Blair and Alana jam on what is happening in their worlds and talk about all things cats, pet grief, Mother’s Day, grief trips and Endo. Remember, pet grief is real grief, and it’s okay to take the time you need to heal.
Curious about the November Australia Grief Trip? Learn more here: https://grieftrips.com/australia
Buy the books: https://theglobalresilienceproject.com/books/
Be featured in RESILIENT A.F.: Skin Deep Stories: https://blairkaplan.kartra.com/page/tattoo
Be featured in RESILIENT A.F.: Stories of Resilience Vol. 3: https://blairkaplan.kartra.com/page/RAF26
⚠️ Content Note: Some episodes may contain themes that could be distressing. Please take care of yourself while listening, and don’t hesitate to seek support from a mental health professional if needed.
About the Hosts:
Blair Kaplan Venables is a British Columbia-based grief and resilience expert and coach, motivational speaker and the Founder of The Global Resilience Project. Her expertise has been featured on media platforms like Forbes, TEDx, CBC Radio, Entrepreneur, and Thrive Global. She is named the Top Grief and Resilience Expert of the Year 2024 by IAOTP. USA Today listed Blair as one of the top 10 conscious female leaders to watch and she empowers others to be resilient from stages around the world. 'MyStory,’ which is a television show available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and Google Play, showcases Blair's life story. She is the host of the Radical Resilience podcast and specializes in helping people strengthen their resilience muscle using scientifically proven methods and guides grieving high performers with her Navigating Grief Framework. The Global Resilience Project’s award-winning book series are international bestsellers, and her fourth book, RESILIENT A.F.: Stories of Resilience Vol 2, will be published in January 2025. In her free time, you can find Blair writing, in nature, travelling the world and helping people to strengthen their resilience muscles.
Links:
https://theglobalresilienceproject.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/blairdkaplan
https://www.facebook.com/blair.kaplan
https://www.facebook.com/BlairKaplanCommunications
https://www.instagram.com/globalresiliencecommunity
https://www.instagram.com/blairfromblairland/
https://www.facebook.com/globalresiliencecommunity
https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-global-resilience-project
Alana Kaplan is a compassionate mental health professional based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She works in the mental health field, and is a co-host of the Resilient A.F. podcast. Fueled by advocacy, Alana is known for standing up and speaking out for others. Passionate about de-stigmatizing and normalizing mental health, Alana brings her experience to The Global Resilience Project’s team, navigating the role one’s mental health plays in telling their story.
Engaging in self-care and growth keeps her going, and her love for reading, travel, and personal relationships helps foster that. When she’s not working, Alana can often be found on walks, working on a crossword puzzle, or playing with any animal she sees.
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Transcript
In my healing, the work I've done on my my grief for mom and dad
Speaker:and Dave and the baby, like, I've done a lot of work, and I will
Speaker:always be working on it. But Frey the Frey loss was
Speaker:so fucking fresh. Mhmm. And so I
Speaker:thought it was just really, really beautiful to be there and also to have the
Speaker:people there hold space because I'm a griever too. Rachel's
Speaker:a griever too. And, yeah, I just
Speaker:I don't know. And it also just showed me that, like, there's no right or
Speaker:wrong way to grieve and that society still isn't set up to
Speaker:support us in our bereavement. And it's too bad that
Speaker:we can't just have these experiences when we need them at that time and
Speaker:of of loss. And instead of holding it in for a year, two years, four
Speaker:years till you find the perfect place to grieve, what if we just were given
Speaker:that society were to just give us that right after?
Speaker:Welcome back to another episode of Resilient AF with
Speaker:Blair and Alana. And Alana.
Speaker:Alana. You know, we want to get an episode to you last week, but,
Speaker:I've been on a journey, which we'll talk about, momentarily.
Speaker:But it's it's your griefy gals here. Your sister's
Speaker:here doing a little life check-in, a project check-in, update
Speaker:on what's been going on in our worlds. We know you love to listen to
Speaker:us, chit and chat, and we have
Speaker:quite a robust update for you. So
Speaker:Alana last time shared that she got a new
Speaker:pet? A new Lenny. A new yeah.
Speaker:A new pet named Lenny. And so, Alana, how's that going? How's
Speaker:how's, having a second cat going?
Speaker:Well, it's definitely more than having one
Speaker:cat. Lenny is
Speaker:has a very cute personality. He
Speaker:is very playful. So him and
Speaker:Molly are learning the ropes with each other because
Speaker:Molly isn't as playful. And
Speaker:so when Molly swats at Lenny, Lenny
Speaker:will stand on his two back feet and, like, kind of, like, move his front
Speaker:paws. Kinda looks like he's dancing because he wants to
Speaker:play, and Molly is not having any
Speaker:of it. Lenny sleeps on my head.
Speaker:So boundaries are still a work in progress, and
Speaker:it's getting warmer where I live in Winnipeg.
Speaker:And so Lenny is loving the porch.
Speaker:And I think it's funny because Lenny has a few different names, and Molly
Speaker:even has a name for him. Oh, yeah. So
Speaker:right when I got or right before I
Speaker:went and got Lenny and brought him home, I thought, you
Speaker:know, maybe I should check-in with
Speaker:Molly and see if she's okay with this. So
Speaker:as I do, I scroll TikTok and see all of
Speaker:these pet psychics, And I'm just
Speaker:enthralled. Like, months ago, I had booked one that was booking out until
Speaker:October. So I do have one in October. But I
Speaker:found someone named Cynthia, and
Speaker:I booked in with her. So we had a little
Speaker:chitchat, me, her, and Molly. And it's on Zoom.
Speaker:Right? Over Zoom. And it was over Zoom. And so she
Speaker:needs to just see the pet first.
Speaker:Molly was not really being so cooperative before the Zoom, so
Speaker:I moved myself to my bedroom. Sitting on the ground
Speaker:showed Molly, then Molly wandered off. And so we learned a
Speaker:few things about Molly.
Speaker:We have learned that she identifies as
Speaker:Christian and likes Christmas.
Speaker:No. We're Jewish. We're we're We're Jewish, so I feel like
Speaker:that's just her being passive aggressive because I always leave her on
Speaker:Christmas to visit Blair.
Speaker:I have learned that she
Speaker:refers to Lenny as Phil.
Speaker:Not sure why. Phil.
Speaker:But she calls him Phil. So you know what?
Speaker:That's okay. You know, it's funny because I know a couple of Phil's, and they're
Speaker:all redheads. Really? Yeah. I think
Speaker:any Phil I've known has had lighter lighterhead too. So
Speaker:maybe his name was Phil in another life before it was
Speaker:Golden Dream Palace Milan. Yeah. But some
Speaker:really cool things happened, and I wanna share one particular story.
Speaker:So we spoke for about thirty minutes. Unfortunately,
Speaker:the Zoom didn't I tried recording it, and she tried recording it. It didn't
Speaker:work. So I immediately recapped to Blair
Speaker:over a voice note. One of the things she said was
Speaker:that Molly is quite sassy and initially
Speaker:said, you know, I have nothing to say, but my right ear
Speaker:hurts. I was like, oh, that's weird. She doesn't, like, show
Speaker:any signs of of ear pain, but I know that cats hide
Speaker:pain well. And I was like, okay. Well, I'm taking her to the vet anyway
Speaker:for a checkup next week because she she's a lot of
Speaker:things going on. One of them being, being, low blood platelet levels
Speaker:or thrombocytopenia. And so I take her to
Speaker:the vet the following week and
Speaker:doing a checkup. And my vet, she's asking Molly not asking Molly.
Speaker:She's asking me how Molly's been. I was like, you know, she's good
Speaker:and just a weird question. I went and saw a
Speaker:pet psychic last week over Zoom,
Speaker:and she said that Molly's right ear hurts. Can you just
Speaker:humor me and and check her right ear? And she's like, was this
Speaker:in person? I'm like, no. No. It was over Zoom. She saw Molly's face,
Speaker:and she's like, okay. So she takes the
Speaker:thing with the light and, like, looks into her
Speaker:left ear. Left ear is completely fine. Nothing happening.
Speaker:She puts it in the right ear, and Molly, like, moves her body like
Speaker:she's in a little bit of pain. And my vet's like, oh, well,
Speaker:that is very interesting. So then she
Speaker:takes a cotton swab, like a Q tip type of thing, does it
Speaker:again. Left ear, nothing. Right ear, same thing.
Speaker:She did it one more time. She's like, you know, maybe it's a bit inflamed,
Speaker:but that is wild. And so she went and told everyone
Speaker:back backstage, I wanted to say, behind the
Speaker:room, wherever the techs are, and told them about it, and they
Speaker:were all quite amused and amazed by it. And
Speaker:Molly's a high roller high flyer there. She's
Speaker:High roller. You're the high roller funding it. High
Speaker:roller. That should be sponsored by Trupanion.
Speaker:Yeah. And yeah. So that was a very
Speaker:fascinating experience, and I was at the vet
Speaker:a couple weeks later. You're at the vet at least once. I'm always at the
Speaker:vet. Literally, I was at the vet last week. ER. Like Yeah.
Speaker:I'm always getting something checked out. Molly literally was at
Speaker:the vet three days ago because Letty scratched her third eye. Her third
Speaker:eye? Sorry. Her third eyelid. Oh. Oh.
Speaker:We just treated his pink eye. Well
Speaker:but when I went back for the checkup, like, two weeks after,
Speaker:the vet, her name is doctor Dorval, was just saying she how she was
Speaker:telling everyone about this cat psychic experience.
Speaker:Yeah. That's funny. I love that. And
Speaker:Lenny. Like, he you know, Len, Gu
Speaker:film. And I love that you have, like, a a legacy
Speaker:pet named after one of our parents because the first one that was
Speaker:named after our mom, Frey, died.
Speaker:Yeah. Just like our mom. Went fast.
Speaker:Yeah. It came so Frey was, like, my soul cat,
Speaker:and, he helped me heal in ways that
Speaker:nothing else was helping me heal. And I loved him, and I literally would look
Speaker:at him every day and be like, I love you so much. You've
Speaker:saved my life. Like, you have to live forever. Anyways, he didn't
Speaker:live forever. And at two and a half years old, I
Speaker:came home from emceeing an event, and he was
Speaker:panting in a medical distress, and his back legs were paralyzed. And I
Speaker:rushed him to a vet on Saturday night. It was a Saturday night, and,
Speaker:essentially, he had a blood clot. I mean,
Speaker:the only solution was to put him down. So it was
Speaker:very traumatizing because all our other cats have lived to
Speaker:be, like, 18. You know, like, Duffy's fourteen.
Speaker:Molly's fourteen. Like, all our cats, like, live
Speaker:long. So I it was completely unexpected. You know? And you're not the cat's not
Speaker:a full grown cat till they're four. It was just literally
Speaker:honestly, like, the pain was so bad. It was, like, worse when dad
Speaker:died. And it was, like, regrieving mom.
Speaker:And it was just it opened up a bunch of old grief, but, also, it
Speaker:was just very like, my heart just absolutely shattered.
Speaker:And it and so, like, that's just kinda where I'll leave that. And I did
Speaker:a lot of learning because I bought Frey like, Frey was a rag
Speaker:doll, and I bought him from the Kijiji. And I
Speaker:didn't really know much about buying cats from
Speaker:breeders, and I know that you could red be registered as a breeder because all
Speaker:my other cats are, like, from barns or rescues. And so,
Speaker:certain cats like ragdolls, they are more susceptible to certain diseases, and
Speaker:Frey had that where breeders actually are supposed to test for
Speaker:it. And so if a cat has that, you know, like, they they wouldn't have
Speaker:sold it to me. And so it's been a learning curve,
Speaker:honestly, like, not the way I wanted to learn these lessons. So,
Speaker:of course, I have so much love to give, and we'll soon have one or
Speaker:maybe two or even three new kittens in our life because I've
Speaker:been talking to many breeders, and they're all getting back to me. Don't tell
Speaker:Shane. He probably doesn't even listen to this podcast, so it's okay. Not.
Speaker:But, and I'll I'll keep you updated, but I, like, I don't feel like it's
Speaker:me replacing Frey, but, like, I have so much love to give. I work from
Speaker:home. You know? I just, like, the and I have Duffy, and Duffy is
Speaker:great, but Duffy is also, like, it's our cat, but it's Shane's cat. And so
Speaker:it just feels like it feels like my heart's definitely
Speaker:missing something. And so, now I know that
Speaker:the questions to ask the breeders, and I know what to look for.
Speaker:And it's definitely, like, an an unfortunate learning
Speaker:experience and a really terrible way to put a pet down.
Speaker:It was very, very traumatic. Like, Shane luckily, both Shane and
Speaker:I were in town because we're we're both travel a lot for work.
Speaker:And, but his phone broke because he, like, changed the storage
Speaker:settings, and he didn't know that his phone would break from doing that. Like, he
Speaker:basically had to reinstall some storage, but he
Speaker:couldn't receive calls. And so when it happened, I was alone and he was out,
Speaker:and I couldn't get a hold of him or any of his friends. And I
Speaker:was, like, panicking and, like, speeding to the twenty four hour vet and, like,
Speaker:crying. And it was, like, pouring rain on the highway. And, eventually, I called
Speaker:his friends over and over again frantically, and someone eventually answered. And, like, they dropped
Speaker:they got Shane into the car and, like, drove him to me. But it was
Speaker:just, like, so many layers of traumatizing. Mhmm.
Speaker:But so if you have gone through pet loss or if you're in it,
Speaker:like, I'm sorry. It's terrible. It's absolutely terrible. But
Speaker:there's no but. And what was really interesting was,
Speaker:a few weeks later, I was about to head to,
Speaker:Bali. Before we get to Bali, like, I feel like
Speaker:we should take a a moment just to honor pet grief. I
Speaker:think, it's not talked about the way
Speaker:that losing a human is.
Speaker:And Blair said something like that she was sadder than when our dad
Speaker:died, and people might listen to that and have a
Speaker:reaction. And that's okay. You're allowed to have a reaction, but the reality is is,
Speaker:like, these pets were with them almost twenty four seven. Oh, it
Speaker:was unconditional. Like, I got more love from that cat in two and a half
Speaker:years than dad our entire life. And it was it's the pets
Speaker:just generally, like, mostly, they should. I mean, I I shouldn't say all pets.
Speaker:But for sure That's treated well. Yeah. Like And tested. Like, you know,
Speaker:this unconditional love, this shadow, like, this the first thing I saw in the morning,
Speaker:the last thing I saw at night, like, you
Speaker:know, it can be more painful
Speaker:to grieve a pet than a human. Mhmm. And that's
Speaker:okay. And that's okay. You know, I told one of our family members I went
Speaker:home to Winnipeg for Passover, and I told one of our family members that I,
Speaker:like, was more sad about Frey dying than dad dying. Like, it just hurt more.
Speaker:And they're like, oh, don't say that. I'm like, but that's how I feel.
Speaker:Mhmm. Yeah. You
Speaker:know, I think if someone is saying something
Speaker:from their heart and they're grieving instead
Speaker:of responding with don't say that, even if you might feel that because
Speaker:your feelings are valid too, just say,
Speaker:I'm sorry. That sounds hard. Yeah. Exactly. That's all you need
Speaker:to say. Sidebar on the the the grief death talks,
Speaker:today, time of recording, it's Sunday. It's actually bereaved Mother's
Speaker:Day. Mhmm. What do you do you because,
Speaker:obviously, I'm happy to have mom. I'm a bereaved fetus
Speaker:mom. But you don't say, like, happy bereaved Mother's Day because it's
Speaker:not a happy day. No. It's it's just a day to honor
Speaker:those who've lost children. Yeah.
Speaker:And, like, you know, Mother's Day is coming up, and that's a really hard one
Speaker:for me because our mom is gone and my baby
Speaker:is gone. And it's just a very complicated day for
Speaker:me because, like, I wanted to be a mom, and I wanted
Speaker:to be a mom with mom. Yeah. And
Speaker:so it's like, you know, I'm a motherless daughter and a daughterless mother and
Speaker:yeah. So I'm gonna I'm gonna be in the forest next. But,
Speaker:anyways yeah. And and, like, just, like, I'm starting to get inundated with all these
Speaker:Mother's Day ads. Ugh. The worst. And then
Speaker:it's like, I they people do it from the kindness of their
Speaker:hearts where they sometimes something some I
Speaker:I was gonna say people. But, yeah, people from companies will send out an email
Speaker:being like, let us know if you don't wanna know about, like,
Speaker:Mother's Day, which is, like, nice, but that doesn't
Speaker:that's only covering the email. If you follow them on social, if you've
Speaker:like, you see them on Instagram, TikTok,
Speaker:whatnot, like, it's still inundated inundated
Speaker:inundated. And then just as much as that's inundated, it's also the,
Speaker:like, oh, and, like, let's honor, like, those.
Speaker:Social media is a mess on my website. Tell people, like,
Speaker:if you're not in a good place, like, cut out those things that trigger you.
Speaker:So maybe it's watching the news. Maybe it's social media. Maybe
Speaker:it's muting or unfollowing those accounts or even just, like, reducing your social media
Speaker:usage, which is, like, okay.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So Because I often say that to people too, like,
Speaker:especially on Mother's Day, Father's Day, the day where
Speaker:people are boasting about their parents, which sure,
Speaker:they can. Or their partners, like Or their partners. Such a great
Speaker:mom. That's what I would imagine that well, my husband
Speaker:doesn't even post on social media. So so
Speaker:no one would be writing that about me, but it would be true. I would
Speaker:be a great mom. Yeah. But, anyways,
Speaker:yes. Pet grief is valid. They are also like, if you feel like your pets
Speaker:are your children, it's because they are. Like, they're your first
Speaker:children. And, like, you know, every situation is different.
Speaker:And whether you have the pet for two years or twenty years,
Speaker:like, your sadness is valid, and I
Speaker:invite you to talk about it to anyone who will listen. You don't have to
Speaker:keep it in. And if you work in a workplace,
Speaker:hopefully, you're allowed to take a bereavement day. I canceled
Speaker:all my meetings for three days. I didn't show up to something where I was
Speaker:supposed to, like, host a 200 person event. I mean, like, I let them know
Speaker:I wasn't coming. I rearranged my schedule. I was just too sad to
Speaker:function. Yeah. And, like, in the mid from the beginning, I
Speaker:felt like, I just started having a personal issue, and then
Speaker:I realized, no. I can actually share exactly what happened. Because first, it was, they're
Speaker:gonna think I'm stupid canceling three days worth of things because my pet died.
Speaker:And I was like, no. Actually, I'm gonna stand in my power with that. And
Speaker:if they think it's stupid, that's not my problem. It's their problem.
Speaker:Yeah. Mom stood in her power when Blackie, my rabbit, died
Speaker:and took a day off work. So you
Speaker:could take you could cancel those meetings. Yeah. You can. And
Speaker:so right after that, something that had been planned for a while
Speaker:was I was co facilitating a grief trip in Bali. And that
Speaker:was such a beautiful experience. And I think, maybe I'll
Speaker:I'll, if a future episode maybe will have Rachel on who is the
Speaker:person who organizes this from happy grieving and grief trips, and we can really
Speaker:dive in. But, it was better than I could have
Speaker:imagined. It was just so beautiful, and the
Speaker:healing rituals we did, and the the workshops, and the writing, and the
Speaker:bonds we all created. And it was really interesting because a lot
Speaker:of the common themes were, like, when people had these losses, they didn't give
Speaker:themselves time or space to grieve, and they felt really alone because their
Speaker:community, like their group of friends, coworkers, couldn't relate.
Speaker:Like, they didn't understand the pain that they have. And so to
Speaker:bring, you know, ages 23 to 61 altogether
Speaker:in Bali from all over the world, we had Hong Kong, US,
Speaker:Canada, and The UK. It was really, really
Speaker:special and beautiful, and it was my first time co
Speaker:facilitating a seven day event like that. And in November, Rachel and I
Speaker:are going to be doing a two week grief trip in Australia.
Speaker:But it was just perfect timing for me because I found a lot of
Speaker:healing in that honoring Frey.
Speaker:Because I am fairly, like, in my healing,
Speaker:the work I've done on my my grief for mom and dad and Dave and
Speaker:the baby. Like, I've done a lot of work, and I will always be working
Speaker:on it. But Frey the Frey loss was so
Speaker:fucking fresh. Mhmm. And so I thought it was just
Speaker:really, really beautiful to be there and also to have the people there hold space
Speaker:because I'm a griever too. Rachel's a griever too.
Speaker:And, yeah, I just I don't know. And it also just
Speaker:showed me that, like, there's no right or wrong way to grieve and
Speaker:that society still isn't set up to support us in our
Speaker:bereavement. And it's too bad that we can't just
Speaker:have these experiences when we need them at that time and of of
Speaker:loss. And instead of holding it in for a year, two years, four years till
Speaker:you find the perfect place to grieve, what if we just were given that
Speaker:society where, you know, to just give us that right after?
Speaker:Yeah. I'm wondering, like, if you can tell us a little bit
Speaker:about your favorite grief ritual
Speaker:that you engaged in on the trip. It's
Speaker:not a grief ritual. It's actually a life ritual. Oh, okay. And
Speaker:it's my gratitude alarm, actually. So the very first
Speaker:day, or the second day, the first full day, we went over the navigating grief
Speaker:framework, which is a framework I created, which is like a checklist on moving forward
Speaker:in your grief. The things that I wish I would have known as a high
Speaker:performer, and I got a lot of positive feedback on that. But one of them
Speaker:is a gratitude practice, And we all know that I love my gratitude. Every
Speaker:day, 9PM, my gratitude alarm goes off. We list three things
Speaker:we're grateful for from the past twenty four hours. And if you do this for
Speaker:at least twenty one days in a row, your brain starts to rewire to see
Speaker:/:Speaker:for nine years. And, like, mom did it. Like, the last few words she ever
Speaker:spoke alive was her gratitude. Dad you know, we did it the day dad
Speaker:died. Like, Shane, when he was in the hospital, we did it every day for
Speaker:three weeks with, you know, his 70 year old roommate and his
Speaker:parents, Shane's parents and me. So when I talked about
Speaker:this, my alarm would go off at 9PM. And if I didn't have my phone
Speaker:the group would be like, it's:Speaker:all stop what we're doing. And it wouldn't even be me instigating it. Whoever I
Speaker:was with would instigate it. And so every day, some so
Speaker:sometimes we would be in a car and there'd be four of us. And we'd
Speaker:get our driver, our Balinese driver who didn't speak English. I'd use Google translate, and
Speaker:we would do it with him too. Sometimes we're at a dinner and it was
Speaker:all, you know, 14 of us, and we'd all go around. And not
Speaker:only is, like, something so every night we practice gratitude in whatever capacity.
Speaker:But the last day, we went around sharing, like, what we're gonna
Speaker:take moving forward. Like, what's something that we're gonna start implementing in our life to
Speaker:Yeah. Start. And almost everyone expressed interest
Speaker:in the gratitude alarm as one of the things. And so the grief
Speaker:retreat was over last week, and now everyone's back in their
Speaker:time zones. Every single day, the WhatsApp chat is blowing up with the
Speaker:gratitudes at their 9PM. So they're still sharing it.
Speaker:Oh, yeah. They're sharing it. They've set alarms. I get screenshots where it says gratitude
Speaker:alarm. Everyone lists it, and, like, I got goosebumps telling you this just
Speaker:now. So That's really sweet. Like, that that
Speaker:is one of my most, like you know this, Alana. Like, this is, like, one
Speaker:of my most, like, cherished tools. Even, like,
Speaker:speaking I was speaking at a college the other day and, to hundreds of
Speaker:staff. And one of the we did a gratitude practice where everyone partnered up, and
Speaker:they did the gratitude practice. Because a lot of people don't even take the time
Speaker:to think about what they're grateful for. So,
Speaker:that has been something that has been really impactful to watch them and to even
Speaker:be like so I was working, like, with someone, like, they needed an,
Speaker:they needed some space held for them. So I left the room, and my phone
Speaker:was in the room with everyone else, and the alarm went off. And so I
Speaker:came in, and one of the girls was like, oh, your gratitude alarm went off.
Speaker:We shut it for you. I'm like, okay. They're like, so let's do gratitude? Okay.
Speaker:Let's do gratitude. Oh, so you really instilled that
Speaker:practice in everyone, and it sounds like it's continuing. And it's
Speaker:also a nice way for all of you to stay connected. Yeah. And I
Speaker:think, like, I got a lot of really great feedback on that trip.
Speaker:And something consistent was from the younger, like, get the age range. Right?
Speaker:The younger girls were, like, who some people are just they're the grief
Speaker:is very fresh. Like, they're still in the first year. And I remember in that,
Speaker:I felt so hopeless and, like, I could never be happy again. And
Speaker:the feedback I was getting was, wow. You've been through so much loss,
Speaker:and it like, you can laugh again. Like, you
Speaker:make jokes. Like, you're traveling. Like, look at the work you're doing, and you just
Speaker:give me hope that I can feel normal again.
Speaker:Or I can feel happy again. Yeah. It was really beautiful.
Speaker:And, like, we got to do really cool things. Like, we went to, temple, and
Speaker:we did a water ceremony. We, went scuba diving. I've
Speaker:never been scuba diving. It was the most peaceful peaceful I've ever felt in my
Speaker:entire life. So when Alana and I go on our next grief trip, I'm gonna
Speaker:maybe go scuba diving with you. It was amazing. I would love to. Diving. I
Speaker:lied. Snorkeling. Snorkeling. And then but, like, I saw manta rays that were, like, bigger
Speaker:than, like they're, like, as big as school buses. And, like, I was like, I
Speaker:am an actual mermaid, and this is amazing. And I got super sunburnt, and so
Speaker:that was great. But, you know, like, we had experiences where we were, like,
Speaker:peaceful at nature, walking through rice fields. We hiked to a
Speaker:waterfall. We did different, you know, workshops and exercises, and we did a
Speaker:Balinese fire ceremony. And we we went, you know, had different culinary
Speaker:experiences, a cooking class. It was really cool. And so I'm excited to see
Speaker:the future grief trips. Everyone's gonna be different. Every group brings a different
Speaker:dynamic. And this is I felt like I was standing
Speaker:in, like, right where I was meant to be. Like, I here I am doing
Speaker:the work I love and the best way I love it, which is traveling.
Speaker:Yeah. What I I really appreciate from what you just shared
Speaker:is, how you
Speaker:had your your own tools and
Speaker:whatnot, and Rachel did as well. And you also
Speaker:incorporated the cultural the cultural experience of where you're
Speaker:at and seeing how different rituals in different places
Speaker:are done, and I think that's beautiful. Yeah. So and
Speaker:then, you know, I did pretty good at not getting, like, traveler's tummy. When I
Speaker:got back, I definitely did, but that's okay. It's easier
Speaker:when you're close to where you weren't home. But
Speaker:but, yeah, that's kind of what's going on. And, you know, our books are still
Speaker:filling up, and people are really excited about it. People,
Speaker:you know, lots of inquiries about how to be in the book. And we're working
Speaker:on some other projects that when it's time, we'll share what we're doing. It's all
Speaker:very exciting stuff. So
Speaker:that's like a high level update. Like, Lenny, also
Speaker:is known as Phil. Molly had a sore ear that the psychic
Speaker:detected. Frey died. I went I led a grief
Speaker:retreat, a grief trip. I have another one coming up in November in
Speaker:Australia. There's about 50% sold out. If you wanna join me and Rachel, I'll put
Speaker:the link in the show notes. Mhmm. And is there anything else that
Speaker:we need to update on? I mean, there's always, like every time
Speaker:we record together, it's like, oh, Alana had another endo flare
Speaker:or Well, that's, like, a weekly thing for you. That is. Yeah.
Speaker:Remember my story about the sky train from a few episodes
Speaker:ago? We'll take that, but put it in
Speaker:a Pilates studio. Yeah. Lana, like, barfed in the Pilates studio. And
Speaker:outside the So what are you gonna buy? What we were texting. Alana, what is
Speaker:the thing you're gonna buy? Oh, the emesis
Speaker:bags? Yeah. Alana's gonna buy purse size barf bags because Yeah. She keeps having
Speaker:these barfs in public. And I it's like, you don't understand. Like,
Speaker:there's no control. It's like, I feel it coming.
Speaker:And I, yesterday, had to hold it in until I could get
Speaker:outside, and then the woman working was so
Speaker:lovely and helped me get a bag and all that. But,
Speaker:yeah, they're these Emesis bags. They're coming tomorrow. They're travel
Speaker:size, and they, like, stack. They basically look like
Speaker:Molly's and Lenny's, like, glitter Yeah. The litter locker
Speaker:vibes. That's funny. Well, yeah, and I don't know health wise,
Speaker:I don't I'm I'm I'm in good health Great. For
Speaker:now. For now. Which is great. Which is great. Honestly.
Speaker:So that's it on the Kaplan sister front. Griefy
Speaker:gals. Griefy griefing around the world. We have a lot of
Speaker:great interviews coming up for you, in the next couple weeks.
Speaker:Alana and I will pop back in in a few weeks. I'm sure there's gonna
Speaker:be another very exciting update. Oh, because there always is.
Speaker:Yeah. There always is. Do we have anything else we wanna share?
Speaker:Where are you headed as per as this releases? Oh, I'll be in
Speaker:Toronto. I am speaking. I am moderating a panel on
Speaker:resilience and giving the closing bold talks of the closing
Speaker:keynote, which I'll be sharing the story of the global resilience project.
Speaker:I think. I think that's what they want me to do. I mean, that's what
Speaker:I'm going to do whether they want me to or not. But I'm gonna talk
Speaker:about, our journey on how we created this, but also what we did PR
Speaker:wise. And because we do we do our launches very strategically
Speaker:with billboards and Oscars and Emmy's gifting lounges and strategic
Speaker:partnerships. So, I'm really excited to be able to share our community and our
Speaker:growth and our goals, 200 plus women in Toronto
Speaker:at a PR conference. And so when you listen to this, I might
Speaker:be, sleeping or Toronto ing,
Speaker:gonna meet up with some family and some friends. And then I'm
Speaker:back. It's a hot minute trip, which I'm, excited because next
Speaker:weekend, I'm gonna just, like or I guess the weekend coming up, I'm gonna just
Speaker:be in the forest for Mother's Day. I'm just gonna hide in the woods. That's
Speaker:lovely. And I will hopefully have hit my 250
Speaker:Pilates class. What's the present you get for that? More toe socks? I think a
Speaker:tank top, actually. But they might deduct you for
Speaker:barfing in their studio. Well, I didn't make a mess in the
Speaker:studio. Did you did you lose the like, you know how, like, you get
Speaker:penalties? If you register, you don't go, you get penalties?
Speaker:No. They just left me in the class. They just, like, they They're
Speaker:like, you're barfing. You tried. It was like, you tried. You
Speaker:also, like, go to, like, three classes a day. I'd
Speaker:sometimes two, but mostly one. But, yeah, I go almost every
Speaker:day. So, like, they it's okay because, like, you weren't you showed up
Speaker:barfing. You're like, I'm here. Don't don't dig me. I tried. I tried.
Speaker:I gave it a good effort, and I said to the instructor, I really
Speaker:wanted to be inside the room right now. But instead, I'm
Speaker:waiting for this wave to pass so I could drive the four minutes home.
Speaker:Oh my god. Who's excited for Lana to have her endosurgery? Me.
Speaker:Me. I'm really excited also. One more thing. So,
Speaker:I there's this music festival called Base Coast that I love. It's like
Speaker:an art music festival, kinda like a mini Burning Man in Atlanta. That's not really
Speaker:her scene. And it's not really my scene anymore either, but I I love it.
Speaker:It's just, like, such a great festival, and I have so much fun. And so
Speaker:this year, I'm kicking off my fortieth birthday shenanigans there with the
Speaker:theme, Lordy Lordy's still raving at 40, and I'm making Alana
Speaker:come. But so she bought her finally bought her plane tickets. Uh-huh. But
Speaker:she's just like, I'm on the list for a cancellation surgery. I'm like, you better
Speaker:get tickets just in, that you can cancel. But Yeah. So Alana's either gonna
Speaker:rave with me or be recovering from endosurgery.
Speaker:Recovering. Which will you'll just be on different know what? I'll have my
Speaker:MSIS bags with me. So At least you won't
Speaker:be the only one barfing. Yeah. Just for different reasons. Yeah. It won't
Speaker:be me, though. I don't barf, and I, like, I'm sober. So
Speaker:Yeah. Anyways, lordy lordy still raving at 40, but I'm really looking forward to you
Speaker:getting your endosurgery because, like, it's crazy how often
Speaker:you are having these situations, and it's always while you're in public. Actually, the
Speaker:last time you were at home. The last two well,
Speaker:January and March, I was at home. Mhmm. So on that
Speaker:note Sponsored by ondans at Tron. But
Speaker:not really because you have to pay for it. Yeah. Just kidding. They're quite
Speaker:expensive. Alright. Well, thanks for tuning in to another
Speaker:episode of Resilient AF with Blair and Alana. If you suffer from endometriosis,
Speaker:or you have a funny barf story, I don't know. Let Alana know.
Speaker:Little Anna know. Let me know. I don't Yeah. Go with me. But,
Speaker:let us be that lighthouse in the storm. Like, it is okay to not
Speaker:be okay. Life is full of fucking really shitty moments, but also
Speaker:beautiful moments and everything in between. And you will get through
Speaker:it. Put one foot in front of the other. Let us be there with
Speaker:you. And remember, you are resilient
Speaker:AF. Bye. Bye.