The Creative Grief Journey

I Stopped Living After Loss; Here's How I Came Back

How grief can pull you into survival mode, making you stop dreaming, planning, and caring for yourself, and argues that healing isn’t “moving on” but coming back to yourself without toxic positivity or denying the pain.  How grief affects the nervous system and brain—fatigue, depression, guilt about joy, memory issues, decision fatigue, increased cortisol, low dopamine—and emphasize that neglecting yourself isn’t laziness but overwhelm.  This episode offers practical “baby steps” and bigger steps to rebuild identity and safety through movement/strength training, decluttering, creativity, nourishing routines, community, and retreats, and discusses visualization, neuroplasticity, and intentional action (including a personal story of manifesting a Florida home). Inviting you to a day-long Younique Wellness retreat in Bellevue, Ohio focused on creativity, nourishment, nervous system regulation, and community. 00:00 When Grief Erases You 00:41 Coming Back to Yourself 02:03 Why Self Care Stops 03:37 The Healing Pivot 04:56 Tiny Habits That Rebuild 06:57 Creativity and Flow State 07:52 Manifestation With Action 11:13 Dream Home Visualization Story 13:58 Let Yourself Desire Again 15:10 Baby Steps vs Big Leaps 17:45 Retreat and Community Healing 19:24 You Still Get to Live 20:15 Final Goodbye and Subscribe 🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE [https://join.dawnreneebova.com/tffj] Dawn's Info: Facebook: Dawn Renee Bov [https://www.facebook.com/dawn.bova.art]a IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/ [https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/] YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn [https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn] Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app] Email: dawn@dawnbovaart.com 🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE [https://www.skool.com/creative-grief-freedom-formula-5014/about] 🌟 ✅ Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE [https://link.onebizly.com/widget/form/kA7UOIICJiBStRsVMuNb]

The Exhaustion Nobody Warns You About After Grief

Dawn explains that grief affects the body as well as emotions, often causing deep exhaustion, heaviness, brain fog, pain, sleep and appetite changes, gut issues, immune crashes, and nervous system and hormonal disruption. Drawing on personal experiences after losing her son and later a father, she describes “grief brain,” difficulty thinking, and how society’s pressure to “keep going” conflicts with a body stuck in survival mode. She challenges common beliefs such as needing to be strong or that time alone heals, emphasizing restoration and rest. Small, consistent actions—journaling, making the bed, stretching, walking, sunlight, cooking, music, and simple creative practices like doodling—can build momentum, support dopamine and endorphin release, and help move grief through the body. There is a free Creative Grief Journey Skool community, journal prompts, and upcoming retreats in Belize and Ohio. 00:00 Grief Lives in the Body 01:41 Physical Signs and Survival Mode 03:13 Grief Brain and Trauma Fog 04:49 Symptoms Checklist and Nervous System 07:44 Grief Myths and Permission to Rest 08:57 Tiny Habits and Creative Healing 12:41 Self Soothing and Momentum 14:25 Community Support and Retreat Tools 16:16 Nature’s Pace of Healing 18:16 Closing Encouragement and Share 🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE [https://join.dawnreneebova.com/tffj] Dawn's Info: Facebook: Dawn Renee Bov [https://www.facebook.com/dawn.bova.art]a IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/ [https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/] YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn [https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn] Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app] Email: dawn@dawnbovaart.com 🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE [https://www.skool.com/creative-grief-freedom-formula-5014/about] 🌟 ✅ Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE [https://link.onebizly.com/widget/form/kA7UOIICJiBStRsVMuNb]

Grief Doesn't Have to Destroy You, Here's What I Did

In this episode, the host shares a personal shift in her grief journey, describing grief and life as ongoing works in progress and suggesting grief can be a catalyst for joy, abundance, freedom, and contentment. Drawing from Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret, she outlines three steps—ask, believe, and receive—and explains how vision boards and detailed visualization (including her goal of owning a Mercedes-Benz) support manifestation alongside consistent action. She recounts a difficult week of missing Brad and how returning to gratitude, creative projects, and supportive, like-minded people helped her shift. Examples include receiving a $500 escrow refund, improved health through consistent weight training and nutrition, new job opportunities, finding a lost iPad, and booking a better-paid wedding portrait. She encourages morning routines, journaling, gratitude lists, and joining her Skool community or seven-week Creative Grief Journey Method program. 00:00 A Shift in Grief 01:37 Finding Joy in Ordinary Moments 02:24 Happiness Is Inside 04:07 Law of Attraction Basics 05:36 Visualization and Vision Boards 06:47 A Grief Dip and Reset 08:15 Programs and Community Support 09:07 Life Happens for Me 10:42 Money Miracle Example 12:25 Vision Board Tour 13:18 Consistency Creates Change 15:08 Jobs and New Opportunities 16:51 Contentment and Unexpected Wins 19:46 Letting Go to Move Forward 20:32 Applying This to Grief 23:21 Daily Routines to Shift Energy 24:47 Closing Invitation and Goodbye 🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE [https://join.dawnreneebova.com/tffj] Dawn's Info: Facebook: Dawn Renee Bov [https://www.facebook.com/dawn.bova.art]a IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/ [https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/] YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn [https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn] Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app] Email: dawn@dawnbovaart.com 🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE [https://www.skool.com/creative-grief-freedom-formula-5014/about] 🌟 ✅ Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE [https://link.onebizly.com/widget/form/kA7UOIICJiBStRsVMuNb]

Can't Sleep After Loss, You're Not Alone

The speaker, a nurse practitioner who has experienced multiple traumatic losses, discusses how grief commonly disrupts sleep through rumination, intrusive thoughts, stress and hormone changes, noting research that up to 91% of people with complicated grief have sleep problems and that untreated insomnia can worsen depression, anxiety and PTSD. They recommend cognitive behavioral therapy and share practical sleep-hygiene strategies: consistent bedtimes, reducing screen time and moving phones away, keeping the room cool, creating a wind-down ritual, using calming music or guided meditation, breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, limiting caffeine after noon and avoiding alcohol. They also mention options like occasional melatonin, potassium, essential oils, herbal teas, journaling (including dream journaling), mantras, and possibly weighted blankets, emphasizing persistence, seeking therapy or short-term medical help if needed, and finding support through community and lifelines. 00:00 Grief And Sleepless Nights 01:48 Why Grief Disrupts Sleep 03:49 Help Options And Therapy 05:06 Bedtime Routine Basics 07:11 Music Breathing Meditation 09:24 Caffeine Alcohol And Relaxation 10:57 Natural Sleep Supports 13:52 Journaling And Support 17:04 Mantras And Final Encouragement 🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE [https://join.dawnreneebova.com/tffj] Dawn's Info: Facebook: Dawn Renee Bov [https://www.facebook.com/dawn.bova.art]a IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/ [https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/] YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn [https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn] Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app] Email: dawn@dawnbovaart.com 🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE [https://www.skool.com/creative-grief-freedom-formula-5014/about] 🌟 ✅ Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE [https://link.onebizly.com/widget/form/kA7UOIICJiBStRsVMuNb]

Grief Hacks to Cope When You Feel Stuck

The speaker shares a recent experience of feeling immobilized by grief despite trying coping strategies, emphasizing that “vegging out” isn’t failure and that grief isn’t something to fix but to manage through normal ups and downs. They introduce practical five-minute “grief hacks” that can be used anytime and explain why they work: breath-work (including longer exhales and box breathing) to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system and vagus nerve; writing it out (handwriting preferred) to engage the brain, reduce amygdala reactivity, and declutter thoughts; body movement/dancing to release stored emotions and regulate the nervous system; Healing Touch with hand-over-heart and supportive mantras to self-soothe and release oxytocin; stepping outside/grounding in nature to reduce cortisol and reconnect; and creativity (drawing, doodling, coloring, bilateral stimulation) to lower stress and activate reward and flow states. They also suggest gratitude or spiritual rituals, building a morning routine, and joining their free Skool community with journal prompts. 00:00 Feeling Stuck in Grief 01:21 Unhelpful Coping Habits 02:50 Five Minute Reset Plan 04:42 Breathwork for Calm 07:24 Journal It Out 12:38 Move Your Body 14:47 Healing Touch Self Soothe 16:56 Step Outside and Ground 19:06 Creativity as Medicine 21:41 Gratitude and Wrap Up 🔆 Transform you grief, Start a 30 days journal habit! Grab your 30 day journal prompts HERE [https://join.dawnreneebova.com/tffj] Dawn's Info: Facebook: Dawn Renee Bov [https://www.facebook.com/dawn.bova.art]a IG:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/ [https://www.instagram.com/dawnreneebova/] YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn [https://youtube.com/c/HeARTworkbyDawn] Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-renee-bova-304049239?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app] Email: dawn@dawnbovaart.com 🌀 Join the Creative Grief Journey Group for Emotional Empowerment...and support on Skool 🌟HERE [https://www.skool.com/creative-grief-freedom-formula-5014/about] 🌟 ✅ Join my email list and don't miss a thing! HERE [https://link.onebizly.com/widget/form/kA7UOIICJiBStRsVMuNb]