There is a kind of grief that never gets to happen out loud. It stays pressed down inside you, shaped by the people around you who couldn't hold it. Matin knows that grief. She found out her mother had died by reaching for a hand that didn't reach back. She was thirteen. And then the world she had counted on, her mother's family, her father's warmth, the permission to even cry, quietly fell away.What followed was years of building a life on her own terms. Studying in secret. Sleeping on hard surfaces just to avoid going home. Moving from Iran to Japan to finally have room to breathe. She did it without anyone telling her she could. She did it by becoming her own closest companion, the kind of friend who says, I remember when that happened, and we got through it together.Matin is a plant molecular biologist who studies mangrove trees, organisms that live between land and sea, in conditions most things can't survive. She sees herself in them. In this conversation, she shares what it took to finally reach peace, and why she believes all of us should talk about our stories, not as something brave or rare, but as something ordinary and necessary.What You'll Hear:Growing up with a father who was both deeply loving and unpredictable, and what that did to a child's sense of safetyThe moment Matin discovered her mother had died, and being told not to cryLosing her entire maternal family in the grief that followed, and the deep loneliness that set inHow she secretly studied through high school, skipped dinner for four years, and fought her way to college just to surviveBuilding an academic career across continents, including surviving a violent assault in Japan, and still choosing not to become defined by her painWhat turning forty felt like, and the inner bond she credits with getting her hereGuest Bio:Matin Miryeganeh grew up in Rasht, Iran, and is now a plant molecular biologist based in Japan, where she has lived for sixteen years. She studies mangrove trees, and the connection she feels to these resilient organisms runs deeper than science. Matin is also the author of All Is Well, a memoir in which she shares her journey through loss, isolation, and the long, quiet road to peace. You can find her book on Amazon and Goodreads: https://www.amazon.com/All-Well-memoir-survival-strength/dp/B0FHH898H6Listen and follow: www.thelifeshiftpodcast.com/followSubscribe to the newsletter: https://thelifeshiftpodcast.beehiiv.com/childhood grief, mother loss, growing up without support, finding inner peace, resilience, trauma healing, isolation, self-connection, immigrant journey, life transformation