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Rebuilding After Loss: Dr. Kimberly Harm's Journey From Survival to Purpose
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What does it take to rebuild your life after unimaginable tragedy? Dr. Kimberly Harms knows this journey intimately. Born as a thalidomide baby with seven fingers, she defied an advisor who told her dental school was impossible, going on to become the first female president of the Minnesota Dental Association. But her greatest challenges came later – losing her mother to suicide, then facing her son Eric's suicide at just 19 years old.
The moment that transformed her grief journey came unexpectedly in a parking lot, when someone confronted her about how her suffering was affecting her remaining children. This wake-up call sparked her determination to "kick and scream and fight" her way out of the grief pit – not just for herself, but for everyone who loved her.
Dr. Harms shares practical wisdom from managing her dental practice through tragedy, including creating "crying rooms" and systems to help team members support each other through crisis. But perhaps most profound were the lessons she learned while establishing 65 libraries across Rwanda in her son's memory. There, genocide survivors who had lost everything taught her about true forgiveness – not forgetting, but choosing to build something new from devastation.
This conversation offers rare insight into how someone moves forward when life divides into "before" and "after." Dr. Harms doesn't sugarcoat the difficulty of this journey, emphasizing that finding joy again requires active fighting against negative self-talk and shame. Yet her message radiates hope: no matter what tragedy has occurred, love and joy remain possible if we're willing to fight for them.
Ready to transform your own challenges into purpose? Connect with host Beverley Glazer at reinventimpossible.com and discover how to move from stuck to unstoppable with her free checklist, available through the link in our show notes.
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And you might also enjoy Fit Stong Women Over 50, a podcast for the Becoming Elli Community. Where fit strong women motivate eachother to stay on their goals.
Resources:
Dr. Kimberly Harms
Author, Death Doula, Civil Mediator, Podcaster
Beverley Glazer:
Website: https://reinventimpossible.com
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Chapters
1. Welcome to Aging with Purpose and Passion (00:00:00)
2. Overcoming Birth Challenges and Pursuing Dentistry (00:02:05)
3. Tragedy Strikes: Loss of Son to Suicide (00:06:18)
4. Fighting Out of the Grief Pit (00:10:42)
5. Running a Dental Practice Through Grief (00:14:36)
6. Lessons from Rwanda's Genocide Survivors (00:18:00)
7. Finding Joy and Moving Forward (00:24:33)
132 episodes
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