Podcast
Journey to Grateful
Hosted by Tim Bigonia · EN
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.
25episodes
Episodes
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EP209 - The Support Grieving People Actually Need
1w ago00:13:48Tap to summarizeWhen 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 the importance of long-term support, the power of small gestures, and why presence matters more than perfect words. From practical acts of kindness during hospice care to friendships that continue showing up years after loss, this episode offers valuable insight for both grieving people and those who want to better understand their role in walking beside someone through the long road of grief. Because grief doesn’t end after the funeral, and meaningful support doesn’t have to either.
Transcribe →EP208 Why Grief Still Needs a Voice Years Later
2w ago00:14:58Tap to summarizeWhy 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 over time, many grieving people are left feeling emotionally isolated, misunderstood, or even pressured to “move on.” Through personal reflection and real-life examples, Tim discusses why grief still needs a voice years later and why the role of friends and family is far more important than they may realize. This episode offers compassionate insight for both grieving people and those who want to better understand how to truly support someone along the long road of grief—not through grand gestures or perfect words, but through presence, listening, and a willingness to care.
Transcribe →EP207 The Love That Still Shapes My Life
3w ago00:11:20Tap to summarizeAs 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, and the lives they helped shape. Through personal stories about raising his sons after the loss of their mother and intentionally continuing to say her name and share her story, Tim explores how love continues influencing future generations along the long road of grief. With warmth and honesty, this episode reminds listeners that carrying love forward is not about holding onto the past—it’s about recognizing how deeply the people we love continue living within us and through us.
Transcribe →EP206 - The Grief That Returns in Unexpected Moments
May 2600:10:59Tap to summarizeGrief 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 “grief bombs”—those emotional ambush moments that can instantly reconnect us to the people we miss most. With honesty and compassion, Tim explores why these moments continue along the long road of grief and why they are not signs of moving backward, but reminders of the love and connection that still live within us. Whether your loss is recent or many years behind you, this episode offers reassurance that grief’s unexpected returns are part of learning how to carry love forward.
Transcribe →EP205 - When Your Life Keeps Changing Without Them
May 1900:10:47Tap to summarizeOne 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 unfolding, routines evolving, and becoming someone you never imagined you’d have to become alone. Through honest and compassionate reflection, Tim explores the complicated emotions that can arise when life continues changing without the person who should still be beside us. Whether your loss involves a spouse, parent, sibling, child, or close friend, this episode offers reassurance that grief is not only about mourning the past—it’s also about learning how to carry love into a future you never expected to walk alone.
Transcribe →EP204 - Loneliness in a Life That Keeps Moving
May 1200:13:17Tap to summarizeLoneliness 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 continues to move forward, moments of connection and even joy can still carry an undercurrent of absence. With honesty and compassion, Tim reflects on the difference between being alone and feeling alone, the subtle social shifts that occur after loss, and the quiet realization that someone who should be there… isn’t. No matter the type of loss you’ve experienced, this episode offers reassurance that this kind of loneliness is not something to fix—but something to understand, carry, and gently move through.
Transcribe →EP203 - The Quiet Weight of the Middle Years of Grief
Apr 2800:11:37Tap to summarizeMuch 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 while grief still walks beside us. With honesty and compassion, he explores the often unseen emotional weight carried long after the world assumes we’ve moved on. Whether your loss is recent or many years behind you, this episode reminds us that grief doesn’t simply end—it evolves, becoming part of the long road we learn to walk while carrying love with us.
Transcribe →EP202 - When Grief Gets a Name
Apr 2100:11:38Tap to summarizeIn 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 time to process the loss. These labels may serve a purpose in paperwork and systems, but emotionally, they can feel foreign, limiting, and disconnected from the fullness of a life and love that cannot be reduced to a single word.Through personal reflection and honest storytelling, Tim shares his experience of carrying a label he never chose — and the tension between what the world calls us and who we truly are. He also explores how labels shape perception, how they can quietly influence identity, and why grief, in all its forms, deserves far more depth than language often allows.This episode is a reminder that while grief may be named, it is never contained — and that love, loss, and the life that continues beyond them cannot be defined by a single word.
Transcribe →EP201 - The Chapter I Never Expected to Walk Alone
Apr 1500:19:48Tap to summarizeNearly 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 together, and simply surviving the unimaginable. But as time passes and children grow into adulthood, a new chapter quietly begins to emerge.In this deeply personal episode, Tim reflects on the reality of an empty nest ahead and the unexpected loneliness that can surface years after a loss. He shares the internal questions many grieving people carry but rarely say aloud, including whether we are “doing grief right,” and what it means to continue building a life that looks very different than the one we once imagined.This conversation gently explores the tension between gratitude for the love that shaped our lives and the loneliness that can appear as life continues forward.For anyone navigating the long road of grief — especially years after the loss — this episode offers an honest reminder that healing isn’t about replacing what was lost, but learning how to carry love forward into chapters we never expected to walk.
Transcribe →EP200 - Living Forward Without Leaving Love Behind
Apr 400:12:00Tap to summarizeIn 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 reassurance that moving forward is not a betrayal of what was, but an integration of love that continues to shape who we become.
Transcribe →