowhood, his sister’s...
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EP221 — When Grief Stops Being the Biggest Thing in the Room
When grief is no longer the biggest thing in the room, does that mean we’re leaving something—or someone—behind? In this episode of Journey to Grateful, Tim explores a subtle and sometimes complicated change along the long road of grief: the moments when grief no longer demands all of our...
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EP220 - When Your Life Starts Feeling Like Yours Again
When does surviving a life you didn't choose begin becoming a life that actually feels like yours? In this deeply personal episode, Tim explores one of the quieter transitions on the long road of grief—the gradual realization that life can begin to hold possibility, anticipation, and even things…
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EP219 - Why Journey to Grateful?
Why call a podcast about grief Journey to Grateful? In this deeply personal episode, Tim shares the story behind the name—from the bereavement groups that helped him navigate the unfamiliar road after losing Colleen to a simple pillow she purchased years earlier bearing one powerful word…
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EP218 - When Love Continues Changing
Love doesn’t end when someone dies—but our relationship with that love can continue to change. In this episode, Tim explores what it means to allow our memories, relationships, and even ourselves to evolve after loss without believing we’re leaving the person we love behind. Through reflections…
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EP217 - Learning to Live With Unanswered Questions
Why did this happen? Could I have done more? Will life ever truly make sense again? These are questions nearly every grieving person asks, yet many never receive the answers they long for. In this deeply personal episode, Tim reflects on the reality of living with unanswered questions and the...
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EP216 - The People Who Stay
Who are the people who stayed after your loss? In this heartfelt episode of Journey to Grateful, Tim reflects on the quiet, faithful friends and family members who continue showing up long after the funeral has ended and life appears to have moved on. Through personal stories and gentle…
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EP215 - The Person You Become After Loss
Journey to Grateful, Tim reflects on the quiet, often unnoticed ways love and loss continue shaping who we become. From greater compassion and patience to a deeper appreciation for ordinary moments, he explores how the influence of those we've loved never truly ends. This isn't an episode about...
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EP214 - The Life Between the Milestones
Grief isn’t only experienced during anniversaries, birthdays, or milestone moments. More often, it quietly accompanies us through the ordinary routines of everyday life—the grocery store, household decisions, parenting conversations, and countless moments that once were shared with someone we…
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EP213 - Grief Doesn’t Check Your Calendar
Life doesn’t slow down simply because we’re grieving. In this episode, Tim reflects on the reality that some seasons ask more of us than others, bringing together family milestones, difficult decisions, cherished memories, and the ongoing presence of grief. Through honest personal reflection, he...
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EP212 - You Are Not Grieving Wrong
Am I grieving the right way? It’s one of the most common questions grieving people ask themselves, often without ever saying it out loud. In this episode, Tim explores the myth that grief follows a timeline or a predictable path and explains why comparing your journey to someone else’s can create...
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EP211 - The Ugly Companion of Grief
Guilt is one of grief’s most persistent companions. In this episode, Tim explores the many forms guilt can take—from caregiving regrets and unanswered questions to the guilt of laughing, healing, and moving forward after loss. Along the long road of grief, guilt often disguises itself as...
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EP210 - Learning to Carry Both: When Grief and Joy Coexist
Can grief and joy exist at the same time? In this episode, Tim explores one of the most surprising realities of long-term grief: the ability to feel profound gratitude and deep sadness simultaneously. Through reflections on his sons’ graduations, milestone moments, and conversations from his...
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EP209 - The Support Grieving People Actually Need
When someone we care about is grieving, many of us want to help—but often aren’t sure how. In this episode, Tim explores the support grieving people actually need and why it is often far simpler than most people imagine. Through personal stories and reflections from his own journey, Tim discusses...
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EP208 Why Grief Still Needs a Voice Years Later
Why do so many grieving people feel like they have to stop talking about their grief as time passes? In this honest and heartfelt episode, Tim explores one of the most misunderstood realities of loss: grief does not simply disappear because years have gone by. As support from others often fades...
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EP207 The Love That Still Shapes My Life
As grief evolves over time, many of us begin to realize something meaningful: the people we lose continue shaping our lives long after they are gone. In this episode, Tim reflects on the lasting influence of love and the ways those we miss most remain present through memory, values, traditions…
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EP206 - The Grief That Returns in Unexpected Moments
Grief doesn’t always arrive on anniversaries or in expected moments. Sometimes it appears suddenly—a song, a scent, a memory, or an ordinary moment that unexpectedly brings tears to our eyes years after loss. In this episode, Tim reflects on what a member of his bereavement group once called…
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EP205 - When Your Life Keeps Changing Without Them
One of the hardest realities of grief is realizing that life continues to move forward—even when someone we love is no longer here to experience it with us. In this episode, Tim reflects on the emotional weight of navigating changing seasons of life after loss: children growing older, milestones...
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EP204 - Loneliness in a Life That Keeps Moving
Loneliness in grief isn’t always what we expect—and it doesn’t always fade with time. In this episode, Tim explores how loneliness evolves along the long road of grief, shifting from the visible isolation of early loss to a quieter, more complex presence in the years that follow. As life…
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EP203 - The Quiet Weight of the Middle Years of Grief
Much of the conversation around grief focuses on the early days and months after loss—the shock, the fog, and the painful “firsts.” But what happens in the years that follow? In this episode, Tim reflects on what he calls the middle years of grief, a quieter season where life continues forward...
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EP202 - When Grief Gets a Name
In this episode of Journey to Grateful, Tim explores a deeply personal and often unspoken part of grief — what happens when grief is given a name. For those who have lost a spouse, words like “widow” or “widower” can feel less like descriptors and more like labels imposed before the heart has had...
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EP201 - The Chapter I Never Expected to Walk Alone
Nearly six years after losing his wife Colleen, Tim finds himself reflecting on a part of grief that few people talk about openly — the middle years. In the early days after loss, life often feels chaotic and uncertain, but there is still a clear purpose: caring for children, holding the family...
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EP200 - Living Forward Without Leaving Love Behind
In this milestone 200th episode of Journey to Grateful, Tim closes the Seeing Grief Differently series by reflecting on what it truly means to live forward after loss — without leaving love behind. This episode gathers the themes of grief, companionship, faith, identity, and patience, offering...
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EP199 - The God Who Doesn’t Hurry
In a world that urges quick healing and easy answers, grief often reveals a different experience of God — one marked by patience, presence, and quiet companionship. In this episode, Tim reflects on encountering a God who doesn’t rush pain toward purpose, but stays close through uncertainty…
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EP198 - When Faith Stops Sounding Like Certainty
Grief often softens the certainty of faith, leaving questions where answers once lived. In this episode, Tim reflects on how belief, spirituality, and trust can change after loss — not as a failure of faith, but as a deeper form of honesty. A compassionate conversation for anyone navigating…
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EP197 - The Version of Me Grief Introduced
Loss changes us — not by erasing who we were, but by introducing us to someone new. In this episode, Tim explores identity, becoming, and the quiet ways grief reshapes how we see ourselves and the world. A compassionate reflection for anyone navigating who they are now, and learning to make peace...
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EP196 - Grief as a Teacher (Even When We Didn't Enroll)
Grief is not something we choose — and yet it often becomes one of life’s most powerful teachers. In this episode, Tim reflects on the quiet lessons grief can offer without suggesting the loss itself was meaningful, necessary, or something to be grateful for. This conversation honors the truth…
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EP195 - What Grief Asks of Us Now
Grief changes over time — and so do the questions it asks of us. In this episode, Tim reflects on how grief evolves beyond the early days of loss, inviting listeners to consider what their grief may be asking of them now. A compassionate conversation that honors long-term grief, integration, and...
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EP194 - Grief Doesn’t Want Closure — It Wants Companionship
Closure is often presented as the goal of grieving — but what if our hearts are asking for something else? In this episode, Tim explores why grief may not be seeking answers or endings, but presence, understanding, and companionship. A compassionate reflection on how being witnessed in our grief...
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EP193 - Grief as a Place We Visit, Not a Place We Live
Grief often feels all-consuming, leaving many to wonder if they are stuck inside it forever. In this episode, Tim explores a gentler way of seeing grief — not as a permanent place we live, but as a place we visit. Through reflection and lived experience, this conversation offers reassurance that...
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EP192 - What If Grief Is Not the Problem?
What if grief isn’t something that’s gone wrong — but a natural response to love and loss? In this episode, Tim invites listeners to gently question the belief that grief needs to be fixed, shortened, or overcome. By reframing grief not as an obstacle but as a response to meaning, this…
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EP191 - Stop Protecting Others From the Truth of Your Grief
So many of us learn this lesson far too quickly after loss: how to make everyone else okay. In this episode of Journey to Grateful, we explore the hidden emotional labor of grief—the way grieving people often edit their truth, soften their pain, or say “I’m fine” to protect others from…
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EP190 - Gentle Goals: Rethinking “Moving Forward” in a New Year
As the new year unfolds, many of us feel an unspoken pressure to move forward, set resolutions, and embrace a fresh start. But when you’re grieving, January can feel less like a beginning and more like a quiet reckoning. In this episode of Journey to Grateful, I reflect on what it means to move...
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EP189 - Living in Moments: How Grief Changes Our Relationship with Time
After loss, time changes; sometimes slowing, sometimes blurring, sometimes losing meaning altogether. In this episode, inspired by Marc Mero’s powerful phrase, “I no longer live in time, I live in moments,” Tim explores how grief reshapes our sense of time and teaches us to pay attention in new,...
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EP188 - More Than Tears: The Hidden Weight of Loss
Grief is so often misunderstood as sadness or tears — but anyone who has lived it knows it reaches far deeper. In this episode, Tim explores the often unseen, physical, and emotional weight grief brings: the exhaustion, the fog, the moments when memories ambush you, the belongings you can’t let…
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EP187 - Your Grief Is Part of Your Story, Not All of It
Grief changes us, sometimes in ways we never expected. It can feel like our loss becomes the only story we have, the defining identity we carry everywhere. But grief is just one chapter of who we are. In this episode, we explore the idea that your grief is part of your story, but not all of it…
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EP186: When Love Shows Up Again: Making Peace with New Joy After Loss
What happens when joy — or even love — returns after loss? For many of us, the first flicker of happiness can feel confusing, even disloyal. In this episode, Tim explores the emotional complexity of allowing new joy to coexist with grief — whether it shows up as friendship, creativity,...
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EP185: The Space Between: Learning to Live in the In-Between of Then and Now
After loss, we find ourselves caught between two worlds — the life we once knew and the one we never asked to live. In this episode, Tim explores that difficult in-between space where identity, purpose, and belonging feel uncertain. Through his own story of rebuilding life after the death of his...
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EP184: The Myth of Closure: Why Grief Isn’t Something to Finish
We often hear that finding “closure” means we’ve healed — that one day, grief will neatly wrap itself up and let us move on. But grief doesn’t end; it transforms. In this episode, we’ll explore why the idea of closure can actually work against our healing, how to replace it with integration, and...
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EP183 Not Moving On — Moving Through: Living Beside Grief With What Remains
We often hear people talk about “moving on” after loss — but what if that idea is completely wrong? In this episode, I explore what it truly means to move through grief instead. Because grief isn’t something we get over or leave behind — it’s something we learn to live with. When we understand…
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EP182: When Grief Meets Hope — Stories of Meaning Found in the Aftermath
Hope in grief doesn’t come quickly — and it never replaces the love or the loss. But over time, meaning can begin to emerge in unexpected ways: through advocacy, creativity, or simply a quiet shift in how we choose to live. In this episode, When Grief Meets Hope: Stories of Meaning Found in the...
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EP181 - Carrying Love Forward: Rituals That Evolve with Us
Rituals can connect us to the people we loved and lost, and they can also evolve as we do. In this intimate conversation, we explore how to create simple rituals that support early grief, how to adapt long-standing traditions as life changes, and how to release practices that no longer fit, all...
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EP180 - Grief and Identity: Who Am I Now Without Them?
Loss doesn’t just change our world — it changes who we are. In this episode, we’ll explore one of the most unsettling questions after loss: Who am I now without them? When a spouse, partner, parent, or loved one dies, our sense of identity can feel fractured. The roles we once filled no longer…
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EP179 - The “Secondary Losses” No One Talks About
When we lose someone we love, it’s not just their absence we grieve. Friendships shift. Traditions unravel. Financial strain. Roles we once filled suddenly disappear. These are the secondary losses — the hidden griefs that surface long after the initial shock has passed. In this episode, we’ll...
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EP178 - Grief in the Everyday: When Ordinary Moments Trigger Extraordinary Pain
Grief doesn’t just show up on anniversaries or holidays — it can sneak into the grocery store, the car ride home, or a favorite recipe. In this episode, we’ll talk about how the most ordinary moments can suddenly carry extraordinary weight, and how to give yourself grace when grief feels like…
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About this show
Through the loss of my wife to cancer, I've discovered that many people – my support system included – don't know quite how to navigate through daily life after loss. Whether grieving themselves or wanting to help those they attempt to support, it's an uncharted path for many. I’ve come to understand the most valuable asset my family and friends possess is the ability to lift me up when I’ve needed it most with the simplest of gestures. There is no perfect formula to help someone grieve, the being there, listening, and providing a slice of normal is often exactly what is needed. The most difficult task for those on the outside is understanding the many facets of loss that are present almost every single day. This podcast was created to help us understand the process of loss with the help of those who are living it.
Hosted by
Tim Bigonia