Losing My Entire Family - Now What? | Jessi Lestelle The Beautiful Side of Grief

Do you want to understand what it is like to lose an entire family? Or how to deal with grief? Or what you can learn from grief? Then listen up as Jessi Lestelle shares how she has found joy again after losing all of her immediate family.
 
"I took a deep breath one day and was like, what am I doing? What am I doing to fulfill my purpose in life? And I realized that my purpose in life was to tell my story and to help other people."
 
Jessi Lestelle shares her struggles, triumphs, and failures while dealing with the loss of her family and raising awareness that our young ones need a voice in expressing their grief.
 
This is Jessi's story...
 
After losing her entire immediate family within a short span of six years, Good Grief Jessi podcast host Jessi Lestelle struggled with anxiety, depression, and PTSD. In an effort to heal herself, Jessi took some time off to grieve and then started her podcast as a way to share her story and help others who might be going through something similar. Jessi's journey is one of grief, healing, and self-discovery...
 
In this episode, you will learn the following:
What it's like to lose one's entire immediate family How grief can impact one's mental health Understanding what the younger generation needs in dealing with their grief How you can find your way back to happiness  
 
Jessi's links
Website: www.goodgriefjessi.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/goodgriefjessi
IG: https://www.instagram.com/goodgriefjessi/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoodGriefJessi
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessilestelle/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@goodgriefjessipodcast
 
Chapter Summaries:
1) Jessi Lestelle, aka Good Grief Jessi, lost her entire family in the space of six years, from the age of 19 to 25. She created a podcast called Good Grieving Jessi to talk about her grief and to raise awareness about young people's grief.
 
2) Before 19, you hadn't experienced much grief. Now you lost your dad, your brother, your uncle, your grandma and your mum. You share with us your memories about each of them. My dad was a funny guy. My uncle was a jokester. My brother loved music and my uncle loved to fish. My grandmother was a wonderful woman and she was very crafty. She was driving in New Orleans when she ran a red light in the middle of the road. Me and my mom were listening to Bee Gee songs in the living room. We were dancing to one of their songs and singing to each other.
 
3) After losing her dad and brother, she started having anxiety attacks. She didn't grow up with health insurance and didn't have access to mental health care. Now she's able to talk to her anxiety and figure out the root causes of it. She had to let go of her perfectionism and accept that she can't control everything.
 
4) After her mom died, she left the music industry because his brain stopped working. She started a podcast to help herself grieve and get back to a better place in her life. Her boss didn't understand that the grief brain has a massive impact on the brain. Jesse lost her mother and her job due to the pandemic. She didn't find a therapist until after her mom passed away. An audiobook by Bessel Vanderkolk who deals with PTSD mentions some of the best remedies for people with significant PTSD have not been through talking, but expressing it through things like meditation, yoga, and dance.
 
5) Jessi's brother was an addict which she never admitted to herself until recently. She wants to change the stigma around addiction. Jessi's first failure was turning to alcohol as a way to cope with the loss of her father.
 
6) Jessi lost many people in 7 years. She started a podcast to talk about her grief. She got overwhelmed with the response and had to take a break from the podcast. Now she's back and she's talking to people about grief.
 
7) After losing her daughter, the most important thing for her is to honor the stories that people are sharing