6: After The Storm: Where Healing Begins presented by Brian D. Smith - Episode 66: After The Storm: Where Healing Begins presented by Brian D. Smith - Episode 6
UK Health Radio Podcast
Brian D. Smith shares how he weaves gratitude, exercise, mindfulness and self-care into an ordinary day to support healing after loss. The conversation focuses on tiny, realistic steps and honest guidance for building habits that can survive grief, low motivation and busy lives.
43:27•31 Jul 2026
After The Storm: Small Habits That Support Healing After Loss
Episode Overview
- Start with three small things you’re grateful for before getting out of bed, focusing on the feeling as well as the thought.
- Combine practices where possible – for example, walking can include exercise, mindfulness, gratitude and time in nature.
- Adopt baby steps: short walks, brief mindfulness moments and one clear boundary are easier to sustain than big, dramatic changes.
- Expect dips in motivation and missed days; treat them as cues to restart rather than reasons to quit.
- Reframe self-care and rest as responsible and necessary, recognising your own energy levels so you can keep showing up for others.
“Small is the version that survives a bad week.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety and healing after loss? This episode of "After The Storm: Where Healing Begins" stays close to the pain of grief, while offering very down-to-earth ways to support yourself through everyday life. Host Brian D. Smith, a certified grief guide whose own path shifted after the passing of his 15-year-old daughter Shana, focuses on the practical side of his GEMS framework: gratitude, exercise, mindfulness and self-care.
You’ll hear how he starts his day with three small moments of gratitude before his feet touch the floor – often including his elderly dog Stevie, a living link to Shana – because, as he says, he wants to "start the day thinking about what I have, instead of thinking about what I don't have." His walk doubles up as exercise, time in nature, and a chance to feel his daughter’s presence, illustrating how the four pillars overlap rather than stand as separate boxes to tick.
Rather than sharing a glossy success story, he walks you through an ordinary Tuesday, from his alarm going off two hours early to his six-mile walk, showing how these practices fit into real life, bad weather and all. Brian also talks honestly about habit-building: the lure of streak counters on meditation apps, why "small is the version that survives a bad week," and the reality that most people will want to quit around week two.
He breaks the myth of the 21-day habit and explains research showing it often takes closer to 66 days, while stressing that missing a day isn’t failure – it’s a chance to start again. For anyone in grief, including those reworking their relationship with alcohol or other coping mechanisms, his emphasis on self-care and boundaries may hit home.
He tackles guilt head-on, reframing rest as responsibility, not selfishness, and encourages baby steps: ten minutes of walking, a few breaths at your desk, one "no" where you’d usually say "yes." You’ll be left asking yourself: what’s one tiny change you’re ready to make to support your healing today?
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