(written by Pirie Jones Grossman)

The world seems to be reeling from one crisis to another. We’ve experienced a global pandemic, economic uncertainty, political and social turmoil. Then there are personal traumas that people are dealing with, such as the loss of a loved one, health issues, unemployment, divorce or the loss of a job.

Coping with change can be traumatic as it often affects every part of our lives.

How do you deal with loss or change in your life? What coping strategies can you use? Do you ignore them and just push through, or do you use specific techniques?

In this series called “5 Things You Need To Heal After a Dramatic Loss Or Life Change” we are interviewing successful people who were able to heal after a difficult life change such as the loss of a loved one, loss of a job, or other personal hardships. We are also talking to Wellness experts, Therapists, and Mental Health Professionals who can share lessons from their experience and research.

As a part of this interview series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Debi Silber

Dr. Debi Silber is the founder of The PBT (Post Betrayal Transformation) Institute and is a holistic psychologist, a health, mindset and personal development expert, the author of the #1 bestselling book: The Unshakable Woman: 4 Steps to Rebuilding Your Body, Mind and Life After a Life Crisis and her newest book: Trust Again: Overcoming Betrayal and Regaining Health, Confidence and Happiness. Her recent PhD study on how we experience betrayal made 3 groundbreaking discoveries that changes how long it takes to heal. In addition to being on FOX, CBS, The Dr. Oz Show, TEDx (twice) and more, she’s an award winning speaker, coach and author dedicated to helping people move past their betrayals as well as any other blocks preventing them from the health, work, relationships, confidence and happiness they want most.

I’ve been in the health, mindset and personal development fields for 30 years. As my life, health and family changed, so did my business. I started as a holistic dietitian with a masters in nutrition and personal trainer. With 4 kids, 6 dogs and a thriving business, my health crashed. That led me to realize there’s more to health than eating well and exercising so I became a Whole Health Coach and Functional Diagnostic Nutritionist so I can use a holistic approach to healing and test people for stress related issues and disease. Then, my world crashed again with 2 heart crushing betrayals (my family and then my husband). I was desperate to understand how the mind works, why people do these things and how I can heal. That led me to enroll in a PhD program in Transpersonal Psychology (they psychology of transformation and human potential) which completely changed my life, my family, my entire business and brand.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I’ve shared this quote with clients, members of our programs, friends and my family and it can apply to any aspect of life. “Easy now, hard later. Hard now, easy later. Take your pick because it’s going to be one of those two.” For example, easy now: (I want to eat the cookies). Hard later: (I can’t button my pants). Or hard now: (those cookies look good but I’m going to have an apple instead) Easy later: (Woo hoo, I look great!) Apply it to any topic and it works. In the case of healing from my betrayals, I used that same philosophy of: hard now: (I’m going to face it, feel it and heal it) which is leading to: easy later: I’m healthier, happier and more fulfilled than I’ve ever been.

For the rest, click here:

Dr. Debi
Founder, The PBT (Post Betrayal Transformation) Institute