How to Grieve a Mother Who Was Your Best Friend with Nikki Part 2
Release Date: 01/16/2026
Stop Trying to Protect Your Child from Grief
Grieve That Sh!t
Episode Description “Your child doesn’t need the pain removed. They need you to help them move through it.” In this episode of Grieve That Sh!t, Sharon Brubaker, grief specialist and founder of The Grief School, breaks down one of the biggest mistakes parents make when their child is grieving. After losing her nephew Austin, Sharon learned that grief isn’t something you can protect someone from. Especially not your child. Because your kids already feel everything. They feel your silence. They feel your sadness. They feel what’s not being said. They just don’t have the words for it....
info_outline
The First Year of Grief Is Where Most People Get It Wrong
Grieve That Sh!t
Episode Description “Grief is already painful. But the way you’re trying to survive it might be making it harder.” In this episode of Grieve That Sh!t, Sharon Brubaker, grief specialist and founder of The Grief School, breaks down what most people unknowingly do in the first year of grief that increases their suffering. After losing her nephew Austin, Sharon learned that grief is not just about loss. It is about what happens when you’re left trying to survive something no one ever taught you how to process. The first year is the most confusing. The most painful. And the year you get...
info_outline
Why Your Brain Won’t Stop Replaying the Day They Died
Grieve That Sh!t
Episode Description “Your brain is not trying to hurt you. It’s trying to understand what just changed your entire life.” In this episode of Grieve That Sh!t, Sharon Brubaker, grief specialist and founder of The Grief School, breaks down why your mind keeps replaying the moment your person died. After losing her nephew Austin, Sharon learned that grief is not just emotional. It is a full body and brain experience that records life-altering moments with intense detail. The phone call. The hospital room. The last words. These moments stay vivid not because something is wrong with you, but...
info_outline
The Stories Grievers Never Get to Tell
Grieve That Sh!t
Episode Description “The part of your grief that hurts the most is often the part you never say out loud.” In this episode of Grieve That Sh!t, Sharon Brubaker, grief specialist and founder of The Grief School, talks about the stories grievers carry but rarely share. After losing her nephew Austin, Sharon learned that grief is not just about missing someone. It is also about the moments that changed everything—the phone call, the hospital room, the last words, the unanswered questions. These are the parts most people don’t talk about. Not because they don’t want to. But because they...
info_outline
Why You Still Feel Lost in Your Grief (And What No One Shows You)
Grieve That Sh!t
Episode Description “Grief doesn’t feel confusing because you’re broken. It feels confusing because no one ever showed you how to understand it.” In this episode of Grieve That Sh!t, Sharon Brubaker, grief specialist and founder of The Grief School, breaks down one of the biggest gaps in grief support: no one actually helps you understand your grief. After losing her nephew Austin, Sharon learned that grief is not just sadness. It is a full body experience that affects your sleep, your thoughts, your memory, your identity, and your daily life. And yet, most people are never given the...
info_outline
The Truth About Narcissists No One Tells You with Aisha
Grieve That Sh!t
Episode Description “You’re not stuck because you still love them. You’re stuck because of the attachment.” In this episode of Grieve That Sh!t, Sharon Brubaker, grief specialist and founder of The Grief School, sits down with a narc recovery coach and author of Toxic Charm to break down one of the most confusing and painful relationship dynamics people experience. After losing her nephew Austin, Sharon learned that grief is not just about death. It shows up anywhere attachment is broken. And when narcissistic patterns are involved, that attachment becomes even more intense,...
info_outline
What Is Your Grief Story
Grieve That Sh!t
Episode Description “Grief does not get louder because you are weak. It gets louder because it has nowhere to land.” In this episode of Grieve That Shit, Sharon Brubaker, grief specialist and founder of The Grief School, talks about something most grievers never receive after loss: a true witness to their grief story. After losing her nephew Austin, Sharon learned that grief is not just sadness. It is the mind and body trying to process something life changing that the world around you quickly moves on from. While everyone else returns to their normal life, the griever often finds...
info_outline
Why You Keep Repeating the Same Relationship Patterns with Sean
Grieve That Sh!t
Episode Description “Unprocessed grief does not disappear. It shows up in the way you attach, the way you fear, and the way you love.” In this episode of Grieve That Shit, Sharon Brubaker, grief specialist and founder of The Grief School, sits down with Sean Walker, a faith-based relationship coach who helps men and women understand attachment patterns, regulate their nervous systems, and stop repeating the same painful relationship cycles. After losing her nephew Austin, Sharon learned that grief is not just sadness. It is what happens when love has nowhere to land. And that same injury...
info_outline
Welcome To The Grief School
Grieve That Sh!t
Episode Description “Grief deserves care. It does not deserve to be shoved in a corner.” In this episode of Grieve That Shit, Sharon Brubaker, grief specialist and founder of The Grief School, pulls back the curtain and finally answers the question: What actually is The Grief School? After losing her nephew Austin, Sharon learned the hard way that grief is not something you “get over.” It cracks your heart open. It shifts your identity. It leaves you standing in the aftermath asking, What the hell am I supposed to do now? The Grief School was built for that moment. This episode walks...
info_outline
Grief, Addiction, and the Power of One Moment with Emily
Grieve That Sh!t
Episode Description “Healing happens in moments. And sometimes one moment changes everything.” In this episode of Grieve That Shit, Sharon Brubaker, grief specialist and founder of The Grief School, sits down with Emily, founder of Moment Cares — a full-service recovery and mental health support organization helping individuals and families navigate substance use, trauma, and emotional crisis. After losing her nephew Austin, Sharon learned that grief is not just sadness. It lives in the body. It hides in addiction. It shows up as anxiety, avoidance, overworking, numbing, and survival...
info_outline“She was more than her ending. And healing didn’t mean letting her go. It meant letting the pain stop running the show.”
In Part 2 of this deeply personal episode of Grieve That Shit, Sharon Brubaker, grief specialist and founder of The Grief School, continues the raw conversation with Nikki about grieving a mother who was also her best friend.
This episode moves beyond the loss and into what happens after the world keeps spinning and you’re still stuck.
Nikki shares what it was really like to resist grief work, to believe that suffering was the only way to honor her mom, and to carry guilt she didn’t even realize she was holding. Together, Sharon and Nikki unpack one of the most painful grief lies of all: “If I heal, it means I didn’t love them enough.”
You’ll hear how healing finally began when Nikki stopped protecting the pain and allowed herself to tell the truth about what she lost, what she carried, and what she deserved next.
This episode is about releasing unhealthy grief, honoring the full life of your person, and learning how to live again without betraying the love that came before.
What You’ll Hear in This Episode
-
Why many grievers believe suffering equals loyalty
-
How guilt hides inside grief and keeps you stuck
-
What it means to be “more than their ending”
-
Why healing doesn’t erase love, memories, or connection
-
How letting the pain soften creates space to celebrate your person again
Questions to Sit With After Listening
You don’t have to answer these perfectly. Just honestly.
-
Where have I believed that my pain is protecting my person?
-
What part of my grief feels unhealthy, even if I don’t want to admit it yet?
-
Am I afraid that healing means leaving them behind?
-
If my person could speak to me right now, what would they want for my life?
-
What would it look like to grieve and live at the same time?
Gentle Homework
Write this sentence at the top of a page:
“They were more than their ending.”
Now finish it without rushing.
Let memories come. Let truth come. Let the love show up.
You’re not erasing them.
You’re letting their whole life matter again.