Grief never ends — it coexists forever
Health professionals told Emilie that grief from child loss never disappears — it becomes something you carry and learn to coexist with forever.
Snapshot · On Purpose with Jay Shetty
Emilie Kiser EXCLUSIVE: The Loss That Changed Her Forever
Explore episode
Jun 17, 2026
Where this was said
Learning to Live With Grief
At 22:48 · chapter starts 21:45
Emilie delivers what may be the episode's most resonant insight: grief is not a finish line. It does not go away; it becomes something you carry alongside every other emotion, permanently. She credits this understanding to Dr. Joanne Cacciatori, a grief specialist who runs a care farm retreat for bereaved parents and who plainly told Emilie that the 'stages of grief' model was designed for elderly people accepting their own mortality — not for parents outliving their children. Hearing that her grief would never end felt impossible at the time. But the flip side was liberation: everything coexists. Joy and sadness, guilt and gratitude, love and loss — they all live together. That's the frame she now uses to navigate every day.
Stages of grief not designed for bereaved parents
Grief expert Dr. Joanne Cacciatori told Emilie that the popular 'stages of grief' model was not designed for parents who have lost a child.
Similar snapshots
Mayo Clinic radiology staff grew 55%
Despite predictions that AI would eliminate radiologists, the Mayo Clinic's radiology staff grew 55% after AI arrived at reading scans.
Radiology incomes 48% higher than a decade ago
In 2025, radiology was the second-highest paid medical specialty in America, with average incomes 48% higher than a decade ago.
Radiologists spend only 36% of time reading scans
A study across 3 hospitals found radiologists spent only 36% of their time reading scans — the part AI can do — with the rest being human judgment.
1 in 6 Americans on depression meds
Robert Greene notes that one in six Americans is on some form of drug to deal with depression, suggesting a deep societal disconnection from meaningful experience.
500 self-help techniques → 12 levers
Spencer Greenberg and Jeremy Stevenson analyzed almost 500 self-improvement techniques and found they all reduce to just 12 underlying psychological drivers.
Cold exposure: weak long-term evidence
Cold exposure has good short-term alertness benefits but the evidence base for long-term health benefits is much weaker than popularly believed.
20 habit techniques tested; almost none worked
In a randomized study of 20 habit-formation techniques run on hundreds of people, almost none of the techniques produced statistically meaningful results.
Tiny habit users stick to the FULL habit more
People given a tiny-habit fallback option (e.g. 10 squats instead of gym) were actually MORE successful at completing the full habit, not less.
Habit reflection = standout technique
The most effective habit-formation technique was 'habit reflection' — recalling a past successful habit, writing down what helped, then applying those lessons to a new habit.
