From Heartbreak to Hope – My Conversation on Wake the F** Up Podcast
- skye570
- Aug 15
- 2 min read
I recently had the privilege of joining Alix on her incredible podcast, Wake the F** Up*. If you’ve not come across it before, it’s a space for raw, unfiltered, and deeply honest conversations about grief, recovery, and starting over. I’ve listened to so many of Alix’s episodes over the years and to be invited to share my own story was both humbling and cathartic.
Living Through the Unthinkable
I opened up about the night everything changed, when my husband, Andy, suffered a catastrophic heart attack. It was the beginning of a long, heartbreaking three-year journey of anticipatory grief. During that time, I was raising our son alone and trying to navigate the suffocating isolation of the COVID lockdowns.
Losing Andy broke me in ways I didn’t know were possible, but it also forced me to ask myself: What now? How do I rebuild when everything I knew is gone?
Building Purpose From Pain
Out of that darkness, I began creating communities and spaces for people who, like me, were searching for connection and meaning after loss. These include:
Chapter Two Dating – for widowed people ready to date again.
WidowsFire.com – for those seeking no-strings intimacy after loss.
Sober Love App – for anyone wanting alcohol-free dating.
SoberAF.club – a peer-led alternative to traditional recovery spaces.
The Widow Collective – a supportive resource network for widows.
Each of these projects are rooted in the same belief: we can love, connect, and live fully again...on our own terms.
Sobriety & Self-Discovery
I also spoke about my sobriety journey - today I’m 259 days sober. I can honestly say this is the happiest, healthiest chapter of my life so far. Sobriety has given me clarity, resilience, and a sense of self I didn’t know I was missing.
Why This Podcast Was Special
The Wake the F** Up podcast isn’t just another grief platform...it’s a safe space where you can speak without fear of judgment. Alix doesn’t shy away from the messy, complicated, and sometimes even funny parts of loss and recovery. Our conversation felt like talking to an old friend, one who truly understands that grief isn’t the end, it can be the start of something unexpectedly beautiful.
If you’d like to hear the full conversation, you can listen to my episode here: Sobriety, Sex, and Starting Over at Zero.
