S3E13 Your Grief Matters with Annie Sklaver Orenstein

Sibling loss. Not much has been written about it, no one really talks about it, or asks about your grief. Because quite often when a sibling dies, your parents are considered the ones in real grief, not you. So not only do others minimize your pain, but you also might minimize it too.

Have you lost a sibling? Can you relate? 

Join Amanda and guest Annie Sklaver Orenstein, qualitative researcher, oral historian, and storyteller for a candid look into what it means to mourn a sibling. Listen as they acknowledge and honor your story and validate your pain. 

Key points to listen for include:

• Annie's loss of her beloved brother, Ben, and her experience with sibling loss
• The reason Annie wrote her book, Always a Sibling: The Forgotten Mourner's Guide to Grief.
• Annie's experience interviewing 40 siblings for her book and how every single one minimized their grief and why
• The importance of knowing someone else feels the way you do, why storytelling matters
• The idea that grief is a gift, and the mindset shift necessary to perceive your greatest loss in this light
• Tools to not only cope, but also to grow through your grieving process
• Signs from your loved one, how they are still alive energetically, and how to use this belief as a way to continue your relationship

About Annie

Annie Sklaver Orenstein is a qualitative researcher, oral historian, and storyteller who has spent over a decade collecting stories from people around the world. Her work has been featured on NBC Nightly News, Comedy Central, Huffington Post, Politico, TIME, and Mother.ly. In 2020, driven by a desire to share these stories beyond the walls of corporate America, Annie founded Dispatch from Daybreak, a collection of letters written by women to their earlier selves. She lives in Connecticut with her husband, children, dog, and chickens.

About the book

 In ALWAYS A SIBLING: The Forgotten Mourner's Guide to Grief, Annie uses her own story and those of others to create the empathic, thoughtful, practical resource that she sought. Divided into three sections: With, Without, and Within, it creates framework that enables the reader to ground themselves in order to process and validate this oft