Content Warning: This episode discusses grief, loss, Suicide, and bipolar disorder.
As a kid, Marisa Renee Lee, author of the best-selling books, Grief is Love: Living with Loss and Waiting for Dawn: Living with Uncertainty, sat in the front row in class. She was driven to achieve, got straight A’s, and worked hard. Then Marisa’s mom got sick with multiple sclerosis and that, combined with her sister’s bipolar disorder, meant taking on the very stressful role of caregiver at age 13. She ended up at Harvard, traveling between campus and the family home in upstate New York to provide care. After her mom died, when Marisa was 26, she experienced the full weight of grief and carried that with her through work on Wall Street and as an adviser to President Obama. Later, Marisa and her husband had a long struggle with fertility and Marisa contracted long covid, which she still must manage today. Mere determination can’t fix these situations and denial, of course, is no help either. Marisa explains the lessons of grief and uncertainty and of giving yourself grace and patience.
