In this episode of Silver Talks, host Sharon Ryan sits down with Dr. Ava Pommerenk, national speaker, empowerment coach, Silver Awakening mentor, and facilitator of the Loss & Grieving Silver Circle, for a deeply insightful conversation about the many forms grief can take. Ava explains that grief is our response to loss—and loss can accompany everything from divorce and an empty nest to aging, changing relationships, shifting identities, and even positive life transitions. For women over 50, these changes can bring a powerful period of “life review,” when we begin asking whether the life we’ve been living still reflects who we truly are.

Together, Sharon and Ava explore why grief is rarely linear, why old losses can resurface alongside new ones, and why isolation can sometimes feel necessary—but can also become a place where we get stuck. They discuss the importance of community, self-compassion, and practical ways to move through grief, from music and journaling to simply allowing ourselves to feel what we feel. And Ava leaves us with a beautiful metaphor: grief can feel like swimming between two islands—the life we can no longer return to and the new life we cannot yet see. There may be moments when we feel as though we’re drowning, but eventually we begin to float, then swim again, and finally glimpse the shore ahead.

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.silverawakening.com to learn more.

In this episode of Silver Talks®, host Sharon Ryan sits down with SILVER AWAKENING mentor Kay Seelinger for an intimate conversation about reclaiming yourself after divorce—for women navigating this profound transition after 50. Together, they explore why later-life divorce can feel so disorienting, often unraveling not only a marriage but also the identity, expectations and vision of the future a woman may have carried for decades. Kay reframes the question “Who am I now?” not as a call to reinvent yourself entirely, but as an invitation to come home to the woman who has been there all along.

The conversation also explores betrayal, narcissistic relationships and the difficult process of learning to trust yourself again. Kay explains how betrayal can deeply affect a woman’s sense of worth, while emphasizing that another person’s decision to betray is not a reflection of her value. Whether a divorce is high-conflict or relatively amicable, grief, disappointment and loss still deserve to be acknowledged. Rather than rushing toward the “next chapter,” Kay encourages women to give themselves the space and grace to feel what has ended, rediscover their own voice and begin making conscious choices about what they want to carry forward.

Sharon and Kay also share practical ways women can support themselves through the transition, including creating guiding principles, seeking safe community, reconnecting with the body through gentle movement, and remembering that healing does not happen in isolation. Perhaps most powerfully, they remind listeners that grief and joy can exist at the same time—and that what feels like an ending can gradually become a return to self. The woman emerging after divorce is not starting from nothing; she is drawing on everything she has lived, learned and survived to discover just how much possibility is still ahead.

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.silverawakening.com to learn more.

Thank you for listening! Visit us at www.silverawakening.com to learn more.