Alix and David Long welcome you back to the Wake the F*** Up podcast this week for part two of our in-depth conversation, talking about grief, aging parents, fear, safety, and loneliness. If you missed last week’s episode, David is officially joining Alix as the co-host of Wake the F*** Up! We are thrilled to be able to share David’s unique perspective with our listeners every week. We had so much to cover in this conversation, we ended up making it into two episodes.This week, Alix and David are talking about the stage of life they are in (as are many of our listeners) as parents are aging, and the grief that comes when you lose a parent. Alix emphasizes how important it is for people to update their coping strategies on a regular basis, especially as parts of your life start to change, parents become less independent and maybe need more help from you than they used to.Alix shares some lessons from the trauma course she’s taking, including a deeper look at how trauma deregulates your nervous system, what happens when you don’t feel safe, and why you need to feel safety in order to heal. Listen as Alix unpacks the chemical, biological and evolutionary reasons why feeling safe is an essential part of having good relationships. This same effect can also stop someone from healing completely and living consciously in their grief journey. As Alix explains, there are parts of your brain that just will not open all the way if you are locked into a survival or fight or flight mentality.Alix also touches on the somatic exercises available in the WAKE wellness app to help people connect and get insight into how they are feeling during the day. And David shares his experience from the male perspective about what it takes for him to feel safety and security. Spoiler alert - his experience is definitely tied into the stereotypical male feeling of needing to be the provider in a relationship. We are sure that some of our male listeners can relate to this!Be sure to stick around for the end of the episode when David shares his view of how powerful an experience it can be to wake up and live consciously. David says, “There's no doubt in my mind. It is scary, but there's absolutely no doubt, I don't want to sound evangelical about it, but there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that this is a better way to live for most people.”
