The Eclipse Won’t Last Forever
A Conversation with Darlyn
Episode Summary
In this conversation, Patti sits with Darlyn to explore the experience of layered grief, the kind that arrives in waves and begins to overlap until it becomes difficult to separate one loss from another.
Darlyn shares the heartbreak of losing her grandson Theo shortly after birth, the grief of watching her daughter navigate unimaginable loss, and the emotional complexity of parenting children diagnosed with bipolar disorder, anxiety, and depression. She also reflects on painful family ruptures earlier in life and how each experience shaped the way she learned to carry grief over time.
Together, Patti and Darlyn talk about the connection between grief and mental health, the importance of self-compassion, and the ways grief impacts both the body and the spirit. They also explore therapy, faith, support systems, and the healing power of allowing joy and sorrow to coexist rather than forcing one to replace the other.
This episode is a reminder that grief is rarely simple, and that even during the darkest seasons, the light is still there, waiting beyond the eclipse.
In This Episode
Topics discussed include:
• layered grief and cumulative loss
• infant loss and grandparent grief
• parenting children with mental illness
• bipolar disorder, anxiety, and depression
• family estrangement and relational grief
• the connection between grief and the body
• therapy, faith, and emotional healing
• dance movement therapy and emotional processing
• learning to hold joy and sorrow at the same time
• self-compassion during grief
About Our Guest
Darlyn is passionate about supporting others through grief and emotional healing. Alongside her daughter Jessica, a licensed marriage and family therapist, she has helped facilitate a grief-centered movement workshop focused on processing emotions through both reflection and movement.
Together, they explore the relationship between the body, grief, joy, and healing in deeply compassionate and accessible ways.
If You Relate to This Episode
Sometimes grief doesn’t come as one singular loss.
Sometimes it layers itself over years:
loss after loss, heartbreak after heartbreak, until your body and spirit feel exhausted from carrying it all.
You may be navigating:
• grief connected to mental illness within a family
• infant or child loss
• strained or broken family relationships
• emotional burnout from caregiving
• the tension of feeling joy and sadness at the same time
You are not failing because grief feels heavy.
You are human.
Resources
Mental Health & Family Support
• NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness)
https://www.nami.org
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
Call or text 988
https://988lifeline.org
Grief & Emotional Healing
• The Dinner Party
Peer support groups for grief and loss
https://www.thedinnerparty.org
• Option B
Resources for resilience, grief, and emotional recovery
https://optionb.org
Connect with Jessica
Darlyn’s daughter Jessica, who is mentioned throughout this episode, is a licensed marriage and family therapist and is listed in the Care & Support Resources section on The Waiting Place website.
You can learn more about her and connect with her here.
Need Support?
If this conversation brings up emotions or you find yourself needing support, Patti offers one-on-one conversations for those navigating grief, loss, and life transitions.
You’re welcome to reach out here.
Reflection
What emotions have you been trying to separate from each other?
What might happen if you allowed joy and grief to exist together instead?
Share This Episode
“The sun is still there, even when grief makes it hard to feel the light.”
If this episode resonated with you, consider sharing it with someone who may be carrying more than they know how to name.
