186. How to Grieve the Life You Expected

For when life feels like nothing you had planned. You did the thing — the career, the family, the move, the reinvention — but you wake up with an ache or disconnect you can’t name.

Everything looks “fine” from the outside, but inside, something feels off. That might be grief — and no, nobody has to die for you to feel it.

Alyssa Rose joins me to unpack what grief can look like when it’s not about death — but about change.

We talk about the quiet ways grief shows up during major life transitions — career pivots, identity shifts, or the loss of the life you expected — and what it really means to honor those emotions instead of rushing past them.

This episode is for you if:

You're grieving a career pivot, relationship shift, or identity change but feel guilty calling it "grief"
You avoid going deep with your emotions because you're scared of opening the floodgates
You and your partner are navigating the same loss in completely different ways (and it's causing distance)
You're a former "positive person" who's finally letting yourself feel the hard stuff

You'll learn how to build trust with yourself to "go there" without losing it, how to ask for support in a way people can actually show up for you, and why tending your grief is actually the most loving thing you can do.

Your turn! Try this quick reflection after the episode:

Open your journal and write two short lists side-by-side:

1️⃣ What I thought this season would feel like

2️⃣ What it actually feels like

Don’t judge or fix it — just notice the gap.

That space between the two lists? That’s where your grief lives. Naming it is the first step to freeing it.

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Alyssa Rose's Website: alisarosehealingarts.com

Instagram: @alisarosehealingarts

Email: alisarosehealingarts@gmail.com

Calm Mind Blueprint - my framework for processing emotions and making decisions with clarity: https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/calm-mind-pod