The High Level Overview
With over a decade of professional experience, Coach Amanda Nystrom comes to the table with dedication and integrity. She is a huge proponent of being leaders within our own lives, and not allowing our circumstances to dictate our mindset.
She graduated top of her class at George Fox University and proceeded to work her way up to becoming CEO of a database consulting firm. She has extensive volunteer experience, and became a Duke Certified Health & Wellbeing Coach in December of 2023.
Her hobbies include gardening, hiking, photography, and living in a converted school bus six months a year.
The Detailed Version
In 2020 I was diagnosed with multiple chronic conditions. Shortly thereafter I started experiencing life altering changes to my body. I began to feel constantly limited and had to measure every action I took. I found myself saying “I can’t,” more often than I’d like. Turns out my least favorite words are, “I can’t.”
As a stubborn/passionate individual, I felt I had one shot: I can make my life better now, or I won’t. With the constant enemy that my body had become, I didn’t see a future where we would be able to work together, but I knew that I wasn’t ready to accept my limitations as my only source of truth.
So I dug in. I started with books like Daring Greatly by Brene Brown, Atomic Habits by James Clear, and Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach. I started paying attention on purpose and my self awareness grew, which enabled me to realize how horrible I was to myself. I carried years of self judgment, regret, and many more ugly feelings. It took a constant mindset of “one day at a time,” and slowly I began to become friends with the body that so many times I felt trapped in.
My “I can’ts” became less as the clouds parted and I was able to see that while my body may fail, I still had the opportunity to live and experience. While still going through the grief cycle of losing what I expected my life to be, but certainly farther along than I was, I applied to Duke Medical School’s Health & Wellbeing Program in an effort to learn more about how to holistically be an advocate for my difficult body. I wasn’t far into it before I realized it was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
Chronic conditions served as my wake up call to pursuing my calling, putting myself out there (when I would much rather hide on a farm somewhere), and not succumbing to the world’s expectations. It also made me realize how valuable my health is, and how I never want to take it for granted again. Do I have limitations? Abso-freakin-lutely. Some days my body feels like it was hit by a train; other days I lose my physical autonomy altogether. Through coaching and being coached, I have learned to deeply appreciate [almost] every experience. I had to learn the hard way though, and I’d like to work with others so that maybe we don’t all have to learn that way. Our life is so short – let’s be intentional and embrace what we have instead of focusing on what we don’t.
Thank you for reading part of my story.
