Grief is a Natural Reaction to Loss and Change with Dawn Michele Jackson

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Oct 2, 2025

Dawn Michele Jackson, a grief specialist with three decades in nursing, dives deep into the complexities of loss. She emphasizes that grief is not only about death but also about any significant change, like moving or divorce. Dawn debunks the myth that time heals, advocating for active processing instead. She shares insights on how unprocessed grief can lead to various life challenges and introduces the metaphor of a backpack to illustrate compounded losses. Listeners also learn practical ways to support the grieving without minimizing their feelings.

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INSIGHT

Grief Extends Beyond Death

Grief is the normal, natural reaction to any significant loss or change, not just death.
Dawn Michele Jackson reframes grief to include moves, jobs, divorce, health changes, and collective losses.

ADVICE

Actively Heal; Time Alone Won't Fix It

Don't wait for time to heal; take actions to process grief instead of passively waiting.
Dawn says it's not time that heals, it's what we do in that time.

ANECDOTE

Cultural Ceremony Enabled Rapid Healing

Mia recounts a babysitter's cultural funeral for a stillborn baby that allowed full expression and rapid emotional recovery.
Mia contrasts that with muted funerals and notes how ceremony aided the woman's healing.

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“It's not time that heals, it's what we do in that time.”

–Dawn Michele Jackson

We don’t do grief well. And unprocessed grief has consequences. I’m talking with grief specialist Dawn Michele Jackson about what we get wrong about grief and processing loss.

Grief isn’t just about death — it is a natural reaction to any kind of loss. Your kids leaving home, changes in your body, moving, changing jobs, divorce, losing a close friend, … and yes, death. We can grieve very personal losses or public and collective losses.

You’ve probably heard that time heals, but it isn’t that simple. Let’s talk about how to actually face loss and work through our grief.

We talk about:

Not saying “I know how you feel” and what to do instead
What happens when you don’t deal with grief — and why we often don’t address it
How even happy things can cause grief
How losses can compound
Giving people an opportunity to talk about who or what they’ve lost
Why you shouldn’t hand a grieving person a tissue — and other ways to allow people to have their emotional response

ABOUT DAWN

Dawn Jackson draws on three decades of nursing experience and her expertise as an Advanced Grief Recovery Method Specialist to help others heal their hearts, transform their lives, and rediscover joy. She is the bestselling author of Journey to Peace and Healing and Journey to Self Discovery: 100 Days of Soulful Reflections, as well as a contributing author to multiple international bestselling anthologies.

LINKS

https://www.dawnmichelejackson.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-michele-jackson/
https://www.facebook.com/dawnmichelejackson
Pause magazine (Find Dawn in issue 2): https://plansimple.com/magazine

DOABLE CHANGES

At the end of every episode, we share three doable changes, so you can take what you've heard and put it into action. Action is where change happens.

Even though we want big change, it’s really little things done over and over that make the difference. So pick a doable thing. Put it in your calendar. Weave it through your days for a week and then move on to the next one. It will have a snowball effect.

Here are three Doable Changes from this conversation:

FEEL YOUR OWN GRIEF. What have you lost recently? Have you allowed yourself to feel it? Are you staying busy and numbing? What if you opened up to your feelings?
BECOME A LISTENING HEART. Next time somebody mentions a loss to you, instead of telling them you know how they feel or giving them a platitude to make them feel better. Try listening. Ask them about the person or pet or thing they lost. Give them a chance to talk.
MODEL GRIEVING TO OTHERS. You don’t have to be strong and keep your emotions in. Show your kids and others around you that it’s okay to feel and express your feelings. That might mean crying about a loss or letting people around you know you are having a sad or hard day.