Episode 14

full
Published on:

30th Oct 2025

Grief, Growth & Keeping It Real: Finding Light After Loss with Zulma Williams

In this final part of my conversation with Zulma Williams — The Swearing Therapist, we explore grief, loss, and finding light in the mess.

Zulma unpacks her definition of grief — “love that has nowhere to go” — and shares how we can honor our loved ones through rituals, laughter, and everyday living. From celebrating the people we’ve lost to giving ourselves permission to cry, she reminds us that healing doesn’t mean forgetting — it means remembering differently.

We also talk about the messy, funny side of being human: dogs interrupting deep moments, family stories, and why humor is one of the most powerful coping tools we have.

If you’ve ever struggled to move forward after loss or guilt, this conversation is an invitation to embrace every part of your story — tears, laughter, and all.

✨ Content Note: This episode includes adult language and candid discussion of topics such as abuse, depression, cancer, and suicidal thoughts. Listener discretion is advised, and please take care of yourself while listening.

If you or someone you know is struggling, you’re not alone. In the U.S., you can reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988 for free, confidential support 24/7.

Key Takeaways

  • 💔 Grief is love that has nowhere to go.
  • 🌼 We don’t get over grief — we grow around it.
  • 🙏 Healing doesn’t erase pain; it makes space for peace.
  • 😂 Humor can coexist with heartbreak.
  • ❤️ You deserve joy, even after loss.

Connect:

Where to find Zulma:

✨ Connect with The High-Functioning Disaster:

Keywords

Zulma Williams, The Swearing Therapist, grief, loss, healing, mental health, trauma recovery, love and loss, resilience, therapy, humor and healing, authentic therapy, Dragonfly Therapy Services

🎧 Next Episode: Next week, we switch gears in a big way. I’ll be joined by Hilary Momberger-Powers — the original voice of Sally Brown from Peanuts — for an inspiring, deeply human conversation about recovery, storytelling, and reclaiming joy.

👉 Make sure you’re subscribed to The High-Functioning Disaster so you don’t miss this next chapter.

All Episodes Previous Episode

Listen for free

Show artwork for The High-Functioning Disaster

About the Podcast

The High-Functioning Disaster
High-functioning on the outside. Hot mess on the inside.
You’ve got the color-coded calendar, the competent job persona, the “I’m fine!” mask down to an art—and a mental load heavy enough to throw out your back. Meanwhile, life? That's a hot mess express—total chaos with zero chill and a full tank of emotional baggage. And what makes it even worse? Nearly no one’s talking about it.

Welcome to The High-Functioning Disaster, a podcast for people who are doing their best to hold it together while navigating burnout, grief, trauma, anxiety, caretaking duties, family drama, body image issues, and a to-do list that never quits.

Host Sacha Holder isn’t the disaster (neither are you!)—life is. And this show is about making space for that truth and giving ourselves permission to say it out loud. Every week, Sacha explores what it means to be deeply human in a world that keeps demanding more. Sometimes she’s flying solo, sometimes she brings along guests and friends—but the vibe is always real, raw, unfiltered, and grounded in radical self-acceptance and permission to be human.

We talk boundaries. Body image. Mental health. Emotional labor. The moments where everything feels like too much—and the ones where we catch our breath and keep going.

This isn’t a self-help podcast. It’s a self-permission podcast.
Permission to be exhausted.
To not have it together.
To be honest about what’s hard—without needing to package it as a “lesson.”

Because you don’t need fixing.
You need space to fall apart—and still be seen.
Because some of us are just trying to make it through the day.
And here? That’s more than enough.
New episodes every Monday. Come as you are. Seriously.
Support This Show

About your host

Profile picture for Sacha Holder

Sacha Holder

Sacha Holder is a project manager, podcast host, and bariatric patient who’s not here to pretend it’s all perfect. With over a decade of professional experience and a whole lot of lived experience, she creates podcasts that tell the truth about what it means to live, heal, and grow — through chaos, and curveballs, while keeping it together (mostly).

She’s the voice behind Life in the Bari Lane, a bite-sized bariatric podcast for real people navigating post-op life, and The High-Functioning Disaster, a show about showing up even when everything feels like too much. Through humor, honesty, and zero judgment, Sacha builds community through conversation — because no one should have to figure it out alone.