RTL Episode 62: Recovery & Growth with Nikki Spo
On this episode of Responding to Life, I am joined by Nikki Sapp Spoelstra. Nikki is an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, a mother of two boys, a wife, a dog-mom, and a former Teacher of the Year. Nikki has lived with anxiety and depression and after hitting a personal rock bottom, she sought out the freedom and peace that comes from working a 12-step program. She has dedicated her life to service and is now living as a sober woman and mother.
Tune in to hear us discuss:
Expectations of motherhood
Battling anxiety, depression, and alcohol addiction
The importance of forgiveness, self-love and compassion in one's journey towards healing
@nikkisappspo
@theknowwithnikkispo
Episode 62 Transcript
Josephine Atluri (00:09):
Welcome to today's show. Today, we're unpacking the expectations around motherhood, through the eyes of a mom who battled anxiety, depression, and alcohol addiction. It's a moving and personal episode that will surely inspire you to look within yourself, to see if there are any parts of you that require healing, self love, and self compassion, because let's face it, after these last two years, we all need to give ourselves some grace for something. My guest today is Nikki Sapp Spoelstra. An entrepreneur, a philanthropist, a mother of two boys, a wife, a dog mom, and a former teacher of the year. Nikki has lived with anxiety and depression for as long as she can remember, which became exacerbated after having children. After hitting a personal rock bottom, she sought out the freedom and peace that comes from more working a 12 step program. She has dedicated her life to service and is now living as a sober woman and mother. In March of 2021, Nikki established The Know podcast, in order to highlight stories of tenacious women, women who are finding and celebrating their inner knowing. Nikki is passionate about the arts, giving back to the community and physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness. Nikki, her three time NBA champion husband, Eric, and their children, live in Coral Gables, Florida. So without further ado, let's get to know Nikki.
Josephine Atluri (01:48):
So welcome to the show, Nikki. I'm so excited to have you on it was great connecting with you during our wonderful conversation on your podcast, The Know, where we talked about all things mindful parenting. So thank you so much for being here with me today.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (02:03):
Yeah. Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be here.
Josephine Atluri (02:06):
And after speaking with you on your show, I just had to have you on RTL to talk about the many ways in which you flipped the script on your own story in order to respond to life in a more mindful way. And so I wanted to begin by talking with you about your history with anxiety and depression prior to having children, and then how it continued to present itself during your transition into parenthood.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (02:34):
Oh yeah. So growing up, I had a little bit of a tumultuous upbringing and I say that with a lot of, you know, just caution and awareness, because whenever I hear people talk about other people who they perceived as having a traumatic childhood, it sounds like this like one big dark story. And while that might be the case for many people, I did experience some severe trauma when I was growing up, but I also, at the same time had some really, really beautiful memories with my family of origin. And that said, I do believe that some of the experiences that I endured as a young person, as a young child, did lead me to have anxiety become part of like this natural fight or flight instinct within my personality, so that when things would happen or certain scenarios, I would become uncomfortable.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (03:36):
And then I would have really severe anxiety. And so that would show up in groups of people. I used to have anxiety around groups of people as a childand really just start to, to not want to be around others and really become introverted and come into myself. And that was a way to protect myself. But what's interesting to me about that is that I was a dancer my entire life and I was a performer. So I danced on stage all my life - from the time I was a young child. And I think a lot of people used to mistake that for being outgoing and extroverted and for me that was more of like a performance. It was a way for me to express myself on stage without having to actually have conversations with people, right? I was able to move my body in a way that felt good for me.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (04:35):
And I was able to connect my mind and heart to my movements and that was a safe space for me to be very, very expressive about all types of feelings that I was having. And so I used that as a tool for me to like, feel comfortable in the world and thank goodness that I had that because I was able to form friendships with other people my age, despite having anxiety, which I later would develop depression during my early teen and teen years.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (05:07):
That's kind of where it started in my early childhood. And then as I went - you know, I grew up with an alcoholic parent and I became a caretaker for her. I'm an only child and I don't have any siblings and I became kinda like the person who would make sure that the doors were locked at night.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (05:30):
I would take care of my parent when my parent was having episodes and, you know, as a parent now, I'm like, wow, that's not the role of a child, right? So I became, my reality was unreliable. So I think it's, it was pretty natural as a young person to feel fear and anxiety around that. Especially if you don't have somebody who's guiding you on how to, how to manage those feelings within yourself, like how to cope, how to calm down, how to process the reality of this situation. All you have as a child is these big, big, big feelings. And I know firsthand that one of the things that I do with my children is I help them through those big feelings and I help them make sense of those things. So moving on into my, like my teen years, I, I became depressed because I couldn't really, I didn't, I still never learned the language to express myself.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (06:33):
And so I became angry and I would get in trouble for being angry. So then I would become depressed and then I would start to injure myself, you know, and, and these were cries for help. I never ever, like, I actually, I never wanted to die, but I definitely remember not wanting to exist. And I do believe that there's a difference, but there's something so painful about the desire to not exist, to the desire to disappear, or the feeling that your life doesn't matter, right? And it's like a double edged thing where on one hand I was making these cries for help, like saying someone, please pay attention to me, I matter. Look how much I matter, I matter. But then also like at the same time, not believing that. So I have been in and out of working with therapists for most of my teen years.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (07:21):
And like I said before, I had other really amazing memories. Like I had a great life also, you know, like there was, there was one end that wasn't so great and then there were things that were really beautiful in my life. So fast forward I worked through a lot of my internal dialogue and the stories and the narratives that I was telling myself and allowing, and really allowing other people to tell me about myself. And I married my long time partner. I met my now husband when I was 19 years old and we got married when I was 29 - so 10 years later. And we've now been married for five years. Once we, we got married, we got pregnant with our first son, with our first child about a year after. And everything felt kind of normal in that my life had always been chaotic, right?
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (08:21):
So in a sense, when you are so used to an upbringing that has chaos, I remember feeling if things were normal and safe and happy and like consistent, I was like, this isn't, this is not fun for me. I need this to be chaotic. And so for a long time, you know, I grew up, as I mentioned, I had an alcoholic parent and as my big feelings began to grow and grow, and I developed less and less of a dialogue on how to express myself, I turned to alcohol to cope. And at first it wasn't like a big deal. I was just like numbing myself. Like in my teen years, I was just numbing myself. I didn't want to talk about the painful, difficult, awful things. And as a young adult, I didn't feel like I was allowed to, truthfully, because I'm an adult now and I'm supposed to have my stuff together.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (09:14):
So I didn't do that. And instead I would cope by, by drinking and it wasn't until after I had my second son that I felt like I hit my all time low and I decided to get help to pursue a life of sobriety. One of the things that I've learned in sobriety is that like your anxiety and depression isn't going to go away just because you stop drinking, but, by not drinking, I'm not participating in this like cycle of numbing myself and then having remorse or regret or even more sadness, and then drinking more to numb myself, which then results in more sadness and depression and guilt or shame or whatever it is. So my head was clear enough that I could begin to truly process some of the things that I endured as a child. I mean, we're talking about I'm in my thirties now, and I was finally able to go back in time and deal with some of those really serious things that I had overcome.
Josephine Atluri (10:23):
Yeah, no, that's major. I mean, a lot of us will and first of all, thank you so much for sharing, Nikki. I know that's soso difficult to have to go through that, but to be so candid about it is so helpful to so many who are also experiencing the different ways that anxiety manifests in themselves and I know so many people can relate to that feeling of wanting to - you so beautifully put it - to just sort of, not existing and sort of, but wanting to, and sort of that dichotomy between wanting to be here, but at the same time, not feeling like you're worthy enough to even, to be around. So I'm curious to hear, you know, you mentioned hitting rock bottom, and I wanted to hear what that would look like for you as, as a mom who hit that point with alcoholism. For myself, when I went through bulimia as a mom of three kids, like I remember my rock bottom. So I'm curious to see always to see how people react to their situations and then just sort of respond in what that looked like for them.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (11:46):
Right. Okay. So I like, and like I mentioned, like, there's always been this comfort in the chaos for me, right? So on one, like on one end of things, when I hit my rock bottom, I'm like, this is just my, my reality. Like, this is how it is. I'm destined to just feel this way, my entire life. And on the other end, I just was so sick of it. I was so sick of it and what it really was for me, I came to a point where I truly did not want to exist anymore. So like, and to give you like a picture, because it's not just necessarily one night, it's like, it was over a period of time. I didn't wanna wake up to spend time with my children, you know, in the morning I'd be so hungover and I wouldn't want to wake up to hang out with my kids or I'd wake up to like feed them breakfast and I'd go back to sleep.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (12:37):
And I wasn't working at the time and I didn't, man, I just felt so low that I couldn't figure out even what I wanted for myself. Like I had for so many years, I had prided myself on being a independent, strong, capable, creative woman. Like, that's what I had done. You know, if anything like how I coped in my life was through my creativity and pursuing things that lit me up in that way. But once I started to like, remove those things from my life and domesticate myself, I started to feel like I couldn't do the things that were in my creative tool kit anymore. So I started filling them with other things. And that would be like going out and drinking at home and just, or shopping, right? Like all the external things that I could try to fill the emptiness that I had inside of myself, right?
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (13:28):
I was trying to fill an internal hole with external things, and that does not work. It doesn't work. So rock bottom was happening for me for a long time. And I went through, you know, I, I did not drink while I was pregnant with my two kids. And so people would look at me and say, oh no, but you didn't drink for nine, 10 months. You can totally just, you're not an alcoholic - you don't have a drinking problem. And I now know that when go through a period of nine or whatever, a period of time without drinking or using whatever it is that you do, that doesn't mean you're sober. That means you're dry. Because in, on some level, I always knew I was gonna drink again. I really missed drinking. You know I had the feeling I hated being pregnant because I wanted to drink.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (14:19):
I would have a small sip of wine here and there because they say it's okay and nothing's gonna happen. I like honest to God didn't I actually did not have, like, I did not drink while I was pregnant, but I'd have a sip here and there. And then I'd complain. I hate this. This isn't even worth it because I can't even drink three glasses of wine right now. So those are the signs. Like if you don't have a drinking problem, then you generally don't care whether or not you can have a drink or not. If you like test you, test your relationship with alcohol or substance, when you don't do it and you check your desire or the thoughts that you're having, or the anger and resentment that you have towards not being able to.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (15:03):
So this, I went through my first pregnancy, didn't drink right after my son was born and I stopped breastfeeding [and] I went right back and I picked up right where I left off drinking. And to be completely transparent, I have - still - overnight childcare. I have support. So in my mind, I was like, oh no, if anything happens, we're good. We are good. My nanny lives in. If my husband was traveling, I'm like, it's okay. And so the same thing happened after the birth of my second son, like now I know I, I look and I'm like, my, my kids are getting older and sometimes they walk into my room in the middle of the night and are like, mommy, I want, I want something to, you know, I want, I want some water or mom, I have to go to the bathroom and I'm clear headed and capable to help them with whatever they need right now.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (15:52):
But that was not the case for me. And so my rock bottom was really like waking up, not knowing if I had fought with my spouse the night before. Having no idea. Waking up hating my life, not wanting to see my kids. Truly thinking that there was no reason that I belonged on this planet. Thinking that my life was worthless. And I also want to share that from the outside, I don't think many, if any, people would have guessed that. My life looks perfect. I have a beautiful home. A husband who is passionate about what he does. Is handsome. Is good to me. I have two beautiful children. I have a beautiful, beautiful life. And it didn't matter because I still felt like I was dying. So I also got help for postpartum anxiety. You know I think that anybody is susceptible to postpartum anxiety and depression.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (17:02):
And it's a very real thing. And I'm so grateful that there's a conversation around that now, like that there's even more open dialogue around postpartum anxiety and depression, and that moms are becoming more open about getting help, right? So I did that, you know, a part of me, I like I did, I had legitimate postpartum anxiety and I got help for that. And I took medication for that. At the end of the day like there's only so much that therapy and medicine can do if you're not willing to really like, look at the external things that you're also doing to yourself. And in my case, that was my drinking habits. Like, I don't think I would've ever gotten better if I hadn't quit drinking because I could be doing all the other right things, but there was this still one really big thing, one big factor that was affecting all of it.
Josephine Atluri (17:56):
So powerful. And thank you so much for sharing, Nikki. You know, that first step in deciding that you're ready like that is, you know, everyone, you know, there's, there's so many, many people in your life and other people's lives who want to help you, right? But it takes that first step of yourself finally, deciding, you know what, I need to make a change. I need to transform. And there's a problem here, right? And so after you finally made that decision that it was time to, to fix somethingI'm curious to hear what the role of your support system looked like.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (18:40):
So I have a sponsor who helps me work a 12 step program. And that is one of the most important relationships in my life. And then, you know, in my case you know, it's wild. Like I think a lot of people who suffer from alcoholism, a lot of people on the outside of their lives are the ones telling them, 'You have a drinking problem and you need to get help, please. I beg you, I beg you.' It was like the opposite in my case. Like I was telling people, I think I'm an alcoholic and people were like, no, you're definitely not. Because I was really high functioning. For a long time. I was very high functioning. And so I'd be like, I think I'm an alcoholic. People would ask, well, how much do you drink?
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (19:24):
I'm like, oh, I have a bottle of wine at night. They're like, oh, but you can relax you're mom. And like, mommy wine culture does not help this situation, right? So I kind of had to convince people that I'm like that I was an alcoholic and what I've learned now is alcoholism is a self-diagnosed disease. If you think, and you believe in your heart and in your soul that you have an addiction to a substance, you are the one who can determine that. Nobody else can determine that for you. Now, the tricky part is when other people want to diagnose you and you are not ready to diagnose yourself, right? So that's the, the flip side of it. And, you know, fortunately I was at a point where I was able to do that and I was like I want to make a difference in my life, but still the road ahead.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (20:10):
And now I've been sober for a year and a half and I'm really grateful for that, which, it feels like a long time and I also know that it's not at all and that my sobriety is in question every single day of my life. Because at any given moment I could pick up a drink. And so it is an every single day thing. And the support does come from people but really where I think this is the most and it's the most relevant to you and your show is that it comes from my relationship with my higher power - with the God of my understanding. It comes with a daily meditation practice, a daily prayer practice, a daily gratitude practice. But in terms of other people, the support system, that was a difficult element. I got sober during COVID. So where other people have resources to be able to go out and interact with other alcoholics, I kind of did not have that in the same way.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (21:08):
You know, I got sober when everything was shut down and there was nothing to do when I think drinking was an all at an all time high for many people, because they were home with nothing to do. So that was really difficult. It changed the dynamic of my marriage, right? Having to come to my spouse with a lot of humility and say that I did have a drinking problem, and I do need support, and I think I'm going to need things to change around here. And that took a while. That took a while because my husband doesn't have a drinking problem. He has a normal, a very normal relationship with alcohol. So for him having a beer with dinner or a glass of wine with dinner was very normal. And I had to find my way to determine whether or not I was comfortable with that and be confident in asking for what I need. Trusting that my spouse loves me, has my best interest at heart, and wants to support me.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (22:09):
But even if I didn't have his support, which sometimes truthfully, like in hindsight, I know that he did, and he continues to support me, but in some of the early days, when I was still wrapped up in so much anger, I felt like he wasn't supporting me, you know? And I know that now that that's not the case, but it felt like at the time, you know, at times. And so I had to look at it like, how am I gonna fight this if I don't feel supported? And that's where my meditation practice really saved me. [I] Was starting to look inward, calm my mind, calm the chatter in my brain, the negative self talk, and really start breaking barriers of the stories I was telling myself. Telling myself and again, like allowed other people to tell me about myself.
Josephine Atluri (23:03):
I'm curious to hearyou know, a lot of times people tell me that the reason they can't meditate and be mindful is because they just can't sit but given your history with anxiety and with alcoholism, did you ever have moments where you were just too scared to face whatever it was that was going to pop up?
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (23:27):
That was the biggest thing that kept me from meditating in the first place. It's like a lot of times I knew the answers already. I knew what was inside and I just didn't, I didn't wanna go inward. Why would I wanna see that? Like I already know, I've already been through it. Why would I wanna sit there and allow myself to feel those things? Because sometimes it's when you're in the silence that those things come up, you know? Because you let yourself be so loud in so many other ways and now you finally quiet your mind and your heart and in rush the feelings and the memories. That was definitely a reason why I would not meditate. It took a long time. I'm really grateful for apps - that's how I got started. I started using apps and I would particularly lean into the apps that would track how many days you could meditate in a row and like send you a notification.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (24:20):
Josephine, I did like a group, like online thing about meditation because I was publicly posting like how many days in a row I had meditated and I got up to like 200 and something days in a row that I had meditated. And so I was invited to co-host a meditation series - I wasn't guiding the meditation, but I was like their guest - and I remember talking to the meditation expert at the time who was in the meeting as well and telling him that I loved the competitiveness that I got from the meditation apps. I'm like, it's what motivated me to get back on the mat another day for meditation. And I remember feeling kind of like judged for that. Thinking like, well, we don't meditate because it's competitive. I'm like, listen, sir, whatever can get me to do it and center, it doesn't matter.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (25:19):
If it's because I need to get that one more day because I wanna prove to myself that I can meditate one more day in a row - I'm gonna do it. So, for people who are listening that are like feeling some kind of judgment ever on their, like their natural, competitive spirit or the reasons why they wanna do something like we have to let go of that. And it actually, and I remember thinking it was a disservice to those who felt inspired to meditate in that way, because I want people to get to the mat or get to the chair no matter what.
Josephine Atluri (25:57):
In hearing you talk about, you know, your process, I'm curious to hear about one thing in particular. I'm sure there were so many, but one thing that you could share with the audience about how you healed your relationship with yourself.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (26:11):
Okay. That's like, that's an ongoing thing. I write affirmations every day. One of the affirmations that I write and I use my maiden name because that was my birth given name. I write down, I love you Nikki Sapp, and I will never ever give up on you. Every single day I write that. I write that down every single day after I write 10 things that I'm grateful for in my day. So that's one of the ways that I heal my relationship with myself. I look at myself as if I'm on the outside and I say, I love you. I'm here for you. I'll never give up on you. One of the other things that I did, and this is something that I did with a therapist who guided me through this practice.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (26:55):
And I'm not a therapist as you know, so I'm not here to guide anybody through that practice, but I will share my experience of what was done with me. I had to go back to a really painful memory that I had when I was a kid. And I can remember the memory very, very clearly. And my therapist walked me through seeing myself or seeing the experience as if I was a bystander, right? This experience that I, this memory that I have is a memory that was with my mom when I was about four years old. And my therapist walked me through it, she said, Nikki, pretend that you're on the outside. That you're an adult on the outside and you're watching yourself go through that pain, the physical pain, the emotional pain, what you were experiencing. I'm like, okay, okay.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (27:43):
I see it. You as the adult, what would you say to that little girl? And so I actually got to, I got to practice looking at little Nikki, right? I took her into my arms. I held her and I said, I love you. You are worth so much more than this. Your mom is doing the best she can and it's wrong. Because the two things can be true. Yeah, I do believe that my mom was doing the best with the tools and the emotional resources that she had.
Josephine Atluri (28:13):
Exactly.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (28:13):
I today, as an adult, know that my mom had her own very traumatic upbringing. You know, hurt people, hurt people. Not always, but the people who hurt people are usually hurt people. So I got to take the young me in my arms, right? (In My mind) And console her and tell her that I would never let her go again. And so that's part of why I continue to write that every day of my life now.
Josephine Atluri (28:43):
And that's the thing it's very similar to you know, it's like an affirmative statement. And with affirmations that a lot of times people I tell them it's so it really is very helpful to do it but you may not believe it in the beginning. You may not believe what you're saying to yourself or writing to yourself. And then there will be days, once you start to kind of buy into it, like you said, there will be days where you just don't like, you just had a terrible day and you don't feel like acknowledging this but then there's a new day. And so there's another chance to, to give it a go so thank you for sharing that. That was so beautiful. The last question I wanted to ask was just about, you know, your, your relationship now and your role now as a parent and how you continue to sort of, you know, live your life. We're all models for our children. Sort of what the big takeaways from this healing journey has been for you that you're hoping will come through to your kids.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (29:47):
One of, so this, this question makes me emotional because like, I listen to so many parenting books and it talks about like, I, right now I'm listening to what happened to you with Oprah Winfrey. And it's just like, it's so apparent to me that like, everything that happens early on in our lives can impact the next thing. And so sometimes I worry about that. Like, what type of mom was I, when my kids were infants and what type of mom was I when they were one and I, I have had to forgive myself for things. And so one of the things that I take into parenthood with me is in, is trying to ensure that my children know that they are loved simply for existing. Not from their performance, not by their performance, not by what they do for me, the love that they provide to me, but they, that they are loved because they were born.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (30:51):
I try to also implement practices of calming themselves. I did not have a model when I was young to help me calm myself in healthy ways. Now, you know, I, I practice breathing with my, with my three and a half year old. And now he knows when he starts to get worked up I'm I need to take some deep breaths. I said to him once, Hey, Shago are you upset right now? He goes, I'm not upset Mommy, I'm frustrated. And so, and I give that example because I try to help my children understand that there's more than two feelings. There's more than happy and sad or good and bad. We have a wide spectrum of feelings and all of the feelings are okay. How we behave, how we respond when we are experiencing those feelings is what we want to try to monitor and assess, right? And have appropriate feelings and like allowing the feelings to happen, but also help our young people manage those feelings and work around them so that it doesn't become those negative feelings which are gonna exist for any person on the planet. Don't become ingrained in their sense of who they are.
Josephine Atluri (32:14):
Well, this has been so great. I mean, so I loved hearing everything about how you're working through everything and evolving and modeling that for your own kids. And, you know, since you already do this and I ask all my guests already, anyway, I'd love for you to share a gratitude, just because I like to end the podcast in a way that shows that even if you're having a crappy day, you can still pivot into more positive frame of mind.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (32:44):
Totally. Am I sharing my gratitude right now?
Josephine Atluri (32:48):
Yeah, that'd be great.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (32:49):
Okay. I'm gonna take a deep breath because that's what I like to do when I share my gratitude. I'm grateful for my health. I am grateful for the family of my creation. I am grateful for my sobriety one day at a time, and I'm grateful that I have the platform and relationships to be able to connect with other women and tell our stories because I know that there is so much power in community.
Josephine Atluri (33:23):
Those are beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing that, Nikki. Thank you. And I'd love for you to share about your podcast and how people can connect with you. I feel like it's I feel like you found, you know, you were mentioning in the beginning how you were this creative soul and that dance was your way of expression and that when you were going through the beginnings of parenthood, you kind of lost that outlet. And so you were seeking something else to sort of, you know and so I feel like this beautiful podcast that you created this year is that new one of the new outlets for you. And so I'd love for people to be able to tune in.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (34:02):
Thank you. Absolutely. It's it's been a, a great joy in my life. I started a podcast called The Know with me, Nikki Spo and it's available on Spotify and Apple podcast. And honestly like wherever podcasters are playing. But it is a, a podcast in which I interview tenacious women who are finding and celebrating their inner knowing and living like the most authentic lives. And most of these women have overcome some type of adversity not everybody, but like their stories are just, I are just beautiful and inspiring and I want to encourage more women to stop living in fear and step into their highest, most authentic selves so they can live and create the lives of their dreams really. So that's The Know with Nikki Spo and I'm on Instagram @nikkisappspo and then the podcast Instagram is @theknowwithnikkispo
Josephine Atluri (34:59):
Wonderful. Well definitely everyone who's listening, go check it out. It was amazing to be on the podcast and to listen to all the other episodes that you have. I can't wait to hear future episodes because so inspirational and definitely shines a light on the possibilities because there's just so many possibilities for ourselves out there if we're vulnerable to and we're open to it. And I really appreciate that work that you're sharing.
Nikki Sapp Spoelstra (35:28):
Thank you so much, Josephine.
Josephine Atluri (35:49):
Thank you for joining me for today's conversation with Nikki Spo. I hope you walked away feeling as inspired as I did after hearing Nikki's candid story of self inquiry, recovery, resilience, and growth. I think it's a great lead in to the upcoming new year. As a reminder for us to look within and evaluate how we respond to life. The last episode of this year, that airs next week, is a special holiday gift for me to all of you. It's a holiday meditation to help you protect your energy from being zapped during a time when it's so easy to overextend ourselves. And there's also a moment of intention setting that you can use during the holidays and into 2022. So make sure to tune in and share this gift with others. As a reminder, I now have fertility and parenting specific meditations and online classes available on my website, jatluri.com.
Josephine Atluri (36:44):
During the month of December, all of my online classes are 30% off with a code holiday30, and be sure to check out my highly rated book on Amazon, The Mindfulness Journal for Parents. It's a great gift for yourself and your parenting friends. Thank you again for listening. I challenge all of you to find ways to respond to life versus simply reacting to our situations. I'd love to hear your real life stories on how you put this into practice. So drop me a line at info@jatluri.com. Until next time.
Josephine Atluri (37:15):
Thank you for listening to today's episode of the Responding to Life podcast. For more info on today's guest, check out the episode summary. I'd love to connect with you more. So be sure to check out my website, respondingtolifepodcast.com for links to previous episodes, articles I've written, and interviews I've done on mindfulness, meditation, infertility and parenting.
Josephine Atluri (37:37):
You'll also find free video meditations on my site and on my YouTube channel Josephine Atluri Meditation. If you'd like to book a one-on-one session with me, you can do so on the website. You can also follow me on Instagram @josephineratluri for daily inspiration and mindfulness tips. Finally, I'd love for you to join my Facebook groups, to connect with a supportive community and receive greater insight on how to incorporate mindfulness into your life. Check out the mindful parenting group with Josephine Atluri or the Empowering Your Fertility group. Thanks again for tuning in today. I look forward to sharing more conversations with you on how to respond to life in a more mindful way.