Shownotes
Alana and Blair met in Los Angeles to attend End Well and Grieftastic. End Well is a grief conference and is considered “A Day About Death & Life: For the Curious and Courageous.” The day was full of inspirational speakers, deep connections and all of the feelings. The following day was Grieftastic, a book fair with grief books, panels, networking, and a lot of laughing. This episode is a digest of their two days and the amazing people they met.
End Well: https://endwellproject.org/end-well-2025/
Grieftastic: https://www.grieftastic.com/
Buy The Global Resilience Project books: https://theglobalresilienceproject.com/books/
⚠️ Content Note: Some episodes may contain themes that could be distressing. Please take care of yourself while listening, and don’t hesitate to seek support from a mental health professional if needed.
About the Hosts:
Blair Kaplan Venables is a British Columbia-based grief and resilience expert and coach, motivational speaker and the Founder of The Global Resilience Project. Her expertise has been featured on media platforms like Forbes, TEDx, CBC Radio, Entrepreneur, and Thrive Global. She is named the Top Grief and Resilience Expert of the Year 2024 by IAOTP. USA Today listed Blair as one of the top 10 conscious female leaders to watch and she empowers others to be resilient from stages around the world. 'MyStory,’ which is a television show available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and Google Play, showcases Blair's life story. She is the host of the Radical Resilience podcast and specializes in helping people strengthen their resilience muscle using scientifically proven methods and guides grieving high performers with her Navigating Grief Framework. The Global Resilience Project’s award-winning book series are international bestsellers, and her fourth book, RESILIENT A.F.: Stories of Resilience Vol 2, will be published in January 2025. In her free time, you can find Blair writing, in nature, travelling the world and helping people to strengthen their resilience muscles.
Links:
https://theglobalresilienceproject.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/blairdkaplan
https://www.facebook.com/blair.kaplan
https://www.facebook.com/BlairKaplanCommunications
https://www.instagram.com/globalresiliencecommunity
https://www.instagram.com/blairfromblairland/
https://www.facebook.com/globalresiliencecommunity
https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-global-resilience-project
Alana Kaplan is a compassionate mental health professional based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She works in the mental health field, and is a co-host of the Resilient A.F. podcast. Fueled by advocacy, Alana is known for standing up and speaking out for others. Passionate about de-stigmatizing and normalizing mental health, Alana brings her experience to The Global Resilience Project’s team, navigating the role one’s mental health plays in telling their story.
Engaging in self-care and growth keeps her going, and her love for reading, travel, and personal relationships helps foster that. When she’s not working, Alana can often be found on walks, working on a crossword puzzle, or playing with any animal she sees.
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Transcripts
I love meeting new people, especially because sometimes I feel like the work that we
Speaker:do in the grief space is quite siloed and to be in a room of
Speaker:people where I feel like I just belong and that the work we do
Speaker:really matters. And supported by my peers, like I felt like I was
Speaker:in the right place at the right time and every conversation I had was someone
Speaker:who is doing work in the grief or end of life space
Speaker:in some capacity. And some of these people I was meeting
Speaker:I've been following online for a while and so it was really cool to
Speaker:meet these people that I've built these online relationships. Relationships with or like have online
Speaker:fangirled over. Welcome back to another episode of
Speaker:Resilient AF with Blair and Alana. Bed edition.
Speaker:Here we are. We're in the bed after a
Speaker:lovely, lovely couple of days here at
Speaker:at we are in LA right now and we
Speaker:just completed a two day stretch in the
Speaker:griefy world. So the griefy gals
Speaker:took over. Took up. We did not take over. Joined.
Speaker:Can you tell? Can you, can you tell? We're tired. Say it
Speaker:again. No. Okay. This is us end well
Speaker:the end well conference as well as Grieftastic book
Speaker:fair. Kind of like scholastic book fair but for grief.
Speaker:So last time we spoke I was
Speaker:getting ready to go to Australia. So right from
Speaker:leading a grief trip, co facilitating a grief trip in Australia,
Speaker:I flew from Australia to LA for a couple days before Alana came to
Speaker:recalibrate, had some meetings. Alana joined, she flew in from
Speaker:Winnipeg and we, we
Speaker:were, we were so excited because this is the first time we actually in a
Speaker:while in this space where we actually got to be participants in
Speaker:a way of not presenting or being on and we got to
Speaker:actually experience something for the first time last year I
Speaker:watched end well virtually online and it was so inspiring
Speaker:and I said alana, we have to be there next year. And as soon as
Speaker:tickets went on sale, early bird we got our tickets and
Speaker:it was one of the best conferences I have ever seen,
Speaker:ever, ever seen. And it's like Ted, but with a grief end
Speaker:of life focus. There were speakers, a breakout and some of the
Speaker:most phenomenal people I've ever met waiting in line for cookies or snacks
Speaker:or just to get in. And I think like before we talk
Speaker:about the other event, Grieftastic, let's talk about maybe some of our more
Speaker:favorite experiences from NWell besides meeting all the
Speaker:phenomenal, phenomenal people who probably are now lifelong, you know, friends.
Speaker:Alana, let's talk about maybe some of your favorite talks
Speaker:yeah, let's talk about your favorite talks. Okay, well, a little
Speaker:disclosure here for those who are listening. I a few
Speaker:days ago was officially. Well, not quite, but
Speaker:I have suspected or/confirmed
Speaker:ADHD inserted medication you would never really expected.
Speaker:I think for me, unless you knew me very well, I'm very
Speaker:in it, the inattentive type. And so one of the
Speaker:speakers was Dr. Sasha Hamdani. We
Speaker:love her. I've been actually following her for from on Tick Tock
Speaker:for probably like five years since she started on during the pandemic.
Speaker:And she talked about how
Speaker:neurodivergent brains grieve and how
Speaker:to help the neurodivergent brains. She used the
Speaker:term like, oh, like my brain was broken. And it's so
Speaker:interesting because Blair actually used that term when our mom was
Speaker:dying. She kept being like, ah, my brain, my brain is broken
Speaker:in. In. Sorry, that was a little dramatic, but true.
Speaker:And so she had a wonderful talk and shared a little bit
Speaker:about her grief story. Another. Another
Speaker:part I loved was I in my breakout, I
Speaker:went to view a documentary called the Other side.
Speaker:It was. And then a panel on medical assistance in dying and in
Speaker:Canada made is
Speaker:legal with parameters and basically
Speaker:followed under the criminal code. And so it's very specific. And
Speaker:I learned that medical assistance in dying in the
Speaker:states is very different and it's state by state legislation of
Speaker:who can do it if you have to have residents or not. And it
Speaker:was very fascinating to learn about this woman's
Speaker:advocacy work in getting access to maid
Speaker:as an out of state resident and then
Speaker:advocating for her own state. It was so
Speaker:well done. And there wasn't a dry eye in the room
Speaker:like near the end of the film. It was you. All you heard was
Speaker:sniffles. And I, I left a bit early.
Speaker:Like in the panel I heard that this was the short version. Like we didn't
Speaker:even get to see the full version. We only saw the 50 minute version
Speaker:rather than the 90 minute version. So I need to find it. It was amazing.
Speaker:How about you? What were your favorite parts?
Speaker:I mean, I love meeting new people especially because sometimes I feel like
Speaker:the work that we do in the grief space is quite siloed and to be
Speaker:in a room of people where I feel like I just belong and that the
Speaker:work we do really matters and supported by my peers. Like I
Speaker:felt like I was in the right place at the right time and every conversation
Speaker:I had with someone who is doing work in the grief
Speaker:or end of life space in some capacity. And
Speaker:some of these people I was Meeting I've been following online for a while and
Speaker:so it was really cool to meet these people that I've built these online relationships
Speaker:with or like have online fangirled over. So I think meeting
Speaker:new friends and people that I've been connected with online and meeting people from around
Speaker:the world that would we have ever met in person if it wasn't for this
Speaker:conference, I think was my favorite bit. Did you want the mic? Okay, hold
Speaker:on. Speaking of that, I just want to. Give a special shout out
Speaker:that's med's wearing off. I did not interrupt.
Speaker:I put my finger up. You asked me what my favorite thing was and I
Speaker:was answering. Oh yeah, that's true. Well, thank you for sharing the mic. The
Speaker:Microphone sisters.
Speaker:So one of my favorite moments of people I met.
Speaker:So I had been following her for quite some time on Instagram. Tasha
Speaker:faruki of the Farooqi 5. You should all follow
Speaker:her. And she talks about her. Well, her
Speaker:account is about her family, specifically her
Speaker:13 year old daughter who sa who's in hospice.
Speaker:She has. She's a medically complex
Speaker:youth who is not getting better and
Speaker:they have very open and honest conversations about end of life. And
Speaker:so she happened to ride with us in an Uber on the way back and
Speaker:I was very excited. You know, I can't remember all the
Speaker:speakers names because, well, it's past my bed. It's almost past my bedtime.
Speaker:And what. So there was Joelle and she's the
Speaker:grave lady. Yeah. Is it the grave lady?
Speaker:And Joelle Simone and she
Speaker:spoke about ritual and I thought that was really
Speaker:beautiful because I think ritual is such an important part of
Speaker:life and end of life and afterlife and everything in between.
Speaker:And also I think my friend Rebecca
Speaker:spoke and she talked about grief in the workplace and it. Was
Speaker:that the first time you heard her speak? Did you follow her on social media
Speaker:before? I don't think I did, but
Speaker:I immediately like my head was hurting from nodding at
Speaker:the whole time. She's a phenomenal storyteller. She is. Grieve
Speaker:Leave is the name of her company and I think
Speaker:Griefed up might be the name of her podcast. I can't remember right now. I'm
Speaker:sorry, Rebecca, don't hate me. My brain hurts from all the learning.
Speaker:But she's just a phenomenal public speaker. And
Speaker:you know, I'm gonna put all these links in the show notes to. I'm gonna
Speaker:put a link to end well so you can see who the speakers are there.
Speaker:There wasn't a bad speaker. There wasn't A bad experience. Like even the
Speaker:gluten free, dairy free cookies were amazing
Speaker:and the venue and everything. The only complaint was that it was pouring rain and
Speaker:no one can control that except mother Nature. But it was just
Speaker:amazing. And so some of these connections, it's like we shared an Uber ride with
Speaker:a couple people and it feels like in that 10 minute ride, it's like we
Speaker:just developed this lifelong relationship. And.
Speaker:And then that evening, you know, sitting around
Speaker:hanging out in the hotel in the lobby and people coming and going
Speaker:and getting to have more of a conversation was amazing. Luckily we stayed at the
Speaker:hotel where a lot of people are staying, including the speakers. And
Speaker:we actually had to leave the conference early. So we're gonna have to catch some
Speaker:of the recordings. Recordings of it because we were
Speaker:filming for a documentary and we'll share more about that later. But
Speaker:Alana and I in the Global Resilience Project and our story
Speaker:of community and meaning making will be featured in
Speaker:a documentary that. And we're just like very honored to be included
Speaker:in this with some legends in the grief space, but also the
Speaker:support of the grief community with the work that we're doing in the Global Resilience
Speaker:Project. To me it's like very surreal because we,
Speaker:we built what we needed and we're helping so many people and this
Speaker:is going to help us reach our goal of 888 million people being inspired to
Speaker:strengthen their resilience muscle. Did you have anything you wanted to add about
Speaker:day one? We just had a very lovely dinner
Speaker:with. No. Okay.
Speaker:Lovely dinner with the creator of the documentary, one of the co
Speaker:creators, Grant. Oh, that day. And then
Speaker:I topped my day off by seeing Wicked for
Speaker:Good, which was amazing and actually very apt
Speaker:timing. Just there's a lot of grief within it and
Speaker:I've been listening to one song on repeat since
Speaker:For Good. And she made a reel which showcased our mom. And then
Speaker:I cried multiple times. Okay. So then the next day was
Speaker:Grieftastic. And it's like a scholastic book fair but
Speaker:for griefbooks, but griefier, but also vibrant colors,
Speaker:brilliant marketing. And last year I heard about it for the first
Speaker:time and it was the first year they ran it, this is the second year.
Speaker:And so we went to the bestie VIP brunch
Speaker:and we got to meet basically other celebrities
Speaker:in the grief space and people that are so
Speaker:inspiring, that have inspired our work who are just doing really cool
Speaker:stuff, really phenomenal, innovative people
Speaker:in like the grief and resilience space. There was a panel
Speaker:discussion and then it opened up to the
Speaker:Public and it was a book fair, so there were books to buy. And then
Speaker:there were different panel discussions. Some of our friends that we met the day before
Speaker:were on panels and we made some really beautiful connections. And
Speaker:what I really loved was like, I know people who, like, I know people online
Speaker:and I was meeting people in person, but not necessarily in the beginning of our
Speaker:deep conversations, connecting the dots. That the person I was having this deep and
Speaker:meaningful conversation was someone that I was connected with online and very inspired
Speaker:by. And I like that approach anyways, because I don't want to.
Speaker:I don't need to research people know who they are. I'd rather have these authentic
Speaker:conversations than seek out the celebrities or those people
Speaker:and fangirl because that allows me to come at the conversation in a
Speaker:different way than being like starstruck. And. And I'm always like that.
Speaker:Like, I also, even if I did research, I have trouble,
Speaker:like someone I see on an Instagram, like grid photo versus in real
Speaker:life, often we all look a little different. And so some of the
Speaker:conversations were just so beautiful. And the support we
Speaker:got for what we're doing and the work that we're doing was just.
Speaker:It's just incredible. It's absolutely incredible. The support that we're getting from
Speaker:these New York Times bestsellers and people featured in like, New York
Speaker:Times and Forbes and People and National
Speaker:Geographic, all these massive publications. Harvard Business Review
Speaker:wanting to help lift up our mission. And I, like
Speaker:words can't describe how grateful I am that
Speaker:we. I felt held and I felt loved. And
Speaker:it's hard because, like, we aren't following a blueprint to grow this community.
Speaker:You know, we know, like, you know what we're doing. We're also working on a
Speaker:TV show. We have some, you know, quirky fun like
Speaker:clothing that we're going to be dropping over the next year. Just trying out some
Speaker:new things. We're publishing two new books. So
Speaker:the first weekend of December, we're going to be in New York for Resilient AF
Speaker:Skin Deep Stories book launch. We are having another book Launch
Speaker:for Resilient AF Stories of Resilience, Volume 3 in
Speaker:March in New York. We're just trying to make a difference and create these
Speaker:unique, special spaces for people to share their stories and strengthen their resilience
Speaker:muscle and for people to recognize us in person because they
Speaker:follow. Our work online was so special. And for those
Speaker:people who were like, you're familiar. And I'm like, I follow you. And then they're
Speaker:like, oh, wow, yeah, this is the work you're doing. And for other people to
Speaker:put the pieces of the puzzle together. It was like this beautiful synergy of,
Speaker:like, how can we help each other? How can we lift each other? And so
Speaker:graciously, Grieftastic allowed us to put up some marketing information about the global
Speaker:Resilience project. So we had a huge banner with a QR code promoting
Speaker:everything we're doing, including the books that we already have published,
Speaker:promoting them to the world of grief authors and grievers.
Speaker:Yeah, you said that beautifully. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker:Grieftastic was really fun. Fantastic. It was fantastic. It was
Speaker:Grieftastic, actually. And so it's interesting,
Speaker:at the beginning of the year, I set this goal for myself.
Speaker:A bingo card, which we've referenced before, that I wasn't
Speaker:gonna buy any books this year. I was gonna mostly do
Speaker:library or Spotify. Libby.
Speaker:Just because I have a little bit of a. A book
Speaker:addiction. And. What is it? Bibliophile? I would
Speaker:say I'm a bibliophile. And so I had been doing
Speaker:so well. Had not bought one book this year.
Speaker:Well, at Grieftastic, I kind of blacked.
Speaker:Out addicts and addict. And I bought, like, six
Speaker:books. I was like, I need this. I need
Speaker:this. I need this. I need this blacked up. Lana's like,
Speaker:I just bought so many books, she didn't even tell me. Yeah,
Speaker:it. It happened very fast.
Speaker:And, like, I'm very excited to read them all. Like, I started. I
Speaker:started one by Samantha Rose.
Speaker:And I'm going to. She's our friend that I'll tell you a story about
Speaker:Samantha in a second. And. And I couldn't put the first chapter down.
Speaker:So I finished the first chapter. And my plan is to read it on the
Speaker:plane tomorrow. By the time
Speaker:this comes out, my hope is I will have been finished it and been so
Speaker:immersed, which I will be, because she's a fantastic writer.
Speaker:Anyways, so that was a highlight for me because
Speaker:now I have all these new books. I don't get to mark this off the
Speaker:bingo card, unfortunately. But you know what? You win some,
Speaker:you lose some. And I would say I did 11
Speaker:months. And this. I feel like it's okay.
Speaker:Like, these are all wonderful books of people I've now met, and
Speaker:I'm supporting them. And so this doesn't feel bad. It feels
Speaker:great. Okay, so
Speaker:we can't wait for next year. We're like, as soon as tickets are on sale
Speaker:for both, we're in. Here we are. We're already here.
Speaker:Count us in. Like, I cannot wait. Sold. This was the best conference we've probably
Speaker:both ever been to. Ever. So back to Sam,
Speaker:Samantha Rose. So my breakout that I went to was
Speaker:I went to meditation and a sound bath. And I was excited because
Speaker:I was like, I'm gonna get to lie down and close my eyes.
Speaker:That's. And, like, relax and take a minute to myself.
Speaker:But, like, the room, unfortunately, was, like, a little chilly, and I was in a
Speaker:skirt, and I was kind of on the ground. And anyways, I was starving because
Speaker:I wasn't eating as much because I was just chatting and connecting with people. So
Speaker:I was trying to snack on some peanuts, and I was chatting with some new
Speaker:friends, and I met Sam. But at the same time as meeting Sam, as I
Speaker:breathed in while chewing a peanut and I started choking.
Speaker:Like, I'm talking. Like, I could not stop coughing. Like, I was making a scene.
Speaker:And, like, this is a quiet room. So, like, I had to excuse myself.
Speaker:Came back still choking. I was like.
Speaker:Couldn't really get to know her. We met it. We did this
Speaker:most beautiful meditation with, like, you know, singing bowls.
Speaker:And then I was. I knew that her mom
Speaker:had died, and I wanted to know more about it. I knew she
Speaker:wrote a book. And then I choked. That's all I got. And then. So after
Speaker:this meditation, my choking, obviously, thank God, went away.
Speaker:And I was able to talk more to her because part of
Speaker:it was we could share who we visualized in this, and she didn't share. And.
Speaker:And so I asked her what the name of her mom is, and it's
Speaker:Susan. And we just started this beautiful conversation, and then, like,
Speaker:we basically spent the rest of the day together. And she was
Speaker:an. We learned that she's an author and that her book was going to be
Speaker:in Grieftastic, but we just fully hit it off with Sam, and
Speaker:it was just, like, one of the most delightful surprises. And it all is because
Speaker:I choked on a peanut in her sound bath. So. But
Speaker:yeah, she's actually a ghost writer and she teaches writing, and she.
Speaker:Her book is just phenomenal. Like, her job is writing, and she's written many great
Speaker:things, including New York Times bestseller. So, Alana, if Alana loves
Speaker:it, I know I'm going to love it, and I'm excited to read it. And.
Speaker:But, yeah, Sam was definitely a highlight of the whole weekend. And so shout out
Speaker:to you, Sam, and just
Speaker:like, it's. Yeah, she was definitely, like, a highlight, and she's a
Speaker:super funny person. But, yeah, Grieftastic was
Speaker:amazing. So thanks, Megan, for putting it on. And if you
Speaker:are Curious about this. Like I've had a couple of our authors even reach out
Speaker:on social, like maybe I need to be here next year. And if you want
Speaker:to know more about it, connect with us on social, global resilience, community
Speaker:and ask us about it. But like
Speaker:these are our people. These are our people. We also
Speaker:had a meeting with our manager and one of our executive
Speaker:producers on the TV show. But.
Speaker:But if you want to know more about that, you're gonna have to go to
Speaker:our Patreon. The link is in our show notes. But things are starting to move
Speaker:forward and we ended up having a four and a half hour meeting with her.
Speaker:She came to our hotel, we thought it'd be an hour drink and it was
Speaker:a four and a half hour hilarious emotional
Speaker:roller coaster of learning all about her, her learning
Speaker:about us, the grief world and beyond. So
Speaker:our Patreon link is in the show notes. If you want to learn more about
Speaker:that, you got to come over to our Patreon. So. So before we
Speaker:wrap up, I'm going to pass this over to sister.
Speaker:I was grabby McGrabberson's there almost trying to grab the mic from her.
Speaker:I just want to say she's also a friend who
Speaker:our manager co exact like she's also a friend. Like what are we talking about?
Speaker:Yes. And I also want to add we had met a couple other
Speaker:people after the events too that were wonderful.
Speaker:And yeah, so the best thing is like staying, staying
Speaker:in this hotel, running into people the morning after, the afternoon after
Speaker:before one of our off a couple of our authors are were
Speaker:here and I got to meet people who I've only
Speaker:seen their names on emails like Dr. Heather Taylor. So that was really
Speaker:exciting. There's so many
Speaker:Stephanie, I can name them all. But
Speaker:then that would. You should just follow us and follow them.
Speaker:Amazing. And just like I know I was going to talk about my the grief
Speaker:trip in Australia but basically it was phenomenal. It
Speaker:was two weeks. If you want to go on a grief trip where you're going
Speaker:to cool parts of the world working through your grief.
Speaker:GriefTrips.com Our next trip is in February to the
Speaker:Maldives and then we have Bali in April, Portugal, August.
Speaker:We're not going to dive too deep into that today because Rachel was on the
Speaker:last episode and I just think that the
Speaker:website is very explanatory. I'm a co facilitator on those
Speaker:trips and you get to come and you get to do cool things and we
Speaker:work through navigating your grief, following the navigating grief framework,
Speaker:and it's a really special experience. So also thank you, Rachel, for creating that
Speaker:space. And we had a lot of people actually talk about travel and using
Speaker:travel as healing and I couldn't agree more. But
Speaker:thank you for tuning in to another episode. We are
Speaker:launching our book very soon, so get ready for all this spam. We're
Speaker:ready for you to buy it. Help us become a bestseller. Resilient AF Skin Deep
Speaker:Stories, Coffee table style book showcasing tattoos
Speaker:of resilience from around the world. And remember,
Speaker:you're not alone. You don't have to go through it alone. We're here to hold
Speaker:your hand and be there in the darkness with you. Walk toward, walking towards the
Speaker:light. Like it doesn't have to be lonely. It's scary, but we're here to do
Speaker:it with you. And just remember, friends, you are Resilient
Speaker:AF a f.
