261. Beyond Control - Grief, Health, and Agency with Dr. Lucy McBride

"You can't solve uncertainty, but you can empower people with tools and information to navigate it."

What happens when grief, illness, caregiving, or unexpected change disrupt the life you thought you'd have?

Dr. Lucy McBride, physician, patient advocate, and author of Beyond the Prescription, joins me for a conversation about health, uncertainty, and the difference between agency and control. We explore how grief reshapes our relationship with our bodies, why health is about more than symptoms and lab results, and what it means to care for ourselves when certainty isn't available.

Lucy also shares how the sudden loss of her brother Harry influenced her understanding of impermanence and helped shape the framework at the heart of her work.

In this episode, we talk about:

Grief and uncertainty as part of the human experienceThe Five-Step Framework from Beyond the PrescriptionThe Four I's model and understanding health in contextGrieving the loss of former identities, abilities, and futuresPatient personalities and our search for certaintyThe difference between agency and controlAsking for help without losing yourselfAcceptance, resilience, and living forward after loss

Links + Resources from this episode:

Beyond the Prescription by Dr. Lucy McBride

Dr. Lucy McBride's websiteLucy's Substack, Are You Okay?Follow Dr. Lucy McBride on social media