30 - Grief Awareness Day is August 30

National Grief Awareness Day is August 30. In this episode, Christina and Meghan talk about the changes they would like to see when it comes to how grief and loss are acknowledged from a medical standpoint. They also talk about ways family and friends can validate a person's grief - it could be as easy as a simple text.

Angie Cartwright's petition to make Grief Awareness Day a national holiday: https://www.change.org/p/declare-august-30th-national-grief-awareness-day

About half way thorough the episode it started pouring down rain at Meghan's house. I'm sorry or you're welcome for the ambient noise ;)

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Transcript

00;00;00;03 - 00;00;25;19
Meghan
My house right now is in full chaos mode. And it all started because I was like, You know what I need to do? Rip up the carpet in this one bedroom. It's downstairs. It's not a bedroom. It's like a what would be a formal dining room. And I'm turning it into an office. And so I had to take out all the furniture, rip up all the carpet, do all this stuff.

00;00;25;19 - 00;00;46;01
Meghan
Like, so the room is fully empty, but all the furniture that lives in there, it's like in the hallway and kind of taking up space in another room and just kind of nothing is where it goes right now. And I just my brain, I feel like in one episode I talked about how I'm always operating at, like, 85% overwhelm.

00;00;46;13 - 00;01;19;17
Meghan
Mm hmm. I think that all of the clutter, like every room in my house, has a little bit of chaos, and it's all stemming from this one project. And I think that just seeing clutter in every room is like putting my brain into overdrive. And now I'm operating at, like, 97% overwhelm. I'm about to overheat, you know, and it's just I am I love doing DIY stuff and I think this room is going to look really cool when I'm done and it'll be done in like maybe two or three weeks.

00;01;19;17 - 00;01;33;18
Meghan
So not a whole lot longer, but oh my gosh, right now I am just like, oh, my brain is going to explode. It's too much. It gives me so much anxiety, just having clutter everywhere.

00;01;34;18 - 00;01;47;11
Christina
Is there like one space? Like you're in your house, anywhere, a closet, anywhere, like a spot in your yard, your car, anywhere that you could just like. I don't know. Have a moment. So.

00;01;47;11 - 00;02;08;22
Meghan
So my closet is organized. That is probably the only space in my house that doesn't have a project that needs to be done. You know, even my bedroom has, like, my bedroom's not bad. It just has boxes of clothes and stuff I need to donate that are taking up space and it's like, once I get those out, it'll be all right.

00;02;08;22 - 00;02;21;13
Meghan
But right now, I think probably my closet is the only spot in my house that I can. I can, like, have some respite from the chaos.

00;02;21;13 - 00;02;24;03
Christina
Like, don't mind me, and I'm just going to be hiding in my closet.

00;02;24;15 - 00;02;26;21
Meghan
Hi, I'm Megan, and I am Christina.

00;02;27;00 - 00;02;29;13
Christina
And this is a full cup club podcast.

00;02;29;26 - 00;02;39;03
Meghan
We're here to talk through the good, the bad and the ugly of loss. Whether that's losing a loved one, a job, a dream, or even your marbles.

00;02;39;26 - 00;03;11;14
Christina
So whether your cup has coffee, tea or vodka in it. Welcome to the Full Cup Club, Friends. On today's episode we are going to be chatting about national grief Awareness Day. This is a newer national day and so we're going to share a little bit more about that. But before we get started, as always in check, Megan, what is in your cup and also your literal cup and what is in your filling, your metaphorical cup right now?

00;03;12;20 - 00;03;40;17
Meghan
Okay. So my literal cup is a can of sparkling water, as per usual. It's August in Texas. It's hot, but it's not sweltering. I mean, today it's rainy and it's 84 degrees outside. So a week ago it was 104. So, you know, honestly, honestly, this is nice, but I am still on my sparkling water cake. It is Kirkland brand, lemon flavored sparkling water and I like it.

00;03;40;17 - 00;04;16;17
Meghan
It's nice and refreshing, albeit not very exciting. So what is filling my metaphorical cup? I okay. I talked about how my house is in full chaos mode because of this project I'm working on giving this room a makeover, but I actually really like doing that sort of thing. I like to work with my hands. I like to do these DIY projects, like ripping up the carpet was really satisfying, and even though I wanted to avoid taking off the baseboards, I did wind up having to do that and doing that was still really satisfying.

00;04;16;17 - 00;04;36;03
Meghan
So this project is actually filling my cup because I really enjoy doing this sort of thing. It's just the domino effect of, you know, the chaos it creates in my house while the project is going. Because I can't just like power through and finish in two days. I have to do it like on the weekends or, you know, just when I have the time.

00;04;37;07 - 00;04;48;06
Meghan
So I it is filling my cup, but it's also the byproducts of it are draining my cup. So I think we're just like evened out or my cup is like just half full.

00;04;48;22 - 00;04;57;17
Christina
You're like past. You is like like past you. What were you thinking? And current. You're just like, Oh, and then Future you is going to thank you.

00;04;57;21 - 00;05;05;01
Meghan
That's the future. Me is going to be like, Yeah, what are you talking about? It wasn't that bad present.

00;05;05;01 - 00;05;06;21
Christina
You is like, what were you all thinking?

00;05;07;23 - 00;05;10;09
Meghan
What is in your cup and what's filling your cup?

00;05;10;09 - 00;05;39;18
Christina
Metaphorically, I had a really late start today and so I am actually just now having my morning coffee, which is delicious. I love my coffee. I have an Americano every morning and so that is what is physically in my cup. What is filling my cup is that we are experiencing migration this time of year. It's August and the birds are migrating and I am getting to watch really cool birds at my bird feeder.

00;05;40;00 - 00;05;50;11
Christina
And yeah, just as a random, you know, you and I were talking we haven't done any movie or book suggestions lately. I watched the big year now. Have you seen the big year?

00;05;50;17 - 00;05;52;12
Meghan
I haven't seen that. I don't know what that is.

00;05;52;12 - 00;06;23;19
Christina
So the big year is Jack Black, Steve Martin and we can't remember his name. It it doesn't matter. The guy from Wedding Crashers, the blond Owen Wilson. Owen Wilson. Yes. Thank you. So a big year is when birders go out and they see as many birds in one year as they possibly can. And whoever spots the most birds is the like official, like best burger and so that's what the movie is about.

00;06;23;19 - 00;06;43;04
Christina
It's a super family friendly movie. Like, great movie. I, I'm so glad I watched it. So yeah, I would recommend it. Even if you don't like bird movies, it's really cool because these people have to go all over the United States, like flying all over into in different parts of the country. So of course, those two things appeal to me.

00;06;43;04 - 00;06;44;19
Christina
You're laughing at that?

00;06;45;00 - 00;06;50;27
Meghan
Well, no. You said even if you don't like bird movies like that's a category of movies.

00;06;51;19 - 00;07;03;22
Christina
Even if you don't like birds. I mean, there is the bird movie. I mean, let's there isn't there like bird movies. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Sesame Street.

00;07;03;28 - 00;07;21;26
Meghan
Do you want to know my secret hidden talent is that I can impersonate Owen Wilson saying, wow, what? Like, that's the only thing I can say in his voice. And that's like the only impersonation I can do. But still, it's a cool party trick. Okay. Yes, it's not. Yeah.

00;07;22;24 - 00;07;25;19
Christina
When you meet him the first time, what? Are you going to do this for him?

00;07;26;00 - 00;07;26;16
Meghan
Yeah, I'm just.

00;07;26;16 - 00;07;28;03
Christina
I need you to do it, okay? He's going to be.

00;07;28;03 - 00;07;29;02
Meghan
Like, wow.

00;07;30;16 - 00;07;34;17
Christina
Wow, wow. We have been friends all this time and you've been holding out on me.

00;07;35;26 - 00;07;41;19
Meghan
It's my one impersonation I can do. I love it. Oh, my gosh.

00;07;41;19 - 00;08;03;13
Christina
That's so okay, friend. So on today's episode, as we said, we're going to be chatting about National Grief Awareness Day. This day was founded by Angie Cartwright in 2014. Angie is someone who is well acquainted with grief. When she was five years old, she lost her little sister. Later on in life, she lost her husband and then her mother.

00;08;03;15 - 00;08;29;25
Christina
And so National Grief Awareness Day is something that Angie did to bring awareness to people about grief and what's happening. And because not everybody, it's surprising, but you may have friends who have never experienced grief. And so she wanted to bring awareness to that every year. This happens on August 30th, and that is because this is Angie's mother's birthday currently there she has a on change.org.

00;08;29;25 - 00;08;59;19
Christina
There is a place that you can sign a petition once it reaches 1 million signatures. This can go to the president of the United States where we can actually make it. She can make it an official National Grief Awareness Day. Currently, they are at 22,692 signatures. And what's really cool is that when she hits 25,000 signatures, this will be one of the top petitions on Change.org.

00;08;59;19 - 00;09;22;17
Christina
For now, we wanted to chat a little bit about National Grief Awareness Day and maybe some ways that you and I can make some changes, even just within our community, to help bring awareness to what grief looks like. When my things I found most interesting in listening to Angie is that she says that mourning is external or that grief is internal.

00;09;22;17 - 00;09;51;08
Christina
And I thought that that was so true because a lot of times we watch people who have lost someone and we see them mourning this loss. And then when we don't see that external anymore, we are not aware that there is still grief going on internally. So today we're going to discuss some ways that maybe we can bring awareness to National Grief Awareness Day in our communities, maybe through a social media or even in our workplace.

00;09;51;08 - 00;09;55;11
Christina
So what are some ideas, Megan, that you were thinking of?

00;09;55;12 - 00;10;35;21
Meghan
I think that reaching out to somebody who may be grieving is something really easy you can do. Just a quick text message like, hey, thinking about you today, thinking about you and, you know, insert name of the person they lost here, you know, because I think it feels really it feels really validating to have other people acknowledge that even if you are kind of far out from the date that you lost that person, like Angie lost her husband in like 1996 or something.

00;10;35;21 - 00;11;01;20
Meghan
Right. Even if you are decades out from it, it's still validating to be to to have somebody acknowledge that you might still be grieving or that you do still grieve, even if it's not this like intense thing that is all the time, you know. So just a quick text like, hey, thinking about you, how are you? You know, just so easy.

00;11;01;24 - 00;11;29;02
Christina
It takes 2 seconds. If you're not somebody, you know, use a physical calendar, use your, you know, an app in your phone and just punch it in. Today is so-and-so's dad's birthday. It comes up on Facebook. People do it a year later, you know, a couple of years later, whenever. It's just nice to get those text about, hey, I'm thinking about you, even though they didn't post it like, hey, you're you're in my thoughts today and you don't have to say anything huge.

00;11;29;02 - 00;11;36;26
Christina
Just that simple thing means you and I both know that. But if you are somebody who has not experienced that, that's huge to someone who is grieving.

00;11;36;26 - 00;12;07;22
Meghan
So that's something that you pointed out is putting the dates in your calendar of that person's birthday or maybe it's an anniversary or maybe it's the day that person passed and having that reference so that you know the dates to reach out. I'll be the first to say I'm terrible about that. I know that it's easy and I use Google Calendar for everything and I try to be better about dates like that, but it's such an easy way to have that reminder to text them.

00;12;07;22 - 00;12;31;28
Meghan
So it's not like you're texting them on National Grief Awareness Day, you're texting them throughout the year. It's kind of, you know, on the on the days that are important to them, you know, the birthday, the anniversary, the death of nursery, whatever, you know. Yeah, it's just something that I also need to need to work on and I wanted to just come clean that I'm not I'm giving that advice, but I'm not great at it.

00;12;32;26 - 00;12;34;23
Meghan
I'm trying. I'm doing my best. Okay?

00;12;35;08 - 00;12;57;18
Christina
I'm not super. You and I were talking about this earlier. I am not the person who when someone loses their person or their child or whatever, I'm not the person who's going to rush in. And that might be surprising because we do a podcast on this. I kind of sit back because I know that that first few days of people are going to be there, but it's the later on type thing.

00;12;57;18 - 00;13;19;27
Christina
So I think that's why it means a lot to me, having gone through the loss of my brother so many years ago that I knew it's like a lot of those things fade and people, they go on with their lives. We've talked about that. So me, I would rather like six months to a year later just send those text cards, whatever that looks like to be of support.

00;13;19;27 - 00;13;40;19
Christina
So if you were somebody, so what I want to validate and give you permission is if you were somebody who you didn't make it to the funeral, you were out of town, you live somewhere else, you didn't have that initial thing. You can still help someone who's grieving six months, a year later or five years later by simply sending a text.

00;13;40;29 - 00;13;54;02
Christina
It's not this is not there's no finish line to this. People still need support. So, you know, I just want to encourage you. Yeah, very simple. A text, a card, whatever that looks like.

00;13;54;02 - 00;13;55;14
Meghan
Yeah, I agree.

00;13;55;14 - 00;14;17;09
Christina
Another thing I'd like to bring awareness to is if you have been in the grief process, you know, going to those first initial doctor's appointments, all of that type of thing, that's not always on your medical form. And if you don't live in a smaller community, in my community, people were very aware and the doctor's offices I went to, I know my eye doctor, they were aware.

00;14;17;09 - 00;14;29;02
Christina
And so when I came in, they just they didn't mess around and they got me right in. They got me right out because they didn't want to, you know, they it was just very kind of them too, to be aware of.

00;14;29;02 - 00;14;30;18
Meghan
That is nice if.

00;14;30;18 - 00;14;55;21
Christina
You work in a medical office, one of the things that I would like to see as someone who has lost people close to me, that would be really nice to have that. On a forum, we check whether we are widowed or, you know, widow, widower, but it would be nice to have child loss. It would actually be nice to have the dates and then have your people in your office, in your place of business be aware of that.

00;14;55;21 - 00;15;21;01
Christina
It's just a little extra step that helps people to be aware. You you don't want to say, we've all been in those situations where you feel like, oh my goodness, I just stuck my foot in my mouth. Or You're trying to, you know, you're struggling and maybe they don't understand. The doctor doesn't understand, like, why is this person suddenly presenting with depression and you don't realize they just lost their mom?

00;15;21;02 - 00;15;38;22
Christina
That's not on the form. Widows on a form. Yeah. Child loss on hair loss. It's not on a form. So those types of things to be aware of. If you are in the medical field, even if you work at a school, maybe your child transferred to a new school, but making sure as a person grieving if you're able to communicate that.

00;15;38;22 - 00;16;04;22
Christina
But as the people who are serving others in your community, it would just be a really nice thing to have on the form when you come in and remember, like, it's not just the first year, it's five years later, it's awkward conversations when maybe you and the person you're dating are in the doctor's office and for them to be aware like, Hey, I am a widow, I am a widower, this is not my spouse.

00;16;04;22 - 00;16;11;14
Christina
And so this is someone I'm dating and that there are still, you know, challenges that you're going through.

00;16;11;14 - 00;16;43;28
Meghan
So I always wonder if they notice when I check widow on whatever form it is, you know, because there's never any like, you know, communication about it. And so I always wonder what's do they do they do anything differently or what what's the purpose of of me checking that box, if not. And you know, one, I wonder if they notice that I check the boxes as widow because like I said, there's never any communication about it.

00;16;45;10 - 00;17;19;20
Meghan
But to, like you said, having the option to, you know, check, check more boxes like, you know, when you fill out new patient paperwork, you there's that one page where it's like health history and you check off all the little like whatever high blood pressure, headaches, nausea, like whatever you of that going on, you know, anxiety and depression are usually on that checklist and other mental health issues, right?

00;17;19;23 - 00;17;46;15
Meghan
So it seems like grief should be on that list, too. And then you could have the option to list, you know, when you lost that person because it does mess with you. It does mess with your head. It does throw you off mentally. I, I do think that it's, you know, a mental health not problem, but it's grief does affect your mental health.

00;17;47;02 - 00;17;52;08
Meghan
Yes. So it seems like it should be on those forms. Why isn't it is the question.

00;17;53;00 - 00;18;17;13
Christina
I had a my rheumatologist was so wonderful. After Michael passed I went to see him and he does not live in my community. And I was having what turned out to be panic attacks in my sleep. And it was so nice to have him share with me that his wife had lost her only child, which was their daughter, and that this had happened with her.

00;18;17;22 - 00;18;39;20
Christina
And so being able to communicate that and for him to be aware, it it helped me to know like, oh, okay, this is what's happening. And part of what happens with the autoimmune disease I have is that stress can make it flare. And he looked at me and he said, I can fix a lot of things, but I can't fix this for you.

00;18;40;03 - 00;19;18;12
Christina
And it just was really helpful to be able to sit and have an honest conversation with him about what was going on, and for him to look at it through the lens of that, I was grieving and yeah, and for him to really be able to encourage me. So if you are a doctor or nurse or someone who works in the medical field and you, you know, this is one piece of good that you can do that you can bring to your office, that you can bring to better serve the people that you care for is helping to look at what is happening with your patients through the lens of grief and how that impacts

00;19;18;12 - 00;19;20;02
Christina
their health. So.

00;19;20;03 - 00;19;46;05
Meghan
Right. And I wonder if maybe it's just like it's kind of like you don't understand until you've gone through it and then maybe you're a little bit more likely to say something or change how you interact with an employee who is greeter and not an employee with a patient who is grieving. But but yeah, that would be that would be so nice.

00;19;46;05 - 00;20;06;07
Meghan
I don't have that level of relationship with my doctor. I am like my doctor. Like I don't feel like they listen to me when I tell them the things that are going on. Right? So I'm in the process of finding a new one like. I know. I know.

00;20;06;12 - 00;20;07;14
Christina
And then also.

00;20;07;15 - 00;20;07;20
Meghan
You.

00;20;07;20 - 00;20;40;12
Christina
Know, let's talk about another lens to look at that through. Let's see somebody comes in and they haven't, you know, maybe been to the dentist in a couple of years. And there are a lot of people in different professions that are kind of shaming about things. And maybe you're like, you haven't been in had a cleaning. And so if you can look at it as the hygienist through the lens of like, Oh, okay, I see that your, you know, your wife died and two years ago and you haven't been in for a cleaning.

00;20;40;12 - 00;21;05;13
Christina
Well, then that makes a little bit of a difference the way that you approach. I mean, no one should be shaming anyone, but there could be a little less awareness in the process of what is actually happening and really encourage that person and also at the same time to help them. Oh, hey, did you know that you can't schedule your next appointment while you're here and then for the office to know, hey, we we might want to take this extra step.

00;21;05;13 - 00;21;25;11
Christina
This gentleman is, you know, 70 years old, and he might need a reminder call a month ahead of time, a week ahead of time of day ahead of time. So there's just a little extra touches, I think, when we talk about someone experiencing loss that, you know, it doesn't it's not hard to be kind. It's not hard to take those extra steps.

00;21;25;11 - 00;21;37;24
Meghan
Yeah, it's just a little bit of a higher level of compassion. And I think because that person's going through a lot, a lot of changes, a lot of difficulties. So so yeah, I.

00;21;37;24 - 00;22;04;00
Christina
Think the other thing that is giving people a permission to grieve, giving them like allowing them, you know, the space to grieve even one or two years later, a lot of people spend. I like that. Andy talks about that. A lot of people spend their time defending their grief rather than just being able to experience it.

00;22;04;06 - 00;22;15;23
Meghan
Defending or feeling like silly or weird about it. So not letting it out, you know, not not letting it be obvious to other people. Right. Well, even going to keep it.

00;22;15;24 - 00;22;37;22
Christina
Having to justify why five years later I am still posting on Facebook. Yeah. How I'm feeling rather than just like, hey, this is what I'm experiencing and I really like that there's more of this normalizing grief now. We've all gone through COVID and most of us have lost someone to COVID. We're aware of people who have lost someone.

00;22;37;29 - 00;22;57;19
Christina
Or maybe before you weren't aware of that grief had not impacted you. And so I think we're starting to see more and more of that. And and to see people allow people to space to grieve and not make them validate, like, why? Why are you you should be over this. No, no. You haven't experienced grief and you don't understand.

00;22;57;19 - 00;22;59;29
Christina
And if you're that person like, get over it.

00;23;01;12 - 00;23;18;26
Meghan
I think there's a there's a you know, we talk a lot about getting back up. I am sorry, but I can't control the weather. And it it's like storming all of a sudden, like. So I don't know if that's cool. I don't know if that's coming through. But but yeah, I guess it is. If you can hear it.

00;23;20;13 - 00;23;45;00
Meghan
Anyway, we talk a lot about getting back up after losing someone, you know, it's like you've been knocked down and you're getting back up, you're living your life, you are moving forward, you know. So I think that there's, you know, a level of yes, I want to push through to grief. But then also it's like you're not staying you're not necessarily staying stuck.

00;23;45;00 - 00;23;51;26
Christina
Yeah. So we always want to encourage people to get back up when they have experienced grief and loss.

00;23;51;26 - 00;24;06;21
Meghan
Yeah, but that doesn't mean you can't share on social media like, that's not us trying to shame you. That's us saying, hey, you've got a life to live, so do it. But but still you, you know, you can honor that person you lost.

00;24;06;26 - 00;24;17;29
Christina
Yes. And you shouldn't feel bad about that. You shouldn't feel weird about that if you're having a tough day or we're all going to have tough days. So, yeah, I agree.

00;24;17;29 - 00;24;41;21
Meghan
Yeah. So I mean, it's been four and a half years since Jason died. I am, you know, doing well in my life. I've been dating my new boyfriend for almost two years now, and still I like to receive texts from people just saying, hey, thinking about your hey, this reminded me of Jason or Oh, wow, can you believe he would be, you know, 47 years old today or whatever?

00;24;41;21 - 00;24;51;18
Meghan
You know, that's still nice. That's cool. Oh, sorry for the hurricane happening outside right now. We take it slow. So I don't know if it's loud for you or not.

00;24;51;18 - 00;25;13;00
Christina
Yeah, I love that. One of the things that, you know, Angie Cartwright says is that one of the greatest gifts we can give someone is validation in so validating someone's grief when they're going through it. Because some people might feel silly, like, oh, I just I lost my my dog or I lost my cat and they may feel silly sharing that on social media or whatever.

00;25;13;00 - 00;25;35;23
Christina
I don't know. For me personally, social media and my community, my online community, I love seeing people's animals. I love seeing this and I'm aware like I enjoyed that pets life. I enjoyed them sharing their pet with me. And so yeah, when I you know, one of the girls here in town, Jessica, she just a few months back, lost her little dog, Booger.

00;25;36;02 - 00;26;00;05
Christina
And like we loathed everybody, loved watching like Booger, like him being on the boat, like going down the river, all of that kind of stuff. And so it was like when Booger passed, we all were like sad when he passed and and then at the same time, we all later on got to celebrate after we were grieving, watching Jessica get her her new little puppy.

00;26;00;05 - 00;26;11;03
Christina
And so at the same time, she still has moments where she grieves that loss and that is valid. And to be able to say your grief is absolutely valid, yes, I think that's one of the greatest gifts.

00;26;11;03 - 00;26;22;20
Meghan
You can still be happy in your life and grieve your loss. Mm Yes. It can be both. Right. Can we have a moment that that dog's name was Booger, though?

00;26;22;20 - 00;26;23;02
Christina
He was.

00;26;23;06 - 00;26;23;14
Meghan
Pretty.

00;26;23;28 - 00;26;51;05
Christina
Cute. His look, I think that it would be really nice if we got accustomed to and this is something that you would just have to practice, is when someone asks how you are doing. To be honest, if you're in the checkout stand, I think like it's just a normal thing to say. I'm fine. We've been trained to say we're fine and I like that she talks about that every time we we do that and we give away.

00;26;51;05 - 00;27;20;23
Christina
When we say we're fine, we're just giving away a little part of ourself. So normalize practice saying you know, I'm having a tough day or I'm having a really great day. Be honest, you know, don't do the can't answer practice not giving a canned answer because when we're grieving, if we can do that, we can help other people in our community understand and normalize being honest in those conversations because sometimes that can snap somebody out of it and also can be something where it's like, Oh, this person's grieving.

00;27;21;08 - 00;27;39;07
Christina
And for them, some day when they're grieving to help you normalize that, you can communicate that, that there's this is completely something that is valid to share with other people and and it's teaching. So if you are the person grieving, you know, be honest with how you are doing. You know.

00;27;39;22 - 00;28;03;07
Meghan
I like that idea in theory and definitely in when you're talking to people, you know, people in your circle. But for me at the checkout stand, somebody asked me if I'm okay, I'm going to launch into like the negative parts of my life. Now, that is absolutely not going to happen. You know, it's just it's not realistic because I don't know that person.

00;28;03;10 - 00;28;32;27
Meghan
You know, I'm an introvert. I'm not I'm barely going to talk if my best friends are pulling it out of me. So I understand the sentiment there. But that doesn't work for all personality types. I think a more realistic approach for people like me, for introverts, for the people who just like don't really want to cause like, I don't know, any kind of commotion or anything around them.

00;28;32;27 - 00;29;07;21
Meghan
Just like the, you know, like, please don't pay attention to me kind of is to be honest, when people close to you are asking how you are because they care and to acknowledge and to recognize that they're asking you because they care. So do yourself and them a service by being honest with them. Don't just shut down and be like, I'm fine and move on, you know, not necessarily everybody, you know, because I'm not going to launch into a diatribe, you know, when I'm paying for my groceries.

00;29;08;00 - 00;29;14;16
Meghan
But if, you know, my close friends are asking me, then, you know, it's like I'm more likely to open up.

00;29;14;18 - 00;29;44;01
Christina
There is another school that you're talking about with your friends and stuff is making sure and I don't know if it was Lauren McInerney that said this, but someone I heard said, How are you doing today? Instead of asking people, how are you doing in general? How are you doing today? Asking someone who's grieving can be another thing that you can say, because yesterday may have been a great day and in general, on average, maybe they're doing great, but maybe that day they're having a rough day.

00;29;44;01 - 00;30;16;01
Christina
So that that is can be a better way to asking better questions. So, my friends, if you are interested in helping sign the Change.org, we are going to link that in the show notes and hopefully we can help this to become a national day so that when our friends, our family or we are grieving, we have more awareness in the U.S. and how we can better serve and help the people who we love in our community.

00;30;16;01 - 00;30;26;15
Meghan
Yeah, okay. Friends, while the time has come. So whether your cup as empty, half full or overflowing, raise it up. Here's to the craziness of life after loss.

00;30;26;23 - 00;30;47;26
Christina
Cheers on August 30th. If you like to post on social media, use the hashtag hashtag Grief Awareness Day. Again, that's Grief Awareness Day and you can find Angela Cartwright on Facebook under a national grief Awareness Day and also in other forms of social media.

00;30;47;26 - 00;31;04;28
Meghan
Thank you so much for being here with us. Please subscribe to our podcast if you found it helpful and you can also find us on social media, on Instagram, at Full Cop Club podcast, and if you search Full Club Club podcast on Facebook again, thanks friends and we'll see you next time.