avatarNicole Sponsel

Summarize

Greetings friends.

Hello! I am Nicole.

Welcome to my profile — February 2024

Selfie photo of author

About Me

I am 51 years old and feel like so much of my life is finally beginning. I overcame a 36-year Eating Disorder. I have recently been reigniting all my passions I pushed to the side and didn’t feel worthy of being seen or heard. I have my voice back and want to share my story so others may escape their mental prisons. I want to search for what you need to hear today to make it better. We can take this new path together through struggles, triumphs, and the unknown, which may bring lots of laughs, too.

I am a gratefully blessed Mama of four children (33, 23, 20, 16). I have been married for 25 years. I have two brothers and both parents still living who have all supported me unconditionally through all my lost and broken years. I would not have survived this long or revitalized my life without them and my dearest friends.

Interview

Jameson Steward recently interviewed me for his Moving Mountains newsletter.

What I do

I have been a nanny for two young children since a few weeks after the first one was born (now 7yr and 4yr). Childcare has always given me immense joy in the exploring life and beautiful strength in faith and trust. I have cared for children since I was 11 years old and never stopped no matter what other career I chose.

I have worked in the restaurant business from bussing tables to Restaurant Manager in an International Hotel chain. I was a Personal Trainer for 13 years. Eventually left for good, deciding to give up those priorities to assist in my healing from the Eating Disorder. I became a Baker at a Premier grocery store in my community as a personal challenge and knowledge-seeking.

Today, I have found my peace in writing as much as I can around my workdays and hours. Reading poems, other writer’s articles and drawing is another way I de-stress and put my self-care ahead of a to-do list.

I also enjoy dancing for fun and movement, whether anyone is watching or not. The release connects to my mind in surrender so I can rejoice in life minus my rhythm.

My Mission

“Feed the Spirit, Fuel the Faith.” My inspiration is to create a spiritual greeting letter line to support anyone going through tragedy, struggle, hope, healing, encouragement, and joy. I’m working on my next phase in creating spiritual greeting cards(letters, actually) “Sprouting Spirits Letters” to keep the idea of handwritten, personal letters alive beyond emails, texts, or Hallmark.

My passion project baby is Graffiti Bean, a coffee hub for community collaboration and outreach. This mission is around 25 years in the making. Everything life could throw at me sidelined it to prioritize others before myself until I broke and needed recovery to get my project back in prep mode. It has morphed into many versions of my original vision, so I won’t give up until it’s real.

Finding My Way Out of My Eating Disorder

Fighting More Long-term Fears

A Long Road to Motherhood

Restarting My Life

Family Fiction

This story is an honest look at a young girl’s struggle and the fight for her sister to recover from an eating disorder, only possible with love, family support, and knowledgeable professionals.

Valuable reference for parents

My First Poetry Collection

My Top Performing Poem

Breaking Out of My Box in Writing and Life

Honoring my Oma and Opa

Business perspective with care

Family

My family survived my eating disorder chaos through helping me thrive. Please check out one of my brother’s profile page, Bryan Hauer to support him, too. This article is an interview about his amazing travels.

The top articles I’ve written

  1. Broken Courage
  2. My Eating Disorder Self Staked its Claim on My Brain
  3. Tesla Road Trip Traveler Interview
  4. Old School vs. New School
  5. From NICU to Graduation
  6. Zoom In and Out on Your Life
  7. A Cry Before My Fall
  8. Mama’s Promise
  9. Do We All Still Need a Pet Rock?
  10. Lost and Unsure

Ways to support me and more of my writing adventures

If you enjoy reading stories like these and want to support me as a writer, consider signing up to become a Medium member. It’s only $5 a month, giving you unlimited access to stories on Medium. If you sign up using my link, I’ll earn a small commission.

If you would like to support me in contributing to this wonderful writing community and other passion projects, you can buy me a coffee at www.buymeacoffee.com/NSponsel, so I have more stamina to fuel my better writing ahead.

I would love to hear from you. You can reach me at [email protected].

My most recent articles/poems

Profile
About Me
Hello World
Mental Health
Writing
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