Shelby Forsythia: Can Grief Turn Toxic? The Different Ways We Cope With Loss

The Meaningful Life with Andrew G. Marshall

Grief is a painful and confusing journey. Often, the culture encourages us to “move on”, squashing our grief down so that those around us are comfortable.

This week Andrew talks to author and grief coach Shelby Forsythia. They discuss:

• Whether grief can turn “toxic”
• Coping with other people’s responses
• Living with grief as your companion
• Creating grief rituals
• Different causes of grief - death, divorce, infidelity, loss of identity.

Shelby Forsythia is a grief coach, author, and podcast host. In 2020, she founded Life After Loss Academy, an online course and community that has helped dozens of grievers grow and find their way after death, divorce, diagnosis, and other major life transitions. Following her mother’s death in 2013, Shelby began calling herself a “student of grief” and now devotes her days to reading, writing, and speaking about loss. Through a combination of mindfulness tools and intuitive, open-ended questions, she guides her clients to welcome grief as a teacher and create meaningful lives that honour and include the heartbreaks they’ve faced. Her work has been featured in Huffington Post, Bustle, and The Oprah Magazine.

Subscriber Content This Week

If you’re a subscriber to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Patreon), this week you’ll be hearing.

• How to grieve the person you used to be.
• Three things Shelby Forsythia knows to be true.
• AND subscribers also access all of our previous bonus content - a rich trove of insight on love, life and meaning created by Andrew and his interviewees.

Follow Up

Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things

Take a look at Andrew’s new online relationship course: My Best Relationship Tools

Visit Shelby Forsythia’s website

Follow Shelby Forsythia on social media Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | TikTok

Andrew offers regular advice on love, marriage and finding meaning in your life via his social channels. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube @andrewgmarshall and on Substack at The Meaningful Life.