# Grieving Sober, Loving Honestly, and Rebuilding After Loss with Amanda McKoy Flanagan | 063

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/resilient-a-f-with-blair-and-alana-7122229/grieving-sober-loving-honestly-and-rebuilding-after-loss-with-amanda-mckoy-flanagan-063
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/resilient-a-f-with-blair-and-alana-7122229/grieving-sober-loving-honestly-and-rebuilding-after-loss-with-amanda-mckoy-flanagan-063.md
Podcast: [RESILIENT A.F. with Blair and Alana](https://stenobird.com/podcast/resilient-a-f-with-blair-and-alana-7122229)
Published: 2026-01-20T11:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://blairkaplan.ca/grieving-sober-loving-honestly-and-rebuilding-after-loss-with-amanda-mckoy-flanagan-063
Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/274e2d51-6a82-4b4c-9a1f-c77a7880bca5.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/resilient-a-f-with-blair-and-alana-7122229/episodes/grieving-sober-loving-honestly-and-rebuilding-after-loss-with-amanda-mckoy-flanagan-063
Duration seconds: 2194

## Resource

What happens when grief doesn’t come one loss at a time, but hits you in waves, back-to-back, with no recovery window? In this deeply honest episode of RESILIENT A.F., Blair sits down with Amanda McKoy Flanagan to talk about compound grief, sobriety, marriage, and what it really takes to keep going when life keeps taking. Amanda shares her experience of losing five close family members in just three years, how those losses nearly unraveled her marriage, and why facing grief sober changed everything. This conversation is raw, grounding, and surprisingly hopeful. It’s about grief that doesn’t fit neatly into timelines, the quiet strength of supportive partners, and the courage it takes to look inward instead of numbing out. If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re “doing grief right” (spoiler: there’s no such thing), this episode will feel like a long exhale. After moving from New York to Colorado, Amanda experienced an overwhelming series of losses, including the deaths of her brother, cousin, and former partner. She opens up about how grief stacked on top of grief impacted her emotional health, identity, and marriage. Blair reflects on her own experience with compound loss and speaks candidly about navigating grief while sober, a path that removes the numbing but amplifies the truth. Amanda and Blair explore the difference between grieving in active addiction versus grieving with full emotional presence. Together, they unpack what it means to sit with pain instead of escaping it, and why sobriety can be both brutal and deeply healing when loss hits. Amanda shares a pivotal moment when her husband, Jim, recognized that something wasn’t right and suggested marriage counselling. What followed was resistance, realization, and ultimately repair. If this episode hit home, shar…

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