June 8, 2025 • 31 mins
In this powerful episode of the Starter Girlz Podcast, Jennifer sits down with Maureen Jirikowic, a woman whose world turned upside down after losing her husband to terminal cancer. What followed was a deeply personal and courageous journey of healing, rebuilding, and rediscovering her purpose.
Maureen shares how she moved through unimaginable grief and turned her pain into strength—becoming a voice for other women walking a similar path. From navigating emotional triggers to reclaiming her space and launching her podcast Widow Talk, Maureen offers honest insights and practical advice for life after loss.
This conversation is for anyone who has faced heartbreak, is supporting a grieving loved one, or is seeking hope after tragedy. It’s a raw, relatable, and inspiring message of resilience and transformation.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- The emotional realities of losing a spouse and what grief really looks like
- How routines, mindset, and spiritual practices supported Maureen’s healing
- Practical ways to declutter and rebuild your space after loss
- Insights on finances, friendships, and finding identity again
- Why Maureen created a podcast to help other widows heal and connect
Whether you’re grieving, starting over, or just need a reminder of your strength—this episode will meet you where you are and help light the way forward.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Maureen Jirikowic (00:00):
And you know, decluttering that's a tough one
and every widow is differentwith that.
So I'm about a year and a halfin to being a widow and I had
just this spark of energy thatcame across me and I said, you
know what?
It's time.
So I cleaned out a closet thatused to be my husband, Pete, and
(00:22):
then I also cleaned out abedroom.
Jennifer Loehding (00:25):
Welcome to the Starter Girlz podcast, your
ultimate source of inspirationand empowerment.
We're here to help womensucceed in every area of their
lives career, money,relationships, and health and
wellbeing while celebrating theremarkable journeys of
individuals from all walks oflife who've achieved amazing
things.
Whether you're looking tosupercharge your career, build
(00:47):
financial independence, nurturemeaningful relationships or
enhance your overall well-being,the Starter Girlz podcast is
here to guide you.
Join us as we explore thejourneys of those who dare to
dream big and achieve greatness.
I'm your host, JenniferLoehding, and welcome to this
episode.
(01:08):
Welcome to another episode ofthe Starter Girlz podcast.
Wherever you are tuning intoday, we are so glad to have
you and I am so excited todaybecause, as you can tell, we are
not sitting.
Well, we are behind a screen,but we're not sitting with the
guest across from the otherguest in another part of the
city, the state, the world,whatever.
I'm actually sitting right herewith the guest and so this is
(01:30):
going to be so much fun.
So, before I get her officiallyon here she's here, but
officially her title I want toset this episode up.
Sometimes, life invites us torise through heartbreak and find
strength in places we neverimagined.
Today's guest is no stranger totransformation.
Rooted in small-town Midwesternvalues, she built a remarkable
(01:53):
career helping women achievetheir goals, earning recognition
in the top 2% of her field.
But it was an unexpected season, a profound loss that
ultimately gave her a deepermission and a new sense of
purpose, and so you guys aregoing to get to hear from her in
just a few minutes.
But before we do that, we doneed to do a quick shout out to
(02:13):
our sponsor.
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Head on over towaltmillsproductions.
net and let your content shineAll right, and with that, we do
(02:56):
want to tell you to head on overto startergirlz.
com.
Why?
For a couple of reasons,actually, three reasons.
One you can sign up for ourcommunity newsletter and be in
the know of all the episodesthat are going out, including
this one.
You can also catch up on anyepisodes that you might have
missed, and there are a lot ofthem.
You can go back to thebeginning and see all of them.
And then, lastly, if you are anaspiring entrepreneur or maybe
(03:19):
you're just rocking the sceneright now and or know you want
to learn a little bit more, wedo have a fun quiz on the site.
It's a two-minute quiz thatwill tell you what your number
one success block is that may behindering your success.
So go over there and take thatquiz.
It's fun.
You might find out somethingnew about yourself, and with
that, we do want to bring ourguest on the show, all right.
(03:42):
So, after walking through a yearand a half journey alongside
her husband during his battlewith terminal cancer, Maureen
Jirikowic emerged with acalling to help others find
light after loss.
Now a widow and passionatevoice for healing, she's
launching a podcast designed tosupport women as they navigate
grief, rediscover their identityand rebuild a meaningful life.
(04:05):
With courage, compassion and aheart for connection.
Maureen is turning her paininto purpose and inviting others
to do the same.
So, maureen, I'm so excited tohave you on the show today.
Thank you for having me, Jen.
This is going to be so much fun.
And we're on the cameratogether, which is so weird
because I started, maureen, justso you know, I started my show
(04:27):
originally in a studio with aperson sitting either next to me
or in front of me, and we hadthe cameras set up and it was
fun.
And so, with COVID, you know,when that kind of came into
place, everything shifted and sowe sort of kind of found
ourselves back locked at homeand then I realized, hey, we can
do podcasting so easily fromthe comfort of our own home, and
so, for our audience, that'swhere we're at.
We're in Maureen's home todaydoing this podcast.
(04:49):
So this is going to be a lot offun and I'm excited to hear
about your journey and whatyou're doing and all that good
stuff Awesome.
So let's start this thing.
I want to know about yourjourney.
I want to know what has broughtyou to this place you are today
, to creating this podcast andthis passion that you have for
helping women?
Maureen Jirikowic (05:06):
Yes, thank you, jen.
So I am Maureen Jerichoic, likeJen said, and I am creating a
podcast called Widow Talk, andthrough my journey I learned a
lot about transformation.
And so through that journey, myhusband, pete, was diagnosed
with terminal cancer in 2021.
And through that journey, wedid a process of holistic
(05:31):
medicine as well as Westernmedicine.
Jennifer Loehding (05:57):
And, unfortunately, his life ended in
October of 2023.
And so I have been on thisjourney of healing.
And's through that that youcome out on the other side and
in your case, yeah, you havethis passion, like you've been
helping women for a very longtime, do great things, right,
and now you're still moving intothat space, but just in a
different segment of your life.
Maureen Jirikowic (06:16):
Yeah, yeah.
Jennifer Loehding (06:19):
So it's good.
So I would love to know, likewith this podcast, you know,
like what's kind of the big?
It's obviously about helpingwomen and titles.
I mean, do we have a name yet?
I guess maybe we might startthere.
Do we have a name where we'releaning into this?
Maybe we need to share thiswith our audience so they have
to look for yes, yes, it istitled Widow Talk.
Yeah, and what's going to besome of the things that you are
(06:47):
wanting to share on this show toinspire these women to really
connect with others, right, butalso kind of recreate their life
in this new place that they are?
Maureen Jirikowic (06:52):
Yes, well, as you go through grief, there's
so many different stages.
There's denial, there's anger,there's bargaining, there's
depression and then there'sacceptance, and the processes
can go in all differentdirections.
One day you might be angry,another day you might be, you
know, accepting the situation,and then a trigger happens and
(07:13):
you're back at the frustrationpart.
And so I want to help peoplewith support systems, with
working in their community, withbuilding their own self,
transforming their own life,finding new opportunities,
creating new places for you togo, for you to seek other
(07:35):
women's support.
It's basically starting over.
Really is what it is, andthat's been my journey.
I've changed and transformedevery single area of my life, so
, emotionally, physically,sometimes people see me at this
stage and they're like I didn'teven recognize that was you.
So that sounds really crazy,doesn't it?
(07:57):
Because that's a pretty bigtransformation.
But it's really about the innercore, about really working on
yourself.
But it's really about the innercore, about really working on
yourself, your heart and theability to move forward and move
forward from the loss and thegrief and to know that God has
something bigger out there foryou.
And so it's for everyone whowants to take that personal
(08:18):
responsibility to really gothrough the different stages and
go through them effectively,and there's no timeline for this
.
Everybody's grief stage isdifferent.
Jennifer Loehding (08:28):
Yeah, yeah, that's the thing about it.
You mentioned something in allof that about support systems,
and I know that's somethingyou're trying to set up.
I'd love to know, like for you,like what were some of the
things that you did to maybework through some of this.
Maureen Jirikowic (08:42):
Yes, well, the first thing I did is one
thing that a lot of people hadshared with me, for advice was
do not make any big decisions inthe first year, and I love my
house, and so what I did with myhouse is I just changed it
around.
I wanted a place of peace andserenity, so the colors are
(09:03):
created for happiness andpeacefulness, so that when I
walk into my little coffee area,nook area, it's got a desk and
it has teacup and it's girly,because I live alone now, so
it's good.
I love that space and my livingroom is a tranquil, peaceful
place to be.
(09:24):
I changed out bedroom linen,got new pictures, so you can do
this in a very economical way.
It doesn't have to be that you,you know, take out all your
furniture, but yet you cancreate a space that signifies
you, and so that was the firstthing that I did.
Jennifer Loehding (09:43):
Yeah, and you're talking.
When you talk about not makingbig decisions, I think that I
mean even in that here, but in alot of things in life, right,
Like not making big decisions inthe moment of crisis, right,
yeah, and I think a lot of timeswe we panic, right, and I've
always kind of adopted that too,that you know, I haven't been
through what you've been through, but I've always sort of
adopted that in the middle of acrisis, whatever that be just to
(10:05):
pause for a moment, right, andmake sure that you're thinking
clearly when you do that.
But I love that you weretalking about like sort of
redecorating your house and,interestingly, you know, I had
nothing I'd never like todiminish anybody's story but I
had a pet that tragically died.
Like I woke up that tragicallydid not die, and it was weird
because the room that they hehad been staying it was a little
(10:27):
cat, He'd been staying in there.
I immediately, you know, withina couple of days, went in there
and decided to redecorate thatroom like kind of make it like a
spiral.
I bought these cute little graystar curtains that are you're
going to love it Totally girly.
They got little star cutouts onthem, you know, and I fixed up
the futon in there and so it wasjust sort of kind of a way of
(10:47):
brightening things up right andchanging what was going on in
there without making that bigdecision Right, Like we're not
going to go up by, onlyfurniture to the house down.
Right, we paint down the walls.
If we can't do that, you know.
So I think that's a good pointthat you made there, really
about just pausing before you dosomething drastic and do
something small that you can doto kind of put you in motion.
Maureen Jirikowic (11:09):
A year and a half in to being a widow and I
had just this spark of energythat came across me and I said
(11:33):
you know what it's time.
So I cleaned out a closet thatused to be my husband, pete, and
then I also cleaned out abedroom and I have a resource
that gives a friend of mine whogives a lot to homeless.
She finds a source foreverything.
I mean, I changed my dog foodand she's like you know, she
(11:56):
took the old dog food and gaveit to a dog that needed it.
No, and I mean so that made mefeel good because as I was going
through it, I knew that thesepieces were, they were just
possessions, right, it didn'ttake away the memory of him, it
was just a way for me to, as yousaid, go through the healing
(12:16):
process and get to the nextlevel.
So there's different levels ofthat grief that you go through,
and just doing that just made adifference in my energy, in my
spirit.
There were some sad times.
I mean, I saw a couple, youknow, like his favorite shirt
and certain things like that,and it brought a little tear.
But I also was like you knowwhat.
(12:38):
I know that he wants me to moveforward, and so now I have a
closet for winter and I have acloset for summer and so before
the closet was closed and Icouldn't even look in there, but
I, step by step, I would openthe closet and take one step
closer to getting to thatdecluttering stage.
So it's not totally complete,but you know what?
(13:01):
Every inch matters.
It's kind of like atomic habitswhen you do those little things
to get to the end.
There's still a couple piecesof his that are in there and I'm
okay with that.
They're intermingled in myclothes and that brings me some
comfort.
But the whole closet isn't fullof this stuff anymore.
Yeah, yeah.
Jennifer Loehding (13:21):
That's good, well, and there's power in
decluttering.
I do hear it.
Whether you're in a crisis ornot, I think there's a freeness
that comes with just cleaningthings up right.
It gives you space to move.
I'm with you on that.
I'm all about the declutteringand I feel like there's been
times where I've had thosemoments where I've been like I'm
just going to go in, I'm goingto clean a closet out, and then
I do it and I'm like wow, like Ifeel so good afterwards I find
(13:45):
things like you know, lastcloset I cleaned out, I found an
umbrella.
Like I didn't like we're alwayslooking for umbrellas, right.
Like I'm like I don't have anumbrella and I go in and I'm
like where's this umbrella evencome from?
It was a nice one, you know.
So you might find things indoing that.
But I agree with you on that.
It's sometimes that it can bevery therapeutic, especially if
you're going through something,you know, like this.
And so I admire you because Ithink I've known other people
(14:07):
that have gone through this kindof grief and it's a hard thing
to move.
But you're doing incredible andyou've done well in your work
and you're on the other side isoutside of the podcast.
You've done really well in that, and so I think there's a lot
to this.
I mean a lot that you've had todo to overcome and move forward
, and you're doing it in a waythat now you can really help
(14:29):
more people, absolutely so goodstuff, Absolutely yeah good
stuff.
So I'd love to know, like, howthe community I was looking at
your notes here.
She gave me some really goodnotes for my, for our listeners
what are they doing here?
She gave me really good notes.
I'm trying to read them andkeep up here, but I'm like, oh
my gosh, I got all thesequestions.
I want to ask.
So, maybe for somebody who Iwant to talk about your work in
(14:52):
a minute too, but I know the bigthing is that we're working on
this podcast that you're tryingto get out and really, you know,
focusing on that, and and foranybody that's, you know,
wanting to try to do a podcast,this is it's like anything we do
, right, like it's it's startingsomething new and stepping out
in your comfort zone, outside ofyour comfort zone, right,
you've been doing this for along time in your career.
You've been doing it for a longtime, and so I want to know,
(15:18):
like, what do you feel?
Like?
And you and I know, becausewe've taught, but they don't
know, see, they don't knowbecause we're telling them now
Like, and you and I know,because we've taught, but they
don't know.
See, they don't know becausewe're telling them now, what do
you feel like has been maybesome of the challenges with
getting this podcast up andrunning.
What have been some of thethings that you feel like you're
having to work through, becausesomebody listening to this may
be going on the brink of doingsomething like this, starting
(15:42):
something new or working throughwhole process of grief in some
way, but there might be beforeit and you talked about stepping
, you know, forward,decluttering but what have been
some of the maybe the challengesyou've got with this podcast?
Maureen Jirikowic (15:55):
Well it's, you know, technology that's a
lot of technology, right.
And you know I I mean it's uh,just just sitting down and doing
it and sharing my heart.
And I did do an interview withum another uh podcast interview
(16:15):
and you know I wasn't ready atthat time.
I emotionally, it was stillsuch a painful time for me that
there was crying, and crying isgood.
So if you're a widow or you'vegone through a divorce or you've
done something, you are goingto be grieving that time and to
give yourself the time.
(16:37):
And you know, jen and I have alot of the same personality
characteristics.
It's like we want to get thejob done right, but you also
have to take the time to heal,and tears are healing and
there's times where I have justlost it in my car.
There's times that I'll pick upa piece of paper and that
(16:58):
triggers something and to justhonor that and allow yourself.
The first year is a year thatthe best way to describe it, jen
, is where you're sitting hereand the world is just going
around you and you can't.
You're like stunned, with noplace to really go, and you have
(17:19):
to.
What I learned about myself inthat process is I had to just
sit there in a chair and juststare and let myself grieve and
not try to stop it and not tryto push it, because you know we
want this agenda done or we haveour to-do list and let's get it
done.
How come I can't do it?
You know, and I had to just.
(17:39):
And so the same thing withstarting something new like a
podcast you're going to havethose growing pains.
You're not always going to showup where you feel like it's a
stellar performance, right.
Yeah, you're going to feel like, oh, I could have said this or
I should have said this, orwhatever.
But the best thing to do isjust what I have found is just
(18:02):
get yourself into it, just tryit, do it.
If it's not you, you don't haveto keep doing it, but if it is
and it helps others, you've madea big difference.
Jennifer Loehding (18:12):
I love that and thank you for saying that.
You know it's interesting.
I did an interview yesterdayand I was interviewing a guy
that became a runner.
He actually is a funny story.
They're going to hear thisstory.
It's great you guys are goingto get to hear this story, but
I'm going to give you aprecursor to it, or maybe we're
hearing this afterwards and soyou'll have the story.
But he became a runner becausehe had won this hot dog contest
(18:36):
and they'd gotten this ice creamand then he got on the scale
and didn't like the number hewas seeing.
Wife had, I think, baby numberfour, I don't know.
They had another baby and so hedecided he was going to pick up
running because he didn't wantto have a dad boy.
But the thing he was talkingabout is this just one step at a
time thing is I asked him about, like mindset, I'm also a
former runner.
My husband was an enduranceathlete, so we've done a lot of
(18:59):
that in our time.
But there was this universalthing Both of you have said this
, this you know one foot forwardthing and universal thing Both
of you have said this, this, youknow one foot forward thing.
And so, as we're talking about,like this podcast, and going
through the grief process.
You know, I would say there's alot of parallels in life, right
, like they show up in differentareas, but the processes can be
very similar.
So, like you lose something,you know you lose your job that
(19:20):
could be a grieving process.
You lose a pet could be agrieving process.
Everybody goes through thesedifferent parts of this, right,
and it's really like you'resaying just about stepping one
foot in front of the other.
And it's no different whenwe're starting a new life, a new
career, a new passion project,whatever it is.
It's still that one stepforward, right, it's being brave
(19:41):
and taking it forward.
And so I also love that youmentioned the technology because
, yes, technology.
Well, I had the podcast episodethat we released this.
You know, by the time this onecomes out, it'll have been out
for probably a couple of weeks,but he was a tech guy and it was
so funny because I went intothis thinking, oh my gosh, 35
(20:01):
year veteran in the tech space,I know little to nothing about
tech.
I am not going to walk in andbe like I'm tech because I am
not.
If something's broken, I needto call my son to help me.
We got the camera working today.
We're good, the audio we'regood.
Anything else breaks, I don'tknow we stop.
So I love it, I love it.
Well, this is awesome, maureen,and I would love to talk, you
(20:23):
know, talk about some of likethe mindset that you do because
you're a top you know, top 2%leader in the company that
you're in.
You've been doing this for awhile.
I don't want to get into allthe specifics of that, but I'd
really just love to know, like,how do you set yourself up for
success?
Because you have, you're movingthese parts in your life like
you're still doing it, likeyou're on the other side of this
(20:44):
loss now and you're doing it.
You're still having systems inplace.
So what are some things thatyou do, aside from like the
decluttering and mixing up thewalls to make it lively, the
other things that you do in yourlife to help support you?
Maureen Jirikowic (20:57):
in your journey.
Well, I start my day withmeditation, prayer affirmation
and a little bit of physicalexercise, and I like to get
outside when the sun first comesup, because that natural
sunlight in your eyes and onyour skin is so very healthy for
you.
And so I went through a periodwhere I was like getting up
(21:20):
super early and I would get allthat done before seven o'clock,
and then some of the grievingcame through and so, no matter
what time I got up, I wouldstill take those steps, because
I feel like if you set yourselfup for success in the morning
and give yourself that time, youshow up differently.
(21:41):
And so I have just beenpracticing that and so, whether
it takes me, sometimes I feellike I need to do more than one
meditation in the morning and Ijust honor that and do that so I
really listen to my heart andlisten to what do I need today,
what is it that I need?
And I listen for that throughmeditation and quiet time.
(22:01):
Silence is I silence this heartsometimes because there's
always a squirrel right and wealways have these distractions,
and I have a little dog andsometimes he wants extra love
and he's jumping on my lap andmy eyes are closed and I'm like,
oh man, he isn't.
Jennifer Loehding (22:19):
No, that was so great, that's so great and
I'm with you on that.
I think those morning routinesare so important.
It really sets the day for howyou do everything and you know
it's so weird.
I don't know about you, but Iwasn't always like that.
I don't think any of us alwayslike that right, like we get
these practices in place, but itwas.
It's like a building processright.
I mean it takes time and I do alot of those things that you're
(22:40):
talking about as well, but it'slike it wasn't like I just woke
up and all of those systems werein place.
It was really just about doingsomething and then adding and
then compounding, and I lovethat.
You said you know, during thattime when you were going through
the grief, you continued to dothose things because I mean it
could have been the other way.
It could have been.
You got stuck in that and justreally could you know work, had
(23:03):
a hard time working yourself out, but you stayed connected to
those practices and I think thatthat's.
I think it's admirable.
Maureen Jirikowic (23:10):
Yeah Well, I just think you have to honor
yourself and honor and know that.
This is where I need to beright now and I know there's a
big, long list of things that Ishould be doing, should be.
But what do I need to do toreally fill my spirit so I can
show up powerfully in my ownself?
(23:31):
And that's what I would radiateout to the world is, when you
do the inner work, it shows inthe outer work, and so a lot of
times people have seen me andpeople used to ask how are you
that pitiful?
How are you Right?
Oh, great, I'm great.
You know, inside I wasn'talways, but I never wanted to
(23:53):
position myself.
I will, you know.
You do need to have yoursupport system and have the
people around you who you cancall during those times, but not
everybody is going to be thatperson for you.
Jennifer Loehding (24:07):
That's a good yeah, we talked about that,
right, like I was talking aboutthat yesterday with somebody you
are really like with the five,some people you hang around with
, and so we were talking aboutrunning.
So I'm like, hey, if you wantto be a better runner, you need
to find runners that are betterthan you to hang around.
And so I do believe in supportsystems.
I think that it's veryinstrumental in helping people.
You know, whether it's grief orif it's in a business side,
(24:29):
whatever it is to get to thatnext place they need to be.
So, yeah for sharing.
And I do want to say, like Idon't know, we.
You know, I showed up at herhouse today and somehow we color
coordinated withoutcoordinating.
She's got this cute hat on andI'm like I showed up in this red
dress today because I was goingto go do network or something
today, and then I get here andI'm like, hey, we like got this
(24:50):
whole color coordinating thingdown, right, awesome stuff, so
fun.
So you said so many great thingshere, marie.
I want to know, like youmentioned earlier, about what
you've learned about yourself,but I would like to know, like,
what advice you would give toyour younger self, I mean, given
where you are today, you haveincredible tenacity and
persistence, leadership all ofthe things that we really like
(25:11):
to talk about.
On Starter Girls, what wouldyou say to yourself?
You know, maybe the 18-year-oldMarie that's just stepping out
into the world.
I don't know what I wasthinking at that time.
Yeah, I was thinking how I wasgoing to conquer the world time
I was thinking how I was goingto conquer the world.
Maureen Jirikowic (25:31):
Yeah Well, I would second what you said about
aligning yourself with theright people.
And so when you're 18, 20, even30, you know you're still
finding yourself, you're findingwho you are.
What do you?
You know what's your purpose inlife, and to align yourself
with the right people and theright timing, and you know.
The other thing that I listenedto earlier that I wanted to say
(25:52):
is you know, sometimes weattract people that are
irritating to us, and those arethe people that we need in our
lives, because they're there toteach us something.
And so if you have those peoplein your life, they could be
people that you may need toseparate yourself from, but that
might also be a wake-up call toyou to say what is in me that I
(26:15):
need to work on personally.
Yeah, that's good that is good.
Jennifer Loehding (26:19):
Yeah, so we all have those.
They do teach us things andthat is important, so thank you
for sharing that.
I love it.
Maureen, I think you're doinggreat things.
I'm excited to see where thispodcast goes.
Do we have kind of a day whenwe're going to get this like
officially launched so peopleknow to find you?
Maureen Jirikowic (26:35):
Yes, we are going to launch it this month,
so I would say around by the15th it should be ready to roll
out.
So, and we'll have all kinds ofdifferent topics of you know,
support system, community, howto navigate through finances,
how to navigate through newrelationships.
(26:58):
That's a big one.
You know people, you know whenyou're a couple for so long.
And my husband, pete, and Ithis was a second marriage for
both of us, and so we dideverything together because when
we found each other, we hadboth been single parents for 10
years, so we were both ready.
We were ready for something,you know, for that to happen,
(27:21):
and so, you know, he was intohunting and fishing and doing
all that stuff and it just weevolved together and so we did
everything together and thosewere things he said and I said
to him go go on a fishing trip,do this.
And he was like together, andthose were things he said and I
said to him go go on a fishingtrip, do this.
And he was like I would rather.
(27:42):
You know we navigated together,we did.
We moved to Texas in 2018 fromthe Midwest and so we were
exploring all the different newopportunities that were
available to us here and that'show we, that's how we roll.
So you know new relationships.
So we had couple friends andnow being single, I want to just
address the topics ofrelationships where you might
(28:03):
not be included anymore in thecouple relationships you might
need to navigate on what kind ofgirl tribe do you want?
What kind of friends do youwant?
So the possibilities are so newand fresh, but it's also scary
to navigate through those.
So some great topics to justexplore as a new widow.
Jennifer Loehding (28:24):
Yeah, yeah, no, and that's good.
I didn't even think about that,but you're right, it's adapting
.
I think that's the big wordhere.
Is adapting Like you're helpingthem adapt to their new scene,
their new world, right, which iswhat we're doing all the time
in life anyways.
Is adapting right?
Nothing stays the same, everNothing stays the same and it's
hard.
Maureen Jirikowic (28:44):
It's hard to navigate those things on your
own.
I've seen widows rise and I'vealso seen widows who just stayed
in such a state of devastation,and so I hope that this podcast
will be a revival, that they'llhear one thing and take it and
(29:06):
say you know what?
I'm going to go to a newrestaurant, I'm going to try
this.
Or I'm going to pick up tennisand I don't know who my partner
will be, but I'm going to pickit up because that's what I love
to play, you know, or whateverit is.
So it's really, it's a changingof the mindset and it takes
time.
It takes work.
Jennifer Loehding (29:27):
Yeah, well, you're definitely setting things
in a marine and I appreciateyou coming on here and being
vulnerable and authentic andsharing your story.
We're excited to see what thispodcast does, and that's why
we're doing this episode heretoday a little bit different
than we normally do, because wewanted to allow Maureen, my new
friend, wanted to allow her anopportunity to well, a couple of
things.
One, we're going to get her toget this podcast out, that's,
(29:48):
we're going to get her to get up, but also to come on here and
share what she's doing, becauseeverybody that's you know,
hopefully, I would assume mostof the people that are tuning
into this are people that areeither, in some way, they're
leaders or creators.
They're doing something wherethese stories are hopefully
inspiring them to do other greatthings, and so I'm sure your
story is going to be something,you know, for somebody that's
(30:10):
going to resonate and they'regoing to find value in.
Thank you, how do people get intouch with you?
They want to get in touch withyou.
Do they have a?
Do you have a?
I guess you got to get thewebsite set up for this,
hopefully.
So maybe by the time we getthis set out to go, we'll have a
website, or at least a YouTube,where we can direct them to go
check out the podcast.
So we'll, we'll make that thedeal here.
(30:33):
We're going to get her contactinformation in there and so, of
course, to you guys that aretuning in, know we appreciate
you, we love you, we hope thatyou found this episode fun.
It's a little different,Inspiring all the things.
And if you do, of course, doall the things, hit the like,
share, subscribe, comment, dowhatever, so we can keep sharing
all this fabulous content.
And, as I always say, in orderto live the extraordinary, you
(30:56):
must start, and every startbegins with a decision.
You guys, take care, be safe,be kind to one another and we
will see you next time.
Thank you.
And you know, decluttering that's a tough one
and every widow is differentwith that.
So I'm about a year and a halfin to being a widow and I had
just this spark of energy thatcame across me and I said, you
know what?
It's time.
So I cleaned out a closet thatused to be my husband, Pete, and
(00:22):
then I also cleaned out abedroom.
Jennifer Loehding (00:25):
Welcome to the Starter Girlz podcast, your
ultimate source of inspirationand empowerment.
We're here to help womensucceed in every area of their
lives career, money,relationships, and health and
wellbeing while celebrating theremarkable journeys of
individuals from all walks oflife who've achieved amazing
things.
Whether you're looking tosupercharge your career, build
(00:47):
financial independence, nurturemeaningful relationships or
enhance your overall well-being,the Starter Girlz podcast is
here to guide you.
Join us as we explore thejourneys of those who dare to
dream big and achieve greatness.
I'm your host, JenniferLoehding, and welcome to this
episode.
(01:08):
Welcome to another episode ofthe Starter Girlz podcast.
Wherever you are tuning intoday, we are so glad to have
you and I am so excited todaybecause, as you can tell, we are
not sitting.
Well, we are behind a screen,but we're not sitting with the
guest across from the otherguest in another part of the
city, the state, the world,whatever.
I'm actually sitting right herewith the guest and so this is
(01:30):
going to be so much fun.
So, before I get her officiallyon here she's here, but
officially her title I want toset this episode up.
Sometimes, life invites us torise through heartbreak and find
strength in places we neverimagined.
Today's guest is no stranger totransformation.
Rooted in small-town Midwesternvalues, she built a remarkable
(01:53):
career helping women achievetheir goals, earning recognition
in the top 2% of her field.
But it was an unexpected season, a profound loss that
ultimately gave her a deepermission and a new sense of
purpose, and so you guys aregoing to get to hear from her in
just a few minutes.
But before we do that, we doneed to do a quick shout out to
(02:13):
our sponsor.
This episode is brought to youby Walt Mills Productions.
Need to add excitement to yourYouTube videos or some expert
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Want to learn more about Waltand his work?
Head on over towaltmillsproductions.
net and let your content shineAll right, and with that, we do
(02:56):
want to tell you to head on overto startergirlz.
com.
Why?
For a couple of reasons,actually, three reasons.
One you can sign up for ourcommunity newsletter and be in
the know of all the episodesthat are going out, including
this one.
You can also catch up on anyepisodes that you might have
missed, and there are a lot ofthem.
You can go back to thebeginning and see all of them.
And then, lastly, if you are anaspiring entrepreneur or maybe
(03:19):
you're just rocking the sceneright now and or know you want
to learn a little bit more, wedo have a fun quiz on the site.
It's a two-minute quiz thatwill tell you what your number
one success block is that may behindering your success.
So go over there and take thatquiz.
It's fun.
You might find out somethingnew about yourself, and with
that, we do want to bring ourguest on the show, all right.
(03:42):
So, after walking through a yearand a half journey alongside
her husband during his battlewith terminal cancer, Maureen
Jirikowic emerged with acalling to help others find
light after loss.
Now a widow and passionatevoice for healing, she's
launching a podcast designed tosupport women as they navigate
grief, rediscover their identityand rebuild a meaningful life.
(04:05):
With courage, compassion and aheart for connection.
Maureen is turning her paininto purpose and inviting others
to do the same.
So, maureen, I'm so excited tohave you on the show today.
Thank you for having me, Jen.
This is going to be so much fun.
And we're on the cameratogether, which is so weird
because I started, maureen, justso you know, I started my show
(04:27):
originally in a studio with aperson sitting either next to me
or in front of me, and we hadthe cameras set up and it was
fun.
And so, with COVID, you know,when that kind of came into
place, everything shifted and sowe sort of kind of found
ourselves back locked at homeand then I realized, hey, we can
do podcasting so easily fromthe comfort of our own home, and
so, for our audience, that'swhere we're at.
We're in Maureen's home todaydoing this podcast.
(04:49):
So this is going to be a lot offun and I'm excited to hear
about your journey and whatyou're doing and all that good
stuff Awesome.
So let's start this thing.
I want to know about yourjourney.
I want to know what has broughtyou to this place you are today
, to creating this podcast andthis passion that you have for
helping women?
Maureen Jirikowic (05:06):
Yes, thank you, jen.
So I am Maureen Jerichoic, likeJen said, and I am creating a
podcast called Widow Talk, andthrough my journey I learned a
lot about transformation.
And so through that journey, myhusband, pete, was diagnosed
with terminal cancer in 2021.
And through that journey, wedid a process of holistic
(05:31):
medicine as well as Westernmedicine.
Jennifer Loehding (05:57):
And, unfortunately, his life ended in
October of 2023.
And so I have been on thisjourney of healing.
And's through that that youcome out on the other side and
in your case, yeah, you havethis passion, like you've been
helping women for a very longtime, do great things, right,
and now you're still moving intothat space, but just in a
different segment of your life.
Maureen Jirikowic (06:16):
Yeah, yeah.
Jennifer Loehding (06:19):
So it's good.
So I would love to know, likewith this podcast, you know,
like what's kind of the big?
It's obviously about helpingwomen and titles.
I mean, do we have a name yet?
I guess maybe we might startthere.
Do we have a name where we'releaning into this?
Maybe we need to share thiswith our audience so they have
to look for yes, yes, it istitled Widow Talk.
Yeah, and what's going to besome of the things that you are
(06:47):
wanting to share on this show toinspire these women to really
connect with others, right, butalso kind of recreate their life
in this new place that they are?
Maureen Jirikowic (06:52):
Yes, well, as you go through grief, there's
so many different stages.
There's denial, there's anger,there's bargaining, there's
depression and then there'sacceptance, and the processes
can go in all differentdirections.
One day you might be angry,another day you might be, you
know, accepting the situation,and then a trigger happens and
(07:13):
you're back at the frustrationpart.
And so I want to help peoplewith support systems, with
working in their community, withbuilding their own self,
transforming their own life,finding new opportunities,
creating new places for you togo, for you to seek other
(07:35):
women's support.
It's basically starting over.
Really is what it is, andthat's been my journey.
I've changed and transformedevery single area of my life, so
, emotionally, physically,sometimes people see me at this
stage and they're like I didn'teven recognize that was you.
So that sounds really crazy,doesn't it?
(07:57):
Because that's a pretty bigtransformation.
But it's really about the innercore, about really working on
yourself.
But it's really about the innercore, about really working on
yourself, your heart and theability to move forward and move
forward from the loss and thegrief and to know that God has
something bigger out there foryou.
And so it's for everyone whowants to take that personal
(08:18):
responsibility to really gothrough the different stages and
go through them effectively,and there's no timeline for this
.
Everybody's grief stage isdifferent.
Jennifer Loehding (08:28):
Yeah, yeah, that's the thing about it.
You mentioned something in allof that about support systems,
and I know that's somethingyou're trying to set up.
I'd love to know, like for you,like what were some of the
things that you did to maybework through some of this.
Maureen Jirikowic (08:42):
Yes, well, the first thing I did is one
thing that a lot of people hadshared with me, for advice was
do not make any big decisions inthe first year, and I love my
house, and so what I did with myhouse is I just changed it
around.
I wanted a place of peace andserenity, so the colors are
(09:03):
created for happiness andpeacefulness, so that when I
walk into my little coffee area,nook area, it's got a desk and
it has teacup and it's girly,because I live alone now, so
it's good.
I love that space and my livingroom is a tranquil, peaceful
place to be.
(09:24):
I changed out bedroom linen,got new pictures, so you can do
this in a very economical way.
It doesn't have to be that you,you know, take out all your
furniture, but yet you cancreate a space that signifies
you, and so that was the firstthing that I did.
Jennifer Loehding (09:43):
Yeah, and you're talking.
When you talk about not makingbig decisions, I think that I
mean even in that here, but in alot of things in life, right,
Like not making big decisions inthe moment of crisis, right,
yeah, and I think a lot of timeswe we panic, right, and I've
always kind of adopted that too,that you know, I haven't been
through what you've been through, but I've always sort of
adopted that in the middle of acrisis, whatever that be just to
(10:05):
pause for a moment, right, andmake sure that you're thinking
clearly when you do that.
But I love that you weretalking about like sort of
redecorating your house and,interestingly, you know, I had
nothing I'd never like todiminish anybody's story but I
had a pet that tragically died.
Like I woke up that tragicallydid not die, and it was weird
because the room that they hehad been staying it was a little
(10:27):
cat, He'd been staying in there.
I immediately, you know, withina couple of days, went in there
and decided to redecorate thatroom like kind of make it like a
spiral.
I bought these cute little graystar curtains that are you're
going to love it Totally girly.
They got little star cutouts onthem, you know, and I fixed up
the futon in there and so it wasjust sort of kind of a way of
(10:47):
brightening things up right andchanging what was going on in
there without making that bigdecision Right, Like we're not
going to go up by, onlyfurniture to the house down.
Right, we paint down the walls.
If we can't do that, you know.
So I think that's a good pointthat you made there, really
about just pausing before you dosomething drastic and do
something small that you can doto kind of put you in motion.
Maureen Jirikowic (11:09):
A year and a half in to being a widow and I
had just this spark of energythat came across me and I said
(11:33):
you know what it's time.
So I cleaned out a closet thatused to be my husband, pete, and
then I also cleaned out abedroom and I have a resource
that gives a friend of mine whogives a lot to homeless.
She finds a source foreverything.
I mean, I changed my dog foodand she's like you know, she
(11:56):
took the old dog food and gaveit to a dog that needed it.
No, and I mean so that made mefeel good because as I was going
through it, I knew that thesepieces were, they were just
possessions, right, it didn'ttake away the memory of him, it
was just a way for me to, as yousaid, go through the healing
(12:16):
process and get to the nextlevel.
So there's different levels ofthat grief that you go through,
and just doing that just made adifference in my energy, in my
spirit.
There were some sad times.
I mean, I saw a couple, youknow, like his favorite shirt
and certain things like that,and it brought a little tear.
But I also was like you knowwhat.
(12:38):
I know that he wants me to moveforward, and so now I have a
closet for winter and I have acloset for summer and so before
the closet was closed and Icouldn't even look in there, but
I, step by step, I would openthe closet and take one step
closer to getting to thatdecluttering stage.
So it's not totally complete,but you know what?
(13:01):
Every inch matters.
It's kind of like atomic habitswhen you do those little things
to get to the end.
There's still a couple piecesof his that are in there and I'm
okay with that.
They're intermingled in myclothes and that brings me some
comfort.
But the whole closet isn't fullof this stuff anymore.
Yeah, yeah.
Jennifer Loehding (13:21):
That's good, well, and there's power in
decluttering.
I do hear it.
Whether you're in a crisis ornot, I think there's a freeness
that comes with just cleaningthings up right.
It gives you space to move.
I'm with you on that.
I'm all about the declutteringand I feel like there's been
times where I've had thosemoments where I've been like I'm
just going to go in, I'm goingto clean a closet out, and then
I do it and I'm like wow, like Ifeel so good afterwards I find
(13:45):
things like you know, lastcloset I cleaned out, I found an
umbrella.
Like I didn't like we're alwayslooking for umbrellas, right.
Like I'm like I don't have anumbrella and I go in and I'm
like where's this umbrella evencome from?
It was a nice one, you know.
So you might find things indoing that.
But I agree with you on that.
It's sometimes that it can bevery therapeutic, especially if
you're going through something,you know, like this.
And so I admire you because Ithink I've known other people
(14:07):
that have gone through this kindof grief and it's a hard thing
to move.
But you're doing incredible andyou've done well in your work
and you're on the other side isoutside of the podcast.
You've done really well in that, and so I think there's a lot
to this.
I mean a lot that you've had todo to overcome and move forward
, and you're doing it in a waythat now you can really help
(14:29):
more people, absolutely so goodstuff, Absolutely yeah good
stuff.
So I'd love to know, like, howthe community I was looking at
your notes here.
She gave me some really goodnotes for my, for our listeners
what are they doing here?
She gave me really good notes.
I'm trying to read them andkeep up here, but I'm like, oh
my gosh, I got all thesequestions.
I want to ask.
So, maybe for somebody who Iwant to talk about your work in
(14:52):
a minute too, but I know the bigthing is that we're working on
this podcast that you're tryingto get out and really, you know,
focusing on that, and and foranybody that's, you know,
wanting to try to do a podcast,this is it's like anything we do
, right, like it's it's startingsomething new and stepping out
in your comfort zone, outside ofyour comfort zone, right,
you've been doing this for along time in your career.
You've been doing it for a longtime, and so I want to know,
(15:18):
like, what do you feel?
Like?
And you and I know, becausewe've taught, but they don't
know, see, they don't knowbecause we're telling them now
Like, and you and I know,because we've taught, but they
don't know.
See, they don't know becausewe're telling them now, what do
you feel like has been maybesome of the challenges with
getting this podcast up andrunning.
What have been some of thethings that you feel like you're
having to work through, becausesomebody listening to this may
be going on the brink of doingsomething like this, starting
(15:42):
something new or working throughwhole process of grief in some
way, but there might be beforeit and you talked about stepping
, you know, forward,decluttering but what have been
some of the maybe the challengesyou've got with this podcast?
Maureen Jirikowic (15:55):
Well it's, you know, technology that's a
lot of technology, right.
And you know I I mean it's uh,just just sitting down and doing
it and sharing my heart.
And I did do an interview withum another uh podcast interview
(16:15):
and you know I wasn't ready atthat time.
I emotionally, it was stillsuch a painful time for me that
there was crying, and crying isgood.
So if you're a widow or you'vegone through a divorce or you've
done something, you are goingto be grieving that time and to
give yourself the time.
(16:37):
And you know, jen and I have alot of the same personality
characteristics.
It's like we want to get thejob done right, but you also
have to take the time to heal,and tears are healing and
there's times where I have justlost it in my car.
There's times that I'll pick upa piece of paper and that
(16:58):
triggers something and to justhonor that and allow yourself.
The first year is a year thatthe best way to describe it, jen
, is where you're sitting hereand the world is just going
around you and you can't.
You're like stunned, with noplace to really go, and you have
(17:19):
to.
What I learned about myself inthat process is I had to just
sit there in a chair and juststare and let myself grieve and
not try to stop it and not tryto push it, because you know we
want this agenda done or we haveour to-do list and let's get it
done.
How come I can't do it?
You know, and I had to just.
(17:39):
And so the same thing withstarting something new like a
podcast you're going to havethose growing pains.
You're not always going to showup where you feel like it's a
stellar performance, right.
Yeah, you're going to feel like, oh, I could have said this or
I should have said this, orwhatever.
But the best thing to do isjust what I have found is just
(18:02):
get yourself into it, just tryit, do it.
If it's not you, you don't haveto keep doing it, but if it is
and it helps others, you've madea big difference.
Jennifer Loehding (18:12):
I love that and thank you for saying that.
You know it's interesting.
I did an interview yesterdayand I was interviewing a guy
that became a runner.
He actually is a funny story.
They're going to hear thisstory.
It's great you guys are goingto get to hear this story, but
I'm going to give you aprecursor to it, or maybe we're
hearing this afterwards and soyou'll have the story.
But he became a runner becausehe had won this hot dog contest
(18:36):
and they'd gotten this ice creamand then he got on the scale
and didn't like the number hewas seeing.
Wife had, I think, baby numberfour, I don't know.
They had another baby and so hedecided he was going to pick up
running because he didn't wantto have a dad boy.
But the thing he was talkingabout is this just one step at a
time thing is I asked him about, like mindset, I'm also a
former runner.
My husband was an enduranceathlete, so we've done a lot of
(18:59):
that in our time.
But there was this universalthing Both of you have said this
, this you know one foot forwardthing and universal thing Both
of you have said this, this, youknow one foot forward thing.
And so, as we're talking about,like this podcast, and going
through the grief process.
You know, I would say there's alot of parallels in life, right
, like they show up in differentareas, but the processes can be
very similar.
So, like you lose something,you know you lose your job that
(19:20):
could be a grieving process.
You lose a pet could be agrieving process.
Everybody goes through thesedifferent parts of this, right,
and it's really like you'resaying just about stepping one
foot in front of the other.
And it's no different whenwe're starting a new life, a new
career, a new passion project,whatever it is.
It's still that one stepforward, right, it's being brave
(19:41):
and taking it forward.
And so I also love that youmentioned the technology because
, yes, technology.
Well, I had the podcast episodethat we released this.
You know, by the time this onecomes out, it'll have been out
for probably a couple of weeks,but he was a tech guy and it was
so funny because I went intothis thinking, oh my gosh, 35
(20:01):
year veteran in the tech space,I know little to nothing about
tech.
I am not going to walk in andbe like I'm tech because I am
not.
If something's broken, I needto call my son to help me.
We got the camera working today.
We're good, the audio we'regood.
Anything else breaks, I don'tknow we stop.
So I love it, I love it.
Well, this is awesome, maureen,and I would love to talk, you
(20:23):
know, talk about some of likethe mindset that you do because
you're a top you know, top 2%leader in the company that
you're in.
You've been doing this for awhile.
I don't want to get into allthe specifics of that, but I'd
really just love to know, like,how do you set yourself up for
success?
Because you have, you're movingthese parts in your life like
you're still doing it, likeyou're on the other side of this
(20:44):
loss now and you're doing it.
You're still having systems inplace.
So what are some things thatyou do, aside from like the
decluttering and mixing up thewalls to make it lively, the
other things that you do in yourlife to help support you?
Maureen Jirikowic (20:57):
in your journey.
Well, I start my day withmeditation, prayer affirmation
and a little bit of physicalexercise, and I like to get
outside when the sun first comesup, because that natural
sunlight in your eyes and onyour skin is so very healthy for
you.
And so I went through a periodwhere I was like getting up
(21:20):
super early and I would get allthat done before seven o'clock,
and then some of the grievingcame through and so, no matter
what time I got up, I wouldstill take those steps, because
I feel like if you set yourselfup for success in the morning
and give yourself that time, youshow up differently.
(21:41):
And so I have just beenpracticing that and so, whether
it takes me, sometimes I feellike I need to do more than one
meditation in the morning and Ijust honor that and do that so I
really listen to my heart andlisten to what do I need today,
what is it that I need?
And I listen for that throughmeditation and quiet time.
(22:01):
Silence is I silence this heartsometimes because there's
always a squirrel right and wealways have these distractions,
and I have a little dog andsometimes he wants extra love
and he's jumping on my lap andmy eyes are closed and I'm like,
oh man, he isn't.
Jennifer Loehding (22:19):
No, that was so great, that's so great and
I'm with you on that.
I think those morning routinesare so important.
It really sets the day for howyou do everything and you know
it's so weird.
I don't know about you, but Iwasn't always like that.
I don't think any of us alwayslike that right, like we get
these practices in place, but itwas.
It's like a building processright.
I mean it takes time and I do alot of those things that you're
(22:40):
talking about as well, but it'slike it wasn't like I just woke
up and all of those systems werein place.
It was really just about doingsomething and then adding and
then compounding, and I lovethat.
You said you know, during thattime when you were going through
the grief, you continued to dothose things because I mean it
could have been the other way.
It could have been.
You got stuck in that and justreally could you know work, had
(23:03):
a hard time working yourself out, but you stayed connected to
those practices and I think thatthat's.
I think it's admirable.
Maureen Jirikowic (23:10):
Yeah Well, I just think you have to honor
yourself and honor and know that.
This is where I need to beright now and I know there's a
big, long list of things that Ishould be doing, should be.
But what do I need to do toreally fill my spirit so I can
show up powerfully in my ownself?
(23:31):
And that's what I would radiateout to the world is, when you
do the inner work, it shows inthe outer work, and so a lot of
times people have seen me andpeople used to ask how are you
that pitiful?
How are you Right?
Oh, great, I'm great.
You know, inside I wasn'talways, but I never wanted to
(23:53):
position myself.
I will, you know.
You do need to have yoursupport system and have the
people around you who you cancall during those times, but not
everybody is going to be thatperson for you.
Jennifer Loehding (24:07):
That's a good yeah, we talked about that,
right, like I was talking aboutthat yesterday with somebody you
are really like with the five,some people you hang around with
, and so we were talking aboutrunning.
So I'm like, hey, if you wantto be a better runner, you need
to find runners that are betterthan you to hang around.
And so I do believe in supportsystems.
I think that it's veryinstrumental in helping people.
You know, whether it's grief orif it's in a business side,
(24:29):
whatever it is to get to thatnext place they need to be.
So, yeah for sharing.
And I do want to say, like Idon't know, we.
You know, I showed up at herhouse today and somehow we color
coordinated withoutcoordinating.
She's got this cute hat on andI'm like I showed up in this red
dress today because I was goingto go do network or something
today, and then I get here andI'm like, hey, we like got this
(24:50):
whole color coordinating thingdown, right, awesome stuff, so
fun.
So you said so many great thingshere, marie.
I want to know, like youmentioned earlier, about what
you've learned about yourself,but I would like to know, like,
what advice you would give toyour younger self, I mean, given
where you are today, you haveincredible tenacity and
persistence, leadership all ofthe things that we really like
(25:11):
to talk about.
On Starter Girls, what wouldyou say to yourself?
You know, maybe the 18-year-oldMarie that's just stepping out
into the world.
I don't know what I wasthinking at that time.
Yeah, I was thinking how I wasgoing to conquer the world time
I was thinking how I was goingto conquer the world.
Maureen Jirikowic (25:31):
Yeah Well, I would second what you said about
aligning yourself with theright people.
And so when you're 18, 20, even30, you know you're still
finding yourself, you're findingwho you are.
What do you?
You know what's your purpose inlife, and to align yourself
with the right people and theright timing, and you know.
The other thing that I listenedto earlier that I wanted to say
(25:52):
is you know, sometimes weattract people that are
irritating to us, and those arethe people that we need in our
lives, because they're there toteach us something.
And so if you have those peoplein your life, they could be
people that you may need toseparate yourself from, but that
might also be a wake-up call toyou to say what is in me that I
(26:15):
need to work on personally.
Yeah, that's good that is good.
Jennifer Loehding (26:19):
Yeah, so we all have those.
They do teach us things andthat is important, so thank you
for sharing that.
I love it.
Maureen, I think you're doinggreat things.
I'm excited to see where thispodcast goes.
Do we have kind of a day whenwe're going to get this like
officially launched so peopleknow to find you?
Maureen Jirikowic (26:35):
Yes, we are going to launch it this month,
so I would say around by the15th it should be ready to roll
out.
So, and we'll have all kinds ofdifferent topics of you know,
support system, community, howto navigate through finances,
how to navigate through newrelationships.
(26:58):
That's a big one.
You know people, you know whenyou're a couple for so long.
And my husband, pete, and Ithis was a second marriage for
both of us, and so we dideverything together because when
we found each other, we hadboth been single parents for 10
years, so we were both ready.
We were ready for something,you know, for that to happen,
(27:21):
and so, you know, he was intohunting and fishing and doing
all that stuff and it just weevolved together and so we did
everything together and thosewere things he said and I said
to him go go on a fishing trip,do this.
And he was like together, andthose were things he said and I
said to him go go on a fishingtrip, do this.
And he was like I would rather.
(27:42):
You know we navigated together,we did.
We moved to Texas in 2018 fromthe Midwest and so we were
exploring all the different newopportunities that were
available to us here and that'show we, that's how we roll.
So you know new relationships.
So we had couple friends andnow being single, I want to just
address the topics ofrelationships where you might
(28:03):
not be included anymore in thecouple relationships you might
need to navigate on what kind ofgirl tribe do you want?
What kind of friends do youwant?
So the possibilities are so newand fresh, but it's also scary
to navigate through those.
So some great topics to justexplore as a new widow.
Jennifer Loehding (28:24):
Yeah, yeah, no, and that's good.
I didn't even think about that,but you're right, it's adapting
.
I think that's the big wordhere.
Is adapting Like you're helpingthem adapt to their new scene,
their new world, right, which iswhat we're doing all the time
in life anyways.
Is adapting right?
Nothing stays the same, everNothing stays the same and it's
hard.
Maureen Jirikowic (28:44):
It's hard to navigate those things on your
own.
I've seen widows rise and I'vealso seen widows who just stayed
in such a state of devastation,and so I hope that this podcast
will be a revival, that they'llhear one thing and take it and
(29:06):
say you know what?
I'm going to go to a newrestaurant, I'm going to try
this.
Or I'm going to pick up tennisand I don't know who my partner
will be, but I'm going to pickit up because that's what I love
to play, you know, or whateverit is.
So it's really, it's a changingof the mindset and it takes
time.
It takes work.
Jennifer Loehding (29:27):
Yeah, well, you're definitely setting things
in a marine and I appreciateyou coming on here and being
vulnerable and authentic andsharing your story.
We're excited to see what thispodcast does, and that's why
we're doing this episode heretoday a little bit different
than we normally do, because wewanted to allow Maureen, my new
friend, wanted to allow her anopportunity to well, a couple of
things.
One, we're going to get her toget this podcast out, that's,
(29:48):
we're going to get her to get up, but also to come on here and
share what she's doing, becauseeverybody that's you know,
hopefully, I would assume mostof the people that are tuning
into this are people that areeither, in some way, they're
leaders or creators.
They're doing something wherethese stories are hopefully
inspiring them to do other greatthings, and so I'm sure your
story is going to be something,you know, for somebody that's
(30:10):
going to resonate and they'regoing to find value in.
Thank you, how do people get intouch with you?
They want to get in touch withyou.
Do they have a?
Do you have a?
I guess you got to get thewebsite set up for this,
hopefully.
So maybe by the time we getthis set out to go, we'll have a
website, or at least a YouTube,where we can direct them to go
check out the podcast.
So we'll, we'll make that thedeal here.
(30:33):
We're going to get her contactinformation in there and so, of
course, to you guys that aretuning in, know we appreciate
you, we love you, we hope thatyou found this episode fun.
It's a little different,Inspiring all the things.
And if you do, of course, doall the things, hit the like,
share, subscribe, comment, dowhatever, so we can keep sharing
all this fabulous content.
And, as I always say, in orderto live the extraordinary, you
(30:56):
must start, and every startbegins with a decision.
You guys, take care, be safe,be kind to one another and we
will see you next time.
Thank you.
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