The People, Process, & Progress Podcast - Owning Your Response to Grief | S7 Ep9

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

Grief shows up uninvited, and it doesn’t leave on our timeline. But we can own how we respond.In this Reset Friday episode, Owning Your Response to Grief, of People, Process, Progress, I share tools that helped me face grief and keep moving forward: journaling, routines, connection, and honoring those we’ve lost.

Grief. It will find you. It doesn't ask permission. It shows up after death, after failure, after change you didn't want, and it doesn't leave because you want it to. So what do you do? You face it. You don't ignore it. You work through it. Today I'll give you tools that helped me, and maybe they'll help you. Welcome to Pupil Process Progress. I'm Kevin Pinell, author of the stability equation and the people process and progress of project management. On this podcast and the people process progress YouTube channel, I share lessons from life, leadership, training, and exercise ideas to help you own your growth, align your work, and anchor your teams through practical steps. Now let's get into it. Today would have been my dad's 80th birthday.

He's gone now, but his story and his voice live on in two conversations we were recorded together. Losing him taught me something about grief. It's personal. it's messy it's different for everyone but it's also something we can prepare for and work through let's just jump into some of these tools that have helped me that I know can help you tool one write it down grief makes a fog in your head right you don't know what to do so grab a pen and paper journal don't edit yourself just unload what you're thinking it gives shape to the chaos it doesn't it makes you think about it and we should. It doesn't allow you to get lost in the scroll of your phone and what it's going on in the

world. This is time for you. This is time for you to unload what's happening. And sometimes this clarity that you'll get is the first step toward healing. Two, hold your routine. When you lose someone, everything feels unstable. Keep those anchors. Work out. Pray. Show up at work. Do the small things. Structure doesn't erase grief, but it keeps you moving in a direction when you would rather stop. Tool three, don't isolate. Grief says shut the door, stay alone, pull away, don't. Call your family, post pictures of that person, talk about the person you lost, sit in silence with someone who understands. Connection doesn't solve grief, but it keeps from being crushed by it.

Tour four, honor them, don't erase them. You don't get over loss. You carry it differently, so find a way to honor the memory. For me, sharing my dad's story. For you, it might be a song, a tradition, a lesson passed on. Keep them with you, but keep moving forward. In this brief reset Friday, I'm going to share that I think grief is not weakness. It's part of being human.

It also doesn't own you. You own the response. You can journal. You can keep your routine. You can connect with others. You can honor the one you lost. And you can move forward, not fully move on, forward. That's how we carry grief for those we love.

If you're walking through grief, try one of these tools today. And if you want to hear the voice of my dad, George Pinell, check out the two episodes I shared. Episodes 31 and 32 of what used to be the Kev Talks podcast, and they are on the People Process Progress podcast feed, and I posted them on LinkedIn, and I'll share that again on other platforms. His story is worth healing. He went from a steel mill worker to a submarine. qualified, enlisted person in the Navy to being a leader in the nuclear power field. He helped set the tone for me when I was younger and then more so as I grew older and matured and had a family in my own, but what it's truly like to own your mind, move your body,

and anchor your spirit. Thank you for anchoring some time with me here on the People Process Progress Podcast. Go to peopleprocessprogress.com for all the information about my podcast books, YouTube channel, I'm doing some updates there, but I really appreciate the time that you all have put in here on this audio podcast and buying my books and watching the YouTube channel. Godspeed. Thanks, Pop. I love you and I miss you.