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Widow's Permission Slips with Gladys Jean Ullstam
Nobody hands you a rulebook when your person dies. But somehow, everybody seems to have an opinion about how you should be grieving — how long it should take, how sad you're allowed to be, when you should start feeling better, and what moving forward is supposed to look like.
This podcast is a permission slip for all of it.
Widow's Permission Slips is hosted by Gladys Jean Ullstam — certified life coach and Gary's widow. Gary died in late November of 2021. He was 56 and a quarter years old. And Gladys is still, every single day, figuring out what it means to keep going without him.
Each episode, Gladys sits with you in one specific thing you might be experiencing — the exhaustion, the guilt, the identity questions, the impossible holidays, the moments nobody warned you about. Not to fix it. Not to rush you through it. Just to say: you are not alone in this, and you have permission.
Widow's Permission Slips is written primarily for widows — but if you have lost a spouse or partner and you are trying to find your footing, you belong here too.
New episodes drop regularly. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.
Gladys Jean Ullstam is the founder of Ember & Bloom Coaching for Widows and a certified life coach. To book a free Holding the Ember discovery call, visit emberandbloomcoaching.com/appointments.
Widow's Permission Slips with Gladys Jean Ullstam
Episode 9 — When the People You Expected to Show Up Didn't
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In the first two weeks after Gary died, my phone never stopped. Then somewhere around week six, it got quiet. Some of the people I was most sure of were the ones I never heard from again. In this episode, I talk about the second loss nobody prepares you for, and the idea that finally took the sting out of it for me. Relationships have seasons. All of them, our whole lives long. I share why the people who disappeared were never a report card on my worth, and how their absence left room for the people I really need in this stage of my life. If your circle looks different than you thought it would, this one is for you.
Widow's Permission Slips is a production of Ember & Bloom Coaching for Widows, hosted by Gladys Jean Ullstam, certified life coach and Gary's widow.
If you are ready to be met exactly where you are, my free discovery call, Holding the Ember, is open at emberandbloomcoaching.com/appointments.
Follow the show so a new permission slip finds you each week, and share it with a widow who needs to hear it.
Website: emberandbloomcoaching.com
You are not alone in this.