We've all been changed by the experience of living through a pandemic, and it's very far from over.

But, sooner or later, we'll begin the work of putting the pieces back together,

not just practically, logistically, but emotionally, even spiritually.

I'm Anne Strain Champs, and in this episode of To the Best of Our Knowledge,

we're going to talk about how to find meaning, even in the wake of trauma.

Stay with us.

Music even in the wake of trauma. Stay with us. Wisconsin Public Radio.

It's to the best of our knowledge.

I'm And Strange Champs.

A week or so into the pandemic,

I had every reason to feel lucky. I was healthy, safe, working from home, and yet I felt like I was carrying around this heavy weight of sadness all the time. And then I ran across a piece

in the Harvard Business Review with a title that explained.

That discomfort your feeling is grief.

It was an interview with psychologist David Kessler.

He's one of the world's foremost experts on grief.

And it was about how we find meaning even at the worst of times, even in the face of trauma.

I counseled someone after the Las Vegas shooting.

She was at the concert, saw people die around her.

One of the things that I said to her is if it's just all horrific, it's harder on your psyche.

I said, I'm so curious, can we go back to the story?

And you review it with me and just tell me if you can find any good that happened in the shooting.

And at first she went, no, of course not.

...