Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I was so excited about coming to Earth.I had it all planned out.The people I would love.The life I thought I was going to live.
I couldn’t wait.I heard Earth was this great adventure.
And just before I left, as I was turning toward the door,someone gently pulled me aside.
Not urgently.Not dramatically.Just enough to make me stop.
And they said:
One last thing.
Before you go, there are a few things to remember.
You will forget almost everything.Where you came from.Why you chose this life.How certain you were that love would survive even death.
This forgetting is not a mistake.
It’s the cost of total immersion.
You are not being sent.You are volunteering.
You will enter a body that feels vulnerable.A world that feels heavy.Time will move only in one direction,and answers will not arrive on schedule.
That’s part of the design.
You will love deeply,and you will lose.
Not as punishment,but as initiation.
When someone you love leaves their body,it will feel like the end of everything.
It is not.
It is a change in how love speaks.
Love does not end.It learns a new language.
You will be tempted to believe that silence means absence.
It doesn’t.
Some forms of communication are quieterand require stillness to hear.
You will feel anger—at God,at fate,at the very idea that this was planned.
Your honesty matters more than your politeness.
Do not rush your grief.
Grief is not something to fix.It’s something to listen to.
You will try to return to who you were before.
You cannot.
That version of you completed its assignment.
You are here to become someone who can holdboth love and loss,certainty and mystery,attachment and freedom.
There will be moments when you wonderif any of this mattered.
It did.It does.It will.
And when the homesickness comes—the longing for something you can’t quite name—remember this:
Even the most beautiful journeycreates a desire to go home.
And after everything—the loving,the losing,the questioning—
there is one thing I hope you remember.
When you’re there,there will be voices.
Oh yes, there will be many voices.
Some will tell you that your body is all there is.That there was nothing before,nothing after,and that nothing really matters.
Other voices will tell you that they have all the answers.That if you just follow them,believe what they say,do what they do,everything will be fine.
And if you don’t listen,they will threaten you—with guilt,with fear,with punishment.
Here is the key, my friend.
The voice you’re listening foris not out there.
It’s the one inside you.
The still, small voice within.
Now, you won’t be able to remembereverything I’m telling you now.
The greater part of youwill be left here.
But if you can remember this—if you can remember to turn within,to listen beneath the noise—
you will be fine.
When your time there ends,you will not be evaluatedby how productive you were,or how well you performed.
You will be recognizedby how deeply you loved.
The relationships you havedo not end at death.
They mature.
You’ve done this before.
You will do it again.
For now, forget.
You’ll rememberwhen it matters most
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit grief2growth.substack.com/subscribe (grief2growth.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)
I was so excited about coming to Earth.I had it all planned out.The people I would love.The life I thought I was going to live.
I couldn’t wait.I heard Earth was this great adventure.
And just before I left, as I was turning toward the door,someone gently pulled me aside.
Not urgently.Not dramatically.Just enough to make me stop.
And they said:
One last thing.
Before you go, there are a few things to remember.
You will forget almost everything.Where you came from.Why you chose this life.How certain you were that love would survive even death.
This forgetting is not a mistake.
It’s the cost of total immersion.
You are not being sent.You are volunteering.
You will enter a body that feels vulnerable.A world that feels heavy.Time will move only in one direction,and answers will not arrive on schedule.
That’s part of the design.
You will love deeply,and you will lose.
Not as punishment,but as initiation.
When someone you love leaves their body,it will feel like the end of everything.
It is not.
It is a change in how love speaks.
Love does not end.It learns a new language.
You will be tempted to believe that silence means absence.
It doesn’t.
Some forms of communication are quieterand require stillness to hear.
You will feel anger—at God,at fate,at the very idea that this was planned.
Your honesty matters more than your politeness.
Do not rush your grief.
Grief is not something to fix.It’s something to listen to.
You will try to return to who you were before.
You cannot.
That version of you completed its assignment.
You are here to become someone who can holdboth love and loss,certainty and mystery,attachment and freedom.
There will be moments when you wonderif any of this mattered.
It did.It does.It will.
And when the homesickness comes—the longing for something you can’t quite name—remember this:
Even the most beautiful journeycreates a desire to go home.
And after everything—the loving,the losing,the questioning—
there is one thing I hope you remember.
When you’re there,there will be voices.
Oh yes, there will be many voices.
Some will tell you that your body is all there is.That there was nothing before,nothing after,and that nothing really matters.
Other voices will tell you that they have all the answers.That if you just follow them,believe what they say,do what they do,everything will be fine.
And if you don’t listen,they will threaten you—with guilt,with fear,with punishment.
Here is the key, my friend.
The voice you’re listening foris not out there.
It’s the one inside you.
The still, small voice within.
Now, you won’t be able to remembereverything I’m telling you now.
The greater part of youwill be left here.
But if you can remember this—if you can remember to turn within,to listen beneath the noise—
you will be fine.
When your time there ends,you will not be evaluatedby how productive you were,or how well you performed.
You will be recognizedby how deeply you loved.
The relationships you havedo not end at death.
They mature.
You’ve done this before.
You will do it again.
For now, forget.
You’ll rememberwhen it matters most
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit grief2growth.substack.com/subscribe (grief2growth.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)
