123. Men, Mental Health, Grief, and Finding Life After: Mark Schutter

In 1993 Mark's first wife, aged 27, died of metastatic breast cancer. He did what he believed was expected of him as a young man - move on. He remarried, had a daughter and many years later the grief resurfaced. Over the past 5 years through counseling and writing creatively he was able to write his memoir "Cowboys Are Not Supposed to Cry" chronicling his story of love, loss, grief, healing and “life after...” He continues to fight for others and their healing. He seeks truth, writes poetry and stories while often stumbling along the way. He has navigated the pain of loss and grief to find hope and love again. Grief is not something you just get over and he tells his story of living a life while acknowledging and carrying grief. He has poems published in several anthologies on the topics of love, loss, grief, healing, hope and self-discovery under the pen name Mark Wayne. He is happily remarried to a wonderful woman who he claims is the most beautiful and strongest woman he has ever known. He has been blessed with a beautiful daughter who keeps him young in this second chapter of life that he has been granted. He enjoys horses and mountain biking when not writing. He believes in the ‘ripple effect,’ touch one life and you may touch the world, for to share the journey, however brief, is a wonderful gift. His wish is to share the joys, the sorrows, the hope and healing to inspire others to live despite the grief we all carry because there is “life after…”. ******* Thanks for being here! Please consider subscribing and rating The Death Dialogues Project Podcast to help us get these episodes in front of folks who need them. The book Death and its Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Beautiful Lessons: field notes from The Death Dialogues Project is on sale everywhere you buy your books. Here's one link: https://tinyurl.com/2p9c25rt As the Kiwis say, this project runs on the smell of an oily rag (read: no income or funding)-- the purchase of the very affordable book will go towards costs for running this project. "Just finished this wonderful resource by Becky Aud-Jennison called, Death and Its Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Beautiful Lessons. If you have any desire to learn the effects the death of a loved one has on us, read this book. It is one of those lovely books that combines story, science and the experience of the author to illuminate a profound topic in an understandable way." - Jennifer A. O'Brien, author of Hospice Doctor's Widow