Grief is lonely in a particular way. The world moves on, and you are left carrying something most of the people around you cannot see. One thing that helps is hearing someone else say it out loud. These are grief podcasts worth a listen, for the car, a walk, or the small hours when sleep will not come.
A mix from Ireland and further afield. Some are gentle, some will make you laugh, all of them are people talking plainly about loss.
Every one of these shows is built on the same simple act: someone says the name of the person they lost, and tells a story about them. It can feel like you are not supposed to, that you will make people uncomfortable, or that by now you should be past it. You are allowed. Saying their name keeps them in the room. Telling the story one more time is not going backwards. For a lot of people it is the thing that loosens the knot, a little, for an afternoon.
Grief is not a problem to be solved, and nothing makes it disappear. What helps is connection: being around people who knew them, hearing that you are not the only one who feels this way, being allowed to laugh and cry inside the same ten minutes. That is what these podcasts hand you, a room full of people who understand. It is also what family and friends give you, when everyone tells their own piece of the same person and you see how many pieces there are.
Listening to other people talk about their person tends to make you want to hold onto yours. The stories about your mum that only her sister knows. The way your dad told that one joke. The voice itself, before it softens in your memory.
That is what Chorus is for. Everyone who loved the person records a short story about them, in their own voice, from wherever they are. It becomes one book you can hear, read and hold: their voice, and everyone's memories of them, kept in one place instead of scattered across a dozen phones. There is no rush. People add their stories when they are ready, and the book waits for them.
Widely loved ones include Shapes of Grief, Grief Encounters, Griefcast and What's Your Grief. From Ireland there is also Family Flowers Only, RIP.ie's Parting Words, Death Becomes Him and How to Fall Apart. Links to all eight are above.
Yes. Shapes of Grief, Family Flowers Only by Grief Ireland, Parting Words, Grief Encounters, Death Becomes Him and How to Fall Apart are all Irish.
For many people it does. Saying the name of the person you lost and telling stories about them can be cathartic, and hearing others do the same is a reminder you are not alone. The antidote to grief is connection, not silence.
With Chorus, everyone who loved the person records a short story about them in their own voice, and it becomes one book the family can hear, read and hold.