Navigating Grief in the Holiday Season | Theo Boyd (Bonus Episode)
Minimalist Moms Podcast | Simple Living for Overwhelmed Moms
Diane Boden
4.8 • 952 Ratings
🗓️ 2 December 2025
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today’s guest says the hardest part of grief isn’t the heartbreak itself — it’s how unprepared we are for it. When life changes in an instant, most of us don’t have a roadmap. Theo Boyd knows this firsthand. She’s lived through the kind of loss that rearranges your world, fractures your sense of normal, and forces you to rebuild from the ground up. And through that experience, she discovered something rarely spoken aloud: most of us are grieving in isolation, trying to navigate feelings no one ever taught us how to carry.
Links Discussed in This Episode |
- Book: My Grief Is Not Like Yours: Learning to Live after Unimaginable Loss—A Daughter's Journey
- Connect with Theo:
- Book: Hope All the Way: Discovering Divine Signs in Life after Loss
- Website
About Theo |
Thelizabeth “Theo” Boyd was born and raised on a farm in Whitney, Texas, named after her grandmothers Thelma and Elizabeth. Known as “Theo” since middle school, she began writing poems with her father and learning resilience from her mother. She pursued higher education later in life, becoming a high school English and Creative Writing teacher—earning “Rookie Teacher of the Year” her first year—and contributing as a newspaper columnist.
In 2019, Theo experienced a traumatic loss that inspired her debut memoir, My Grief Is Not Like Yours, and launched her podcast, Think Theo, where she explores the complexities of grief. Since the book’s release in May 2023, Theo has been featured in numerous media outlets, including Newsweek, AARP, and The Daily Mail, and has received 17 national and international book awards, including the Indie Excellence Award, two Global Book Awards and the 2025 Texas Rising Lone Star Author Award.
Her upcoming book, Hope All The Way: Discovering Divine Signs in Life After Loss (Forefront Books, December 2, 2025), is a heartfelt guide to help readers move through their grief and transition loss into purpose and hope.
When not writing or speaking, Theo enjoys farm life with her dog, Manly, as they build their new home. She is passionate about helping others navigate grief, using both personal stories and national research to offer hope and healing, and has recently become a Certified Grief Educator.
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | For those of you that are new around here, I release bonus episodes that serve a niche part of my audience. |
| 0:04.8 | This episode is coming from a Christian perspective. |
| 0:06.9 | However, I think that anyone navigating the grief process could benefit from the tools and wisdom that Theo shares in this episode. |
| 0:14.2 | That said, if this content isn't what you're looking for, check out the other episodes that air this week, |
| 0:19.1 | or join me back here next week for episodes that you don't want to miss. |
| 0:22.9 | Grief is your new counterpart. It's with me constantly. He's always right here. |
| 0:28.2 | And I believe it was Billy Bob Thornton that said at any given time he was talking about the loss of his brother. |
| 0:34.6 | He's sad or happy. He's melancholy. You know, you just have to learn to live |
| 0:39.3 | with it as your new counterpart and you get through it, not over it. You just get through it. |
| 0:46.1 | And it doesn't get easier. But guess what happens? You get stronger. |
| 0:52.1 | Today's guest says the hardest part of grief isn't the heartbreak itself. |
| 0:55.9 | It's how unprepared we are for it. |
| 0:58.4 | When life changes in an instant, most of us don't have a road map. |
| 1:02.3 | Theo Boyd knows this firsthand. |
| 1:04.4 | She's lived through the kind of loss that rearranges your world, fractures your sense of normal, |
| 1:08.8 | and forces you to rebuild from the ground up. And through |
| 1:11.7 | that experience, she's discovered something rarely spoken aloud. Most of us are grieving in isolation, |
| 1:17.5 | trying to navigate feelings no one ever taught us how to carry. So in this episode, we talk about |
| 1:22.1 | why grief doesn't follow stages the way we're taught, the signs that someone is silently struggling, |
| 1:26.6 | and why the holidays can |
| 1:27.9 | feel especially heavy for those carrying loss. Theo shares practical tools for supporting |
| 1:32.8 | grieving friends, how to hold space for your own emotions, and what it really looks like to find |
... |
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