Meghan Riordan Jarvis on What to Do When You Feel Helpless

Every Soul Has A Story® LIVE
With guest @meghan.riordan.jarvis @griefismysidehustle

Last night I texted Meghan at 9:30. I sensed like many of us she was wide awake. Processing. Grieving. Feeling. And providing support not only to her own family but her clients as well.

I wrote, “Are you feeling spontaneous?”

“What do you mean by that?” she replied.

I asked her if she’d jump on my Every Soul Has a Story LIVE podcast today. She said she wished she could but she’s booked solid. Then, a rainbow in this horrific storm, Meghan reached out to me literally an hour ago. 🌈

Truth be told, I was still in my pajamas. Feeling the heaviness. Feeling the collective grief. Feeling it all.

So I quickly ended a chat with a friend. Hung up the phone, threw on a shirt, and connected with this beautiful soul. 💜

I have endless questions. But I have no answers. I feel helpless—I know I’m not alone. And I want you to know you are not either.

I hope our conversation brings comfort and healing to your hearts. Meghan also demonstrated ways to connect with our bodies and identify the pain. And she shared other insights as well. Thank you, Meghan. You are a light in our world. 🙏

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Those circuit board games from the 80s—with all the wires and buzzers—are exactly what grief and trauma specialist Meghan Riordan Jarvis says her nervous system feels like right now. In this raw, spontaneous conversation recorded the day after the Uvalde school shooting, Meghan and host Dara Levan skip the platitudes and get real about helplessness, rage, and the physical weight of collective grief. A therapist who woke up at 5 a.m. with her nervous system overwhelmed, Meghan shares why your reaction to this tragedy is 100% appropriate, why "call your congressman" feels like too much right now, and how to actually be with your pain instead of dissociating through Netflix or food.

She leads listeners through a powerful body-based exercise using a "paint" visualization to locate tension, and reminds us that while we may feel frozen, the most important thing we can do is simply stay here—with ourselves, with our grief, and with each other.

0:00 - Impromptu episode on Uvalde
2:00 - Box breathing exercise
5:38 - Processing trauma and helplessness
8:13 - Dysregulation and the body
9:45 - Grief as a full-contact sport
13:28 - Accessing the emotional body
14:23 - Body scan and paint visualization
16:44 - Being with the pain
19:10 - Fight, flight, freeze, and connect
20:33 - Envy, anger, and processing emotions
22:11 - Dissociation and resisting feelings
23:05 - No right way to react
24:51 - Putting on your emotional oxygen mask
25:00 - Final thoughts and community

• https://www.instagram.com/dara.levan/
• Website: daralevan.com3
https://meghanriordanjarvis.com/

QUOTES:
"I show up with my adult self for my emotional child self and I hug it and I hold it. And I don't make any promises."
– Meghan Riordan Jarvis

"Every Soul Has a Story is about connecting community who are also hurting so we feel less isolated."
– Dara Levan