Lisa is a podcast host and author of Grief is a Sneaky Bitch. Visit www.lisakeefauver.com to learn more.
She is a social worker, widow, and grief activist on a mission to chamge the narratives of grief one conversation at a time.
04/24/2026
🚨NEW EPISODE ALERT🚨
My friend Marisa Renee Lee returns for a second conversation on my podcast, Grief is a Sneaky Bitch, to discuss her powerful new book, Waiting for Dawn, which delves deeply into the nuanced experience of living with ongoing uncertainty, particularly in the context of grief, chronic illness, and systemic challenges. As always, Marisa is candid, warm, and witty - offering insights that empower listeners to navigate life’s unpredictable moments with resilience, honesty, and hope.
Episode Themes:
• The concept of gray grief and navigating ambiguous, non-death losses
• How chronic illness like long COVID reshapes our understanding of identity and community
• The importance of acceptance and honest acknowledgment of pain as a pathway to healing
• Practical frameworks like the spoon theory for managing energy and emotional resources
• Building hope through honest assessment, action, and flexible pivoting
• Recognizing systemic barriers, especially internalized ableism, in our journey of acceptance
• The active practice of healing as ongoing rather than a fixed.
🎧LISTEN on fav podcast platform or 🔗 in bio.
đź‘€WATCH on Tube of You @ lisakeefauvermsw
04/02/2026
Of Course I’m Here Right Now
If you ever wondered what to say and do for a grieving person in your life, this conversation is for you!
🌟NEW EPISODE🌟
I’m thrilled to share that , Grief Educator, Podcaster, and Author joined me for a second time on podcast, this time to explore the wisdom she offers about grief support in her brand new book, Of Course I’m Here Right Now.
100% of us will be grievers and grief supporters, yet so often we rely on outdated ideas of grief and harmful platitudes. In Shelby’s book, and in this gorgeous conversation, we explored three unspoken stories grieving people tell themselves, three phrases that offer meaningful support without trying to fix or diminish the grievers lived experience, and how these apply no matter the type of loss - from the big 3 D’s - Death, divorce, and diagnosis, to the everyday disappointments and frustrations we experience. Get ready to feel seen, understood, and to learn, because Shelby offers it all.
🌟NOW PLAYING🌟
04/01/2026
I have just one nip.
3 years ago today I began treatment for Triple Positive Breast Cancer with a surgery that removed half of my left breast and my sentinel lymph node. That resulted in some infections and other crazy side effects. It’s so surreal to think of all the pain and agony and fear I endured in the subsequent 15 months of treatment (chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, medications). That version of me couldn’t have imagined that tomorrow I leave for Peru to host a grief retreat.
One week after I return I head in for my 3-D Mammogram to check if the cancer is still gone or if it has come back.
Being a “cancer survivor” is such a mindf**k. Yes I’m absolutely grateful to be alive. AND…
📸 last time I recognized my body (and my hair) - the day I underwent surgery to remove the cancer.
03/30/2026
Tiny words, big impact.
Today, for now, in this moment.
Yes your big griefy emotions and thoughts are valid…
AND
They tend to lead us to all or nothing thinking that can add to our overwhelm.
Adding one of these words/expressions helps you remember that emotions are NOT permanent, our state of mind changes, as does our relationship with our grief. See slide 3 for examples.
Grieving is learning, and we are all lifelong learners - so just because you don’t know how you will figure something out yet, adding “for now, today, or in this moment” can reduce the pressure to immediately find an “answer”.
Try this and let me know what you notice.
Share other self-talk tips that you use to help you navigate your grief and share in the comments below.
đź’–Lisa
Speaking of threes, book, Of Course I’m Here Right Now, comes out March 31st and you NEED this book! I’m dropping our podcast conversation all about it this week on podcast.
03/28/2026
From my beauty walks this week…
Curly bark and bumble bees.
Purple flowers and sun beams.
Dancing trees and an ocean breeze.
Thank you, Mother Nature.
03/27/2026
Grief, Guilt, and Regret
In a recent gathering and I co-hosted for long-term caregiving and grief, I found myself making an important reframing to a common phrase we use when addressing someone’s expression of guilt or regret as a griever.
I would like to amend the saying, “You did the best you could with the knowledge/information you had at the time.”
Instead, let’s offer ourselves and others this reminder, “You did the best you could with the knowledge AND capacity you had at the time.”
So often we’re under so much distress and overwhelm that our capacity is limited, preventing us from connecting with our knowledge. We judge our past selves from a place where our knowledge AND capacity have the benefit of time and space.
This is a gentle invitation to deepen your self-compassion and honor your humanity.
💖 How does adding “capacity” change your relationship with regret and guilt? Please share below.
03/26/2026
It’s happening!!!!
Next week I’m heading off on a dream adventure to host a grief retreat at the world-renowned wellness resort, in the Sacred Valley of Peru. One of our core needs in grief—and in life—is to feel seen, held, and affirmed exactly as we are. That’s challenging for grievers in a culture that dismisses grief as an aberration instead of recognizing it as something 100% of us will experience multiple times in our lives.
In my 20+ year practice of holding space and bearing witness, I’ve worked to create spaces where people can feel acknowledged in their pain. This necessary witnessing is what allows us to be open to the beauty and wonder that exists alongside our grief. You can learn more about my retreat, Pathways to Peace, where we’ll focus on centering aliveness in a world full of loss.
Thanks to Terry Cumes for inviting me to be a part of the magical experiences he creates for guests year-round at his resort.
03/20/2026
What Cancer Couldn’t Kill.
I’m thrilled to share that my poem, What Cancer Couldn’t Kill, is featured in the brand new issue of out today!
This poem is deeply personal and I’m grateful to poet .trommer for the writing prompt that inspired it.
I’m so@happy to be featured in this special WOMEN’S ISSUE centering on the theme of “Speaking Womanhood Above a Whisper,” bringing together powerful voices and personal stories that explore womanhood, resilience, grief, healing, and growth.
I’m honored to be included among such an inspiring group of contributors. Editor-in-Chief is a FORCE and I am lucky to be a part of her world.
The print edition is available now, and the FREE digital version launched TODAY!
If you’d like to read my feature and support the project, you can grab a copy or learn more at 🔗 in bio.
Thank you for supporting independent voices and meaningful storytelling.
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Are you wondering why I am so passionate about talking about grief, loss, and illness? Yeah, you’re not alone. I’ll admit, it makes a lot of people uncomfortable and many don’t stick around to chat….oh wait, you’re still here?
Ok, well since you’re curious, I could tell you it is because early in my life I experienced some pretty awful traumatic painful events, full of violence and grief and loss, and that would be true. I can also explain how that led me to become a clinical social worker and narrative therapist where I had the privilege to bear witness to others’ experiences of pain, chronic and terminal illness, trauma, and grief - and that would be accurate too. I can, and I will, share how excruciating it was to have my husband die in my arms, leaving me a widow at age 40 and a single parent to our 7-year-old child. You might also want to know that a few years after that, I held my friends’ hand while he passed away from a long-endured terminal illness. Perhaps the fact that I co-founded a nonprofit program to support cancer patients and their families is relevant, or that I have countless family and friends who have or are currently enduring loss, chronic and terminal illnesses too.
But that doesn’t explain WHY I’m here talking about the very things most people run away from. I’m here because everyone I know and everyone you know has a 100% chance of experiencing these things. I’m here because I believe that language and vulnerable conversations with one another is what allows us to make meaning of our life experiences and grow from them. I’m here because I’m tired of living in a world where we are completely illiterate when it comes to the topics of grief, loss, and illness. I’m here because our inability to do so keeps us isolated, disconnected, and robbed from the experience of true belonging.
So, let’s get curious, vulnerable, tearful, angry, and joyful with one another. Let’s talk freely (and use a lot of swear words) with one another. Let’s fumble our way through. Hold some vulnerable, authentic, sometimes awkward as hell conversations. Let’s make up some new words or redefine some old ones. Let’s reauthor our stories of grief, loss, and illness. Let’s question the systems that keep us focused on cure versus caring for our well-being, or from taking all the time we need to process our grief (aka the rest of our lives). Let’s not wait until we have the right words, or know what to say, or worry that we will say the wrong thing. Chances are we will, but we’re never going to learn by staying silent. So, let’s show up. Let’s bear witness. Let’s listen. Let’s reimagine grief - together!
