Time Does Not Heal All Wounds: Diandra Ford-Wing on What Actually Gets You Through
My guest today is Diandra Ford-Wing. Diandra Ford-Wing is a dynamic and innovative Sales Director whose profound journey through grief ignited her passion for storytelling. After the sudden loss of her mother, Diandra made the courageous decision to pause her thriving career, allowing herself the space to heal and reflect. This transformative experience ultimately inspired her debut novel, "Red Bird," a heartfelt exploration of loss and resilience. In this episode we discuss grief, the good grief framework, redbird, mental health and legacy.
Website - https://www.booksbydiandra.com/
IG - https://www.instagram.com/diandrafordwing/
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/diandrafordwing
Diandra's Book - https://www.amazon.com/RED-BIRD-DIANDRA-F-WING/dp/B0DNBBJJDH
In this episode you will learn:
1. Why a three-day bereavement policy made Diandra quit her job the day after her mother's memorial, and what that decision revealed about what it truly means to honor being human — Diandra came out of a four-hour revenue meeting to find dozens of missed calls from her siblings. Her mother was gone. A company policy gave her three days to grieve a woman she talked to six or seven times every single day. The day after the memorial she called her boss and resigned. That one act of choosing herself became the crack that let everything else in, including Redbird.
2. Why grief is not one size fits all, and the Good Grief framework that helps people name their pain, offer themselves grace, and actually move through loss instead of just pushing past it — Good Grief breaks it down: Give it a name, Offer yourself grace, release unrealistic performance expectations, be Open to support, and choose what showing up looks like for you now. Diandra is clear, "time heals all wounds" is one of the most harmful phrases in grief culture. All time does is make it longer since the loss was fresh. The invisible wounds need the most care.
3. Why grief is love with nowhere to go, and what happens when you stop trying to outrun it and let it become the doorway to your most authentic voice — Diandra didn't know she had a book inside her. She just started writing because she had to get it out. While she was grieving she was writing Redbird. While she was writing Redbird she was grieving. The two were inseparable. That creative doorway only opened because she stopped performing fine, sat in the pain, and trusted that honoring her humanity mattered more than meeting anyone's expectations..
“We all have one life to live, and if you are not getting the satisfaction, the happiness, what have you, whatever it needs to make you keep going." - 00:06:43
"The thing is that when you take the humanity out of something like a loss or death, that makes it, it makes people more prone to not dealing with it themselves." - 00:28:47
"I would just say, life is meant to be lived, and I know most of us on this planet are doing the best that we can, but you've got to make space for happiness in your life." - 00:56:39
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