In today’s episode, we are dismantling the societal myth of the "strong griever" and exploring what is actually happening when the heart and the mind are operating on two completely different timelines. Your posture at a funeral is not an accurate measurement of the pain in your heart.

Join your host, Marica L. Floyd—Certified Grief Educator, Positive Mind Management Coach, and Health and Wellness Coach—as she unpacks the profound protective mechanism of shock and numbness that is often mistaken for strength. Discover why the brain's executive functioning creates a task-oriented "natural anesthesia" to help the body survive immediate trauma, and why praising someone for "handling it well" can inadvertently trap them in a painful performance of strength.

In this episode, we explore:

• Cognitive-Emotional Disconnect: Why the brain processes the fact of death long before the heart can process the weight of it.
• The Young Pastor Example: Faith vs. grief, and how deep faith and profound grief beautifully coexist without shame.
• Secondary Losses: What happens when the numbness wears off, the phone calls stop, and the emotional avalanche begins.
• Changing Our Vocabulary: Better, love-centered frameworks to offer a griever instead of "you're so strong."

Grab your permission slip to feel vulnerable: Take a deep breath with us, step into the room, and let's do the soul work.

Connect with Marica: F.O.C.U.S.E.D. Coaching and Consulting

Follow the show: What’s Grief Got To Do With It? - YouTube

Grab the Journal, "To Loss, with Love: Exploring the Lessons We Learn with Loss": https://a.co/d/dhOVcmc

In this incredibly raw and unmasked episode of What’s Grief Got to Do with It?™, Certified Grief Educator and Coach, Marica L. Floyd sits down with a licensed mental health professional who courageously strips away her credentials to expose the silent epidemic facing our helping professionals: the terrifying fear of being judged, pathologized, or labeled by our own peers.

We pull back the curtain on the heavy, isolated cage of unprocessed grief, exploring what happens when the people we expect to show up for us simply do not have the capacity to do so. From the heartbreaking secret of keeping a deceased parent’s cell phone active for four years, to navigating the "yearning and searching" phase of adaptive processing, this conversation is a masterclass in protecting your peace, setting emotional boundaries, and honoring the human heart behind the profession.

To every therapist, coach, helping or service professional, mentor, and strong friend who is tired of carrying the weight alone:

Helpers need help. Space holders need space. It’s time to take off the armor. 🎭❤️‍🩹

Learn from and enjoy this vulnerable and heartfelt conversation.

Peaceful Healing, Friends

In this powerful episode of What’s Grief Got to Do with It? ™, host Marica L. Floyd, MFT, Certified Grief Educator, sits down with pastor, author, leader and coach Consuello Hodges (Coach C) for a conversation that is part tribute, part intervention, and completely transformative.

Coach C pulls back the curtain on the “performance” he began at 13 after the unexpected death of his mother—a survival mechanism mistaken for strength for decades. What looked like resilience on the outside was often unresolved grief hiding in plain sight.

This episode is for anyone who has ever been told to “be strong” while silently breaking inside.

Inside this unforgettable conversation:

• The Error of Rushing Grief

How well-meaning words like “be strong” can unintentionally force people—especially children—into emotional survival mode, creating a lifelong performance instead of true healing.

• Healing the Inner Child

Watch as Consuello speaks directly to “Con,” the 13-year-old boy who was never given permission to fall apart, grieve honestly, or process the magnitude of his loss.

• The “Step” Who Became Dad

A heartfelt tribute to the aunt and the man he proudly calls “Dad,” who stepped in, stood firm, and helped raise him through unimaginable pain while carrying grief of their own.

• A Manifesto for Men

A powerful message to men everywhere: silence is not strength, and vulnerability is not weakness. Honesty is where healing begins.

• Grief Literacy for Children

Practical wisdom for parents, leaders, caregivers, and families on how to truly witness a child’s grief without rushing their process or minimizing their pain with careless language.

In one of the most honest moments of the conversation, Consuello honors the legacy of his mother while finally acknowledging the boy she left behind—and the man his father successfully raised against the odds.

For years, he survived.

In this conversation, he finally grieves.

It’s time to stop performing and start healing.

Are you trying to balance life, a family, and a heavy heart? This episode is for you.

What happens when your life takes a sudden shift and grief changes your meaning of "forever" before age 40? How do you approach parenting, your career, self-care, a social life in the midst of grief?

You did not express your vows expecting for "Til Death Do Us Part" to become a reality during your youthful years.

In this episode of What’s Grief Got to Do with It?™, Marica L. Floyd, MFT, Certified Grief Educator and Wellness Coach, explores the unique landscape of the Millennial Mourner as she sits down with a young woman who became a widow unexpectedly on a rainy night in March.

Millennials often face a specific set of hurdles that traditional grief models often ignore. Marica and her guest break down why "coping" isn't enough and how to move toward Active Adaptation in a world that expects you to "move on" or "get back to normal" on society's timeframe.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The Performance of Wellness: When society's expectation of you to be "strong" creates pressure to "perform."

• Legacy & Loss: Managing the digital footprint of those we’ve lost so that our children and family don't forget.

• Active Adaptation: Practical steps to integrate loss into your mindset and lifestyle.

"Grief isn't a task to complete that will pass with time; it's a new reality to adapt to. You don't have to 'hustle' or rush your way through healing." — Marica L. Floyd, MFT

Connect with Marica:

• Website: F.O.C.U.S.E.D. Coaching and Consulting, LLC

• Book: To Loss, with Love: Exploring the Lessons We Learn with Loss

• Follow the Journey: What's Grief Got to Do with It Official: Instagram | Linktree

#GriefSupport #MillennialMourner #ActiveAdaptation #MentalHealth #MaricaLFloyd #MillennialWidow #HealingJourney

Key Points:

-Welcome to the Premiere: The mission of What’s Grief Got to Do with It?™

-The Grandmother Story: A childhood struggle with anxiety as a "forgotten" griever.

-"Who Told You That Was Normal?": Challenging the traditional phases of grief.

-The Mechanics of Coping vs. The Power of Adapting.

-Types of Grief: Identifying the unspoken losses we carry.

-Active Adaptation: How your mindset and narrative guide your path.

Notable Quotes:

"Healing does not mean a life without grieving, it means one without suffering." Your life may feel disorganized and unrecognizable right now, AND it's still "REBUILDABLE." "Loss has many faces. You can lose a job, your health, your dreams, your pet, your home and validate the grief that meets you there."