The Stages of Grief: Denial

·29 min·2 clips

Jessimae Peluso explores denial in grief while admitting she's convinced her 15-year-old dog will live forever.

Jessimae Peluso opens the episode by introducing denial as the first stage of grief, describing it as emotional bubble wrap that lets you pretend everything is fine. She immediately personalizes the topic by revealing she is currently in denial about her 15-year-old pit bull, Carlin, who is sick, believing he will live forever. Peluso outlines the seven stages of grief, with this episode focusing on shock and denial. She explains denial is like a doorman letting you into a burning building while hiding the fire, and lists common manifestations: fake positivity, busyness, isolation, emotional numbness, and outright refusal to accept reality. Peluso shares detailed personal anecdotes, including performing through her parents' deaths, her mother's hospitalization where she maintained hope despite intubation, and her father's vascular dementia where she denied its severity. She reads listener stories submitted to the podcast, such as a couple who kept a terminal cancer diagnosis secret to have a special final year, a father denying he needs a hearing aid, and families in denial about children's behavioral issues. Peluso discusses how denial can be protective but also dangerous, especially in addiction, where it shields painful truths. She reflects on her past podcast episode after her mother's death, noting her voice sounded superficial initially, showing how denial affects self-expression. The episode concludes with Peluso encouraging listeners to embrace where they are in their grief journey, describing denial as nature's painkiller that can become delusional if lingered in too long, and inviting listeners to share their own denial stories.

As heard by us

A funny, tender review of denial, busywork, and the pressure to seem fine.

Denial gets a warm, unruly reading here: emotional bubble wrap, a mental loophole where someone gone can still be imagined as simply away in Italy.

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Why you'd press play

If grief has turned you into a productivity machine insisting everything is fine, this is your gently roasted intervention.

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