Afternoon Drive withJoanne Joseph

In 2017, creative parenting expert Nikki Bush lost her husband to a brazen armed robbery.

Simon Bush was senselessly shot and killed at their Douglasdale home before they were robbed. It’s understood the intruders took two laptops, two cellphones and a handbag.

READ: We are too shocked to even be angry - Nikki Bush opens up after husband’s murder

Nikki joined Azania Mosaka in studio to talk about her journey and how she has had to work through her loss.

There are moments that mark your life, when you realise that nothing is ever going to be the same. There are two parts, there is the before and after. When something this traumatic happens out of the blue, you suddenly realise control is an illusion. We have no control over what is going to happen. The only thing we do have control over is our choice, how we choose to respond - that is where our power lies.

— Nikki Bush, creative parenting expert

My life was disrupted externally, which has changed our family dynamics completely and in a way now I am going to consciously disrupt my life and re-frame the loss as not 'in my way' but on my way. We have been broken open by this experience, we are not broken.

— Nikki Bush, creative parenting expert

Bush touches on what she calls a collateral repair journey that began for her last August. She chose to consciously 'reframe' and rebuild her life.

You have got to consciously step out of your comfort zone and invite new people in because they hold up different mirrors for you to get to know who you are.

— Nikki Bush, creative parenting expert

She says having new adventures helps.

We had to move house. We lost our house of 23 years. I didn't journal, I journaled six months into the grieving process because I really wanted to be in it, I did not want to be observing my process.

— Nikki Bush, creative parenting expert

Giving advice to people who may need to provide support to someone who has lost a loved one, Bush says it is important to let the bereaved process their emotions.

We so often want to make people feel better, we want to cheer them up and actually one of the best things you can do is join somebody in their pain and just acknowledge their pain.

— Nikki Bush, creative parenting expert

Click on the link below to hear her story and more....