Highlights of This Episode:
- How Kristin navigates the difficult conversations about death and dying
- How Kristin went from losing her spouse to becoming an author
- The unseen difficulties widows endure besides the loss of their spouses
- How grief manifested itself physically in Kristin, and where she found relief
- The surprising opportunities that came to Kristin after losing her spouse
- The life-changing experience Kristin had during her time spent with widows living on a dollar a day in Kenya
- The cross cultural-differences and convergences between widows in Africa and in the U.S.
- Kristin’s plans for her next book
- What advice Kristin has for being supportive toward widows
“People make assumptions about what it means to be a widow. But every widow has her own story.” – Kristin Meekhof (Tweet this)
Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- “We Are So Much Stronger Than We Think We Are” — an article by Chelsea Dinsmore at Live Your Legend
- Holocaust survivor, Stephen Ross
- Deepak Chopra
- “Can You Die of a Broken Heart?” – Kristin’s article on Huffington Post
- The Health Impact of #Grief — Dr. Richard Besser’s tweet thread from the ABC tweet chat with Kristin
- Parliament of the World’s Religions
- “The Intent to Connect: One Widow’s Journey to Healing” — Kristin’s experience as a panelist on the Parliament of the World’s Religions
- The Loomba Foundation
About Kristin Meekhof:
Licensed master’s-level social worker, Kristin Meekhof, graduated from Kalamazoo College and completed the M.S.W. program at the University of Michigan. She is also a member of the University of MI Cancer Center Board.
In 2007, Kristin was only 33 when her husband died of adrenal cancer. A few years later, she set out to interview as many widows as possible for inclusion in her book. She spent over three years gathering narratives from widows of diverse backgrounds, and even journeyed to Kenya to discover how widows there live on less than a dollar a day.
Kristin’s medical background fuses with her narrative-gathering in her new book, A Widow’s Guide to Healing: Gentle Support and Advice for the First 5 Years. In addition to being an author, Kristin is a speaker and contributor to Huffington Post and MariaShriver.com. She has been seen on Huffington Post Live and ABC, where she did an hour-long live tweet chat on the physical effects of grief. She has also been featured on the American Greetings blog, and served as a panelist at the Parliament of World Religions.
Thanks for Listening!
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