334. What to Say and What Not to Say to a New Widow
The Widowed Mom Podcast
Krista St-Germain
4.9 • 695 Ratings
🗓️ 20 October 2025
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Have you ever found yourself frozen, wanting to support someone who's grieving but afraid of saying the wrong thing?
Most of us weren't taught how to show up for someone who's experienced a devastating loss. We want to help, but sometimes our well-intentioned words can accidentally cause more harm than good.
Join me this week as I share practical guidance for anyone who wants to be a genuine source of support for a widow in their life. Drawing from my work with widows every day and my own experience, I break down the common myths about grief that lead to hurtful comments, explain why grief is a full-body experience that affects everything from memory to decision-making, and offer specific phrases that actually help versus those that don't.
Get full show notes, transcript, and more information here: https://www.coachingwithkrista.com/334
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Widowed Mom Podcast, episode 334, what to say and what not to say to a new widow. |
| 0:11.7 | Welcome to the Widowed Mom podcast, the only podcast that offers a proven process to help you work through your grief to grow, evolve, and create a future you can |
| 0:23.7 | truly look forward to. Here's your host, master certified life coach, grief expert, widow, and mom, |
| 0:31.7 | Krista St. Germain. |
| 0:34.4 | Hey there, welcome to another episode of the podcast. If you are a new widow, or maybe a not so new widow, |
| 0:42.4 | take a listen to this episode and then share it with the people who care about supporting you. |
| 0:47.6 | It may not capture everything that you want them to know, but my hope is that it's a great |
| 0:52.7 | jumping off point to start some conversation, |
| 0:55.4 | to clear up some myths about grief, to help you feel more supported, and help the people who care |
| 1:01.8 | about you feel a little less awkward. If you're listening, because someone you care about has |
| 1:07.6 | recently lost their partner and become a widow. Maybe you found this episode |
| 1:11.6 | yourself. Maybe they sent it to you. Either way, I'm glad you're here. You want to help. |
| 1:18.2 | You might be afraid of saying the wrong thing, making things worse. Maybe you've already said |
| 1:23.6 | something that you wish you could take back. You're not alone. If I had a nickel for everything |
| 1:29.4 | I have said that now makes me want to cringe, as they say, I would have a lot of nickels. Most |
| 1:35.0 | people genuinely want to support their widowed friend or their widowed family member, |
| 1:38.7 | and they just weren't taught how. So if that's you, I don't want you to feel bad about it. |
| 1:43.1 | I just want to help. And because I work |
| 1:45.0 | with widows every day because I am a widow myself and I have lived it, I want to help you |
| 1:49.2 | understand the kinds of things that actually do help and the kinds of things that actually don't. |
| 1:55.3 | Not because there is a perfect formula, but because it will help. So in this episode, I'm going to share a few key things. |
| 2:03.0 | People don't always understand about grief or maybe get wrong. Some things not to say. |
... |
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