Women Like Me Stories & Business

Finding Resilience and Faith Through Adversity with Denise Nickel

• Julie Fairhurst • Episode 85

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From a life-changing accident to a profound journey of recovery and empowerment, Denise Nickel's story is one of resilience, faith, and community. She recounts her harrowing experience during a cross-country practice that left her physically and emotionally shattered, yet determined to find peace and strength.

Denise's chapter from the upcoming book "When Life Breaks You Open: Moments That Change Everything" explores how she overcame trauma with the miraculous support of those around her and the healing power of music and spirituality.

Join our conversation with Denise as we uncover her unique path from North Dakota to Washington, shaped by pivotal moments in her youth and adulthood.

As a retired nurse, grandmother, and Canadian citizen, Denise's insights are enriched by her diverse life experiences. She discusses the comfort found in hymns like “Amazing Grace” and the community's unwavering support during her recovery, delving into how they played a significant role in her healing journey.

The anticipation is building for Denise's book release on November 29, 2024. It promises to inspire readers with its message of transformation and growth. Her exploration of spirituality and gratitude offers a refreshing perspective on navigating life's toughest challenges with grace.

We invite our listeners to embrace Denise's lessons and consider supporting her work, which will be available on Amazon. This episode is a testament to the enduring power of faith, community, and personal evolution.

You can find out more about Denise and her work at…

 https://www.energyhealingwithdenise.com 

You can reach her by email here…

 denisenickel21@gmail.com.

 

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Who is Julie Fairhurst?
Julie Fairhurst is an accomplished author, writing coach, and the visionary founder of the Women Like Me Book Program.

With 36 published books and a proven track record of helping over 160 women become published authors, Julie is passionate about empowering women to find their voice, share their truths, and create meaningful connections through storytelling.

Julie’s writing programs, including her highly sought-after four-week course, provide women with the tools, guidance, and motivation to tell their stories confidently and leave a lasting impact.

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Speaker 1:

Well, hi everyone. I am so grateful to have you here with us today. We are Women Like Me Stories in Business and we are going to have a wonderful, actually very interesting, conversation today with one of our newest writers who has just written in our newest chapter book and I'm so excited to tell you it's coming out tomorrow, which is November 29, 2024. So if you're watching this video after November 29, 2024, know that the book is out there and it'll be available on Amazon. So the book is called when Life Breaks you Open Moments that Change Everything. And you know, when we listen to this story and when you read, and when you read the whole book, you're going to see that it really is the moments just sometimes small moments, sometimes great, big, big moments, but sometimes it's also little, small moments in our life that really can change everything for us.

Speaker 1:

So Denise Nickel is our newest writer in the book and her chapter. You're going to be able to find her in Chapter 7. And her title is An Uphill Run my Journey to Find Peace and Power. Well, denise, I appreciated you writing in the book and I even appreciate you for more, for even being willing to be here and talk about your story and a few other things as well, with us today. So, denise, welcome, and would you please tell us a little bit about yourself?

Speaker 2:

Sure, thank you so much for having me, julie. You have been such an inspiration to me. Thank you so much for having me, julie. You have been such an inspiration to me. You know we met I don't know maybe a couple of years ago, and you started helping me with my business story, so that's another thing that you do. So I am a retired nurse. I worked in nursing for 22 years, 12 of that in palliative care, which was really my heart and my purpose through those years. I left nursing in 2010 and have been just home since then doing other things. So I am a grandmother to three adorable grandbabies. They live in Edmonton. I have three kids that live near me. I've been married for 35 years and the newest thing about me is I'm a brand new Canadian citizen. I voted for the first time just this last election, so that has been foundational for me and for my family. I run a small business outside of my home called Energy Healing with Denise, and some of that will come through my chapter as well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Well, thank you Now, denise. I didn't know that. I thought you were Canadian.

Speaker 2:

Landed immigrant for 35 years with my. Pr card and doing all of that oh yeah Well, congratulations, congratulations.

Speaker 1:

How wonderful for you. Yeah, I think people I actually know a few people who were landed immigrants for many years and then eventually one day decided to get their citizenship and, um, you know, I think it's easy, and it's easy in Canada to be just hang out as a landed immigrant, but it's sure nice to to know you've got that citizenship, so congratulations thank you so much yeah.

Speaker 1:

So, denise, I would like to start with your story, talking a little bit about your early life and a little bit of inspiration. So I understand that you moved from North Dakota and you know what? Now that I think about it, I knew that you lived in the United States. I should have known that. I never put two and two together. Okay, so when you, what was it like moving from North Dakota to Washington as a teenager, and how did that experience shape you?

Speaker 2:

Well, it was so interesting because my my parents had they had four children in three years, so I'm an identical twin, so we were very close together. My older sister, sue, was only 16 months older than we were my sister Danny and I and they were separated while we I think we were maybe six months old we were farmed out to different families and farming families in North Dakota and eventually my mom did get custody of us, so she drove to the different farms and picked us up and we started our lives with her at about 18 months, started our lives with her at about 18 months and she eventually allowed my, my dad, to write letters to us and that's how we first got to know him. I met him when I was 13 and the year that we came out to Washington. I just remember from North Dakota there are so many trees in Washington that was brand new and the wood, the air was so heavy and dense. That's what I remember um.

Speaker 2:

But we came into um Mount Vernon High as uh in grade 10 or in our sophomore year, and um, that was. It was life-changing, it was a safe environment, um, living with my dad making that choice. My older brother was in grade 12 or his senior year, and it was just better for mom. Once we all left, she actually went into treatment and got better for herself so she was able to care just for herself and got well from that point on Wow.

Speaker 1:

So, randy, yes, randy. So Randy, if I remember correctly from reading, your story was inspirational in terms of running, because running comes from, it's within your story, and you, um, and, and if I remember correctly, you, well, you ran your first race and so can you just maybe tell us a little bit about that? What kind of emotions were you feeling, and and how did you feel when you, when you finished it?

Speaker 2:

because that's a running is a big challenge, I mean, that's, it's a lot of work well, I, I hope you read how very naive I was and as starstruck by by Randy Hanson in his blue eyes, but I I thought all that there was to running was just to put one foot in front of the other. So you know, the longest I'd ever run was four miles and that was the race. So you know, I, I smile at my enthusiasm and lack of skill and and pushing yourself beyond your limits. I think is is something that I have learned, you know, with time, to be gentle and not push so hard.

Speaker 1:

Right, and I guess yeah, because because running is definitely pushing us past our limits, yeah, and I think that that's a, that's a that's a lesson out there for sure for people is just, you know, to be able to do that, yeah, yeah, wow. So let's talk a little bit, because you were in a very serious accident and it I don't know if you were running that day or you were just sort of walking or you kind of darted, but do you want to tell us what happened?

Speaker 2:

Well, really it was one of the first tryouts what they would say in the States for cross country, one of the first practices. So I was running with a group of people and darted into a crosswalk when there was a car coming. I'd absolutely. My vision was so tunnel vision, and that happens when you're in that flight fight response that you know, your peripheral vision lessens and I so wanted to keep up with those people in front of me, probably running faster than my skill level allowed that I was only looking forward and ran into an intersection. So when, when the car hit me, she applied the accelerator and not the brake. And that was that. If, if, if the car would have stopped, it wouldn't have been, you know, dragged underneath it and run over. Wow.

Speaker 2:

So it was in a way a perfect storm that I survived.

Speaker 1:

Yes, to get the book and read Denise's story, because it is quite something what she went through in her recovery and life since then. So you were saying in your book excuse me, that she had a leg brace on, or something like that exactly, exactly her.

Speaker 2:

The owner of the car was the passenger and she was driving um and and didn't have a driver's license, which I guess you can do that, uh, 50 years ago, um, but she was was disabled and her her leg brace um locked when she she hit the accelerator so she had to physically lift her leg from the accelerator to to apply the brake, and that was the kind of the length of time that that I was under the car being dragged as the car was moving. Oh, my goodness.

Speaker 1:

Oh my. So what do you remember about the people that supported you, even through your recovery? Because you talk about Char and Valerie and the nurses at the hospital. So what can you tell us about those people and how they supported you?

Speaker 2:

Well, from the very first, you know, the car stopped in front of a doctor's office, not that they could do much, because the because the car was on top of me, they couldn't really reach me. But you know, and and the ER nurse I mentioned her by name she told them not to cut my hair because here I am 16 and and my life has has changed forever. And she, she refused, um, I mean, it just goes on from there and, and my family being there, and um, I was just never left alone. I always had had a person that was there with me. I have to say that, cher, my stepmom, she was there with me day after day through some of the toughest surgeries in the skin grafting and all of that, and the nurses at Cedar Woolly, united General. I actually stopped by the hospital a while back when I was writing this and I, um, I spoke to the staff there and that was that was part of my journey.

Speaker 1:

Wow, do you? Because, if I remember correctly, uh, the fire department had just recently got the the jaws of life in the community.

Speaker 2:

Exactly exactly. That was new equipment. May have been the first time they used it was to lift the car off of me so carefully.

Speaker 1:

Wow, and so I don't remember reading about the fact that there was a doctor's office there, maybe, maybe it was there and I just I forgot. But I don't remember reading about the fact that there was a doctor's office there.

Speaker 2:

Maybe, maybe it was there and I just I forgot it wasn't.

Speaker 1:

I didn't include that, but, okay, Okay, so did the. Did you have the doctors coming out? Were they? Were they working during that timeframe? Oh, that's good, yeah, yeah. So you had as much as, uh, as nasty an accident as it was, you did have some good support right there on scene with you.

Speaker 2:

Exactly exactly. I really did, and that has been a theme I hope you catch in my chapter how, whenever I've reached out for support, it's always been there, which is not everyone's story, but certainly is mine.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah. So you also say that that. How did singing hymns help you through your pain? And if I think, if I remember correctly, you loved Amazing Grace.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Well, you know, I grew up in the Lutheran Church and we went. Perhaps we went most Sundays for a while, but then just Christmas and Easter and my mom's faith journey, you know, bless her heart. We were in the periphery of you, you know, consistent going to church and learning songs at least. Yeah, but I had, I had just um eight months of really um going to church faithfully in so conway lutheran church, if anyone from mel vernon um, uh and amazing, some of those church hymns were brand new to me in that they meant so much to me. And isn't that something how I think God works in our lives, preparing me those eight months for having a way to use my voice in working through the painful dressing changes. And so Amazing Grace just was one of my anthems during that time.

Speaker 1:

Oh, how beautiful. I lived in northern British Columbia for a number of years and I had a hospital stint. It was nothing overly serious but I was having a complication with pregnancy but but everything was okay. But in that was. I can't remember the, the. I can't remember the, the domination for the, for that, that little hospital, because it was a very. It was very rural, like I'm talking rural, and so we didn't. So we had a lot of doctors that and nurses that came from outside of the area they did a stint there and and there was a church that that really helped to run it.

Speaker 1:

But I remember the reason I'm bringing this up is because I remember waking up in every morning that I was in there and I was there for about a week I guess, to a piano and the whole, all the doctors and the nurses singing hymns. It was beautiful, it was. And I remember laying there because I've been in other hospitals in my life and I remember laying there and it just brought peace and it just set the stage for the all of the energy throughout the hospital. But yeah, but it just when you were talking it clicked in my head and I thought I forgot all about that. But it was be. Oh, I got shivers even thinking talking about it, but it was beautiful. It was beautiful. Yeah, so it can.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, very helpful and very calming and having the freedom to be me is really. You know the safety of that first hospital. They only had a one room burn unit and I was in it, yeah, yeah. But when I got to Seattle, boy, that really, really was a challenge because I didn't feel, um, I couldn't sing through dressing changes, I felt too embarrassed. So that was the end of that kind of that cocooning um, but I certainly needed the physical help once I got to Seattle yeah, so how long in total were you in the hospital for?

Speaker 2:

nine weeks, wow, yeah, I really healed much more quickly than they anticipated when I was first injured yeah, oh.

Speaker 1:

So nine weeks is actually quick, very quick. Consider the injuries that you had. Yeah, wow, yeah, wow, and you were 16 at the time, right, yes, yeah. And then to leave your community, and that must have been devastating. Just that alone.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, wow, and it was the first time I'd ever been separated from my twin sister.

Speaker 1:

Ever we had never been separated from one another that that would have been yes, doubly yes, when you need that emotional support there and that, yeah, that, um, that is a lot for a 16 year old girl to deal with, for sure. So let's just talk a little bit about your father, because you talk a lot about your dad in your story, so do you want to tell us a little bit about how he was able to support you? And I know in your, in your, I know in your story, you included a little, a little letter that he had sent to you yeah, yes, he, um, I think we, you know, growing up was tumultuous and and, uh, you know, a fair bit of difficulty.

Speaker 2:

So when dad, when I met him when I was 13, he, he came at Christmas time and he wore you know, it's funny, you're wearing red I, it's kind of a shout out to my dad because he wore this big red jacket and he's, you know, my, my dad, and my brother, my husband.

Speaker 2:

They're well over six and a half feet tall and and I might have been the first, if I recall, the first, to go out to the porch to meet him, and, um, he, he was my hero, he, he could, um, he could say things like I love you. And we had already, you know, formed a bond through writing letters and writing my dad and telling him about the boys that I liked, and and, uh, uh, you know, my brother listened to alice cooper and and, uh, the music, and and he, just, he just received us and, uh, one thing I would say about dad and share the life that they had created and we were invited into, um, they would come up the stairs to say good night to us. They didn't just yell from downstairs yeah, after putting yourself to bed for 13 years without much fanfare. The fact that they both came up to say goodnight to us it was like have I died and gone to heaven, like I just had never experienced that before and those types of things was very nurturing, caring, safe environment.

Speaker 1:

And I'm really glad that you spoke about it, because there might be a lot of parents yelling from the couch Good night, close the door, you know. And just to take that, how it can affect your child just by taking that extra 30 seconds to go to the door and wish them a good night. Yes, yeah, well, thank you for sharing that. I think that that's lovely. I want to talk a little bit about your spirituality, because you're a very spiritual woman in many different ways and and even the ways that that you help other people is very, very, very spiritual as well. So do you want to tell us a little bit about how moments, how has your faith helped you through, not just through that accident, but through your life?

Speaker 2:

Well, yeah, that is such a profound question for each of us because I believe that God reaches each human on the planet, every human that's here living this experience, with the ups and downs of this human journey that we have. And I talked briefly about earth school. I think if I expand this chapter I will talk more about that. But I am a person that has seen visions and understood things, maybe from a heavenly or other earthly perspective my heavenly or other earthly perspective. So my faith journey really begins with the day I was born. I understood that Jesus breathed. We were six weeks premature, underdeveloped lungs. He breathed in and out with me and saved my life in those 15 minutes before my sister was born. And this isn't in the chapter, but that's where my faith journey began.

Speaker 2:

As I understood, there was another instance where Jesus in the last probably 10 years, he called me out that I was born separate from my sister we're not just a we, that I am my own person, that I was born separate from my sister. We're not just a we, that I am my own person. And that was another moment of reckoning and understanding that her and I have our separate journeys, also a vision of when I was a year and a half old, sitting in the high chair and I had a sense maybe kind of being an old soul that she was it, it was mom. There was no one else coming and knowing that that was part of my journey. A year and a half, and then you know other visions, so I think I bring that to my life, to my practice. That's how God works in my life. I would say that you know, marriage can be a challenge and whenever I want to throw in the towel, there's always been someone to guide me.

Speaker 2:

We need community to call me back into marriage call me back into relationship with my kids and call me back into relationship with my kids and call me back into relationship with myself.

Speaker 1:

So that is a you know that's part of my faith journey. I just love how you said we need community. We all need community, and for lots of different reasons, but well, I think the most important reason what you just said we need support and and there's times where we need help and direction in our life.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, I just love that.

Speaker 1:

the other thing that, that, that, uh, uh and again this you can find this in your, in in your story, but I've known you for a while now and I also see this in your personality as well is gratitude. How do you think that gratitude can play a role in all of our healing journeys? What does gratitude do for us?

Speaker 2:

Because you're a very grateful lady, exactly exactly I have to share. What comes to mind is is I was going through, uh, something difficulty, difficult in the last, say, six months, and I just said to God, or I just said out loud, why is my life so hard? And the answer was immediate and it was because you believe it is. It's hard. I got shivers, oh my gosh, it is hard. How in my life can I understand that my heart, my life is not hard? So this gratitude, gratitude comes because of community, my fellow energy practitioners, the books I'm reading, and I can literally sit on the edge of my deck with my feet on the grass and just choose to look up, to look higher, to look higher, to give up those lower emotions and bring it up, bring my gaze up, and so I am living really in higher dimensions than I ever have. And it really started when I started to open up to a sense of spirituality that was much broader than my kind of my Western Christian model would allow.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Can you, you know to tell, maybe give some advice to, to others who are watching this or listening who who look around and go. I don't got anything. What is she talking about? My life sucks. I have nothing to be grateful for. Give some words of encouragement or tips or anything at all that could help that person.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes, yes. And I call you then to turn off the news and spend time in that inner life, that inner knowing, when you, you know I have come with such a journey about the goodness of god, that god is good at all times and in all ways. This life will give you opportunities to learn and grow. But if you, as you understand, um, that the universe, the well-ordered universe that we live in, the cosmos, the energy is love, I would say, um, when I'm feeling a bit low, I'll think, oh, what's the most loving memory I can think of? And I think of gourd.

Speaker 2:

Uh, at SeaTac airport, I thought I think I'm gonna marry that guy. That is the most loving memory I can think of. What is the most joyful memory I can think of? And I think of Gord holding our firstborn. What is the most peaceful memory? I can think of playing backgammon with Melanie. So, and then I stay in that moment and if it doesn't work, I think what's the most loving memory? I can think of what's the most joyful memory. I can think of what's the most peaceful memory I can think of, and I just begin to live in that space and life doesn't seem so hard.

Speaker 1:

Denise, thank you for that. That helped me. I love that. I just, yeah, we all have something. We all have something that we love, something that lifted us up good memories somewhere, even if it's small and short. Saw a good memory somewhere, even if it's small and short, but focus on that and that, yes, thank you for that.

Speaker 2:

So raise your gaze and and I do, you know my website energy healing with Denise. You can book a 30 minute. There's an appointment that says 30 minutes and we can walk through some of those things.

Speaker 1:

Wow, well, very helpful. Well, everybody, when everybody who's watching and listening, all of Denise's contact information is going to be in the description. So if you're want to want to chat with her or find out more about her, all of that content will be there. If you want to reach out to her, you'll be able to do that. Well, denise, I love this conversation and I just love you. You're just such a kind and and wise soul. You're very, very wise, and every time I talked with you whether it's in person or this is our second zoom interview that we've done I get you lift me up. So I appreciate that and I appreciate you very much, denise. Thank you. Is there any last words you'd like to say to our listeners or our people watching on YouTube?

Speaker 2:

Grab a pen and a piece of paper and just start asking questions, and and God will answer as you speak. It's an inner, inner work, beautiful, beautiful.

Speaker 1:

Well, again, thank you very much, denise, and thank all of you for watching this episode of Women Like Me Stories in Business. Of course, tomorrow is November 29th, 2024. And that is when Denise's story will be out in the book. So if you want to know more or you would like to support Denise with a purchase, we will have links all over the place and if you're watching this after November 29, her book will be, the book will be on Amazon and the book again is called when life breaks you open moments that change everything, and you know, this time together was a moment and there was lots of really good little tidbits in there to help change, change me, change everybody. So thank you, denise, for sharing that and and and for being with us. So we will see you soon. Take care, bye-bye.

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