Have you ever gone through a loss that didn’t just change your circumstances, but changed the direction of your life? I certainly have.

I went through a devastating loss in my own life. It ended in a painful betrayal, and the situation, and the person, had become unsafe. If staying connected to someone required me to erase myself, then the cost of that connection was too high. After leaving, I made a promise to myself that I would never abandon myself to stay connected to another again.

What I didn’t fully understand at the time was how much choosing myself would change me. There was the grief of losing the relationship and the future I had imagined, but there was also the experience of learning how to live differently afterward. But the part that no one talks about is the

But there’s a part of grief and healing we don’t talk about nearly enough: what happens to us after the loss has changed us.

Whether we’re grieving the death of someone we love, the end of a relationship, a betrayal, a diagnosis, or a life we had to leave in order to choose ourselves, grief can change far more than our circumstances. It can change our relationship with our body, our sense of safety, our capacity for intimacy and connection, what we trust, and even who we understand ourselves to be.

That’s the space in between—the period when the old life is gone, but you’re still learning how to live inside the person you’re becoming.

And healing in that space isn’t only about processing what happened. It’s also about learning how to reconnect—with your body, with safe people, with creativity, with joy, and with the parts of yourself that make you feel alive again.

That’s why I have two incredible resources for you to help your through this threshold.

How to Come Back to Life After Loss (with Erin Barbosa)

The first is this week’s episode of She Saves Herself with trauma-informed therapist and grief coach Erin Barbosa. Erin’s own life changed profoundly after the loss of her best friend, and our conversation goes into the part of grief and healing that often gets overlooked: how do you learn to live again after an experience has changed you?

We talk about what happens when grief changes your identity, your relationship with your body, your capacity for intimacy and connection, and even what makes you feel like yourself. But we also move into what comes next—creative health, storytelling, nature, play, safe connection, and the practices that can help bring us back to life.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• The grief no one warns you about when healing changes who you are.
• What we keep getting wrong about healing.
• Why intimacy has to start with safety.
• The hidden connection between trauma, intimacy, and healthy love.
• The body signals we’re often conditioned to override.
• The “baby chick” method for creating safety while you heal.
• The missing pillar of healing: creative health.
• The power of telling your story in reclaiming who you are.
• The identity shift that happens when your old life no longer fits.
• The difference between processing what happened and feeling alive again.
• The deeper question healing eventually asks: Who are you becoming now?

Listen to the episode here → Listen Now
For anyone who has ever helped someone they loved, only to feel blindsided by betrayal this one is for you.

Spotify | Apple | Download

About today’s guest: Erin Barbossa is the founder of LionFlower Studio, where she helps women move through grief with creativity, connection, and care. After more than a decade as a trauma-informed therapist, Erin now brings together lived experience, storytelling, and nervous system wisdom to support women as they rebuild a life after loss. Visit Erin on Instagram.

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You’re Invited — Navigating the Space In Between Self-Respect Circle

Sometimes the hardest part of healing isn’t surviving what happened—it’s learning how to live after it has changed you.

Loss, heartbreak, trauma, and major life changes can shift your sense of safety, identity, connection, and trust. And that space in between can feel especially hard when you’re trying to navigate it alone.

Maybe you’ve started setting boundaries, speaking your truth, or choosing yourself in new ways, but instead of feeling free, you feel disoriented, isolated, or unsure of what comes next.

That doesn’t mean you’re going backward. It may mean the old version of your life no longer fits, and the new one is still taking shape.

You do not have to navigate this threshold alone.

On Saturday, August 22, I’m hosting a live Self-Respect Circle: Navigating the Space In Between if you find yourself in this tender place, this one’s for you.

We’ll come together to strengthen self-trust, create more inner safety, and help you feel grounded in the choices you’re making and the person you’re becoming. There will be teaching, live coaching, reflection, and most importantly, a space to be with people who understand what it feels like to be here too.

You don’t have to figure this part out alone.

Save your spot here →