Mary Nieraeth
Unleashing My Warrior Spirit: A Memoir of Empowerment and Self-Health Advocacy
December 5, 2024
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INTRODUCTION
When Mary is seven years old, a near head-on collision leads to a diagnosis of epilepsy. What follows is a mid-life resurgence of uncontrollable seizures in her forties that severely impact her family, career, and quality of life. After a seizure caused a car accident, Mary is forced to give up her driver’s license and is terminated from a job she loves.
With her now-limited mobility and reduced freedom, Mary faces challenges she never saw coming. She must find the strength to juggle status quo health care systems, mental health struggles, family responsibilities, and her own internal conflicts and fears.
Mary’s journey to speak up and find the best options for her wellbeing within the confusing and complex medical community leads to a team of specialists and new promising treatment options. As she explores healing practices, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, yoga, and meditation, and embarks on a deeper spiritual journey, she discovers that she has the power to restore her health, wellbeing, and inner peace.
As Mary learned to fight her way through major medical conditions, she becomes an outspoken health advocate and helps to support others in this process. In Unleashing My Warrior Spirit: a Memoir of Empowerment and Self-Health Advocacy, Mary’s story will inspire and motivate you to become your own inner warrior and take responsibility for your own wellbeing—your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
Before Unleashing My Warrior Spirit was self-published, Mary embarked upon a seven-year journey of writing retreats, classes, programs, and working with different types of editors. During the pandemic, she participated in the Write Your Memoir in Six Months program and Linda Joy Myers was her mentor. Mary continued to write for another six months with her assigned writing buddy. She also was a member of the California Writer’s Club and enrolled in memoir writing groups and classes. Many lessons along the way helped Mary bring Unleashing My Warrior Spirit into the world.
- How the process of journaling my feelings and reading memoir segments during my psychotherapy sessions brought clarity and healing to me in a safe space with a trained professional.
- The importance of writing accountability with imposed deadlines and expectations.
- Educating oneself on the various types and functions of editors and when to utilize them.
- Finding and hiring a team of writing professionals (i.e., developmental editor, line editor, copy editor, internal design and formatter, and book cover designer) and having one assigned person to manage the project was crucial to a cohesive, professional, and timely process for self-publishing.
- In her memoir, Mary learned to navigate through the diagnosis of major depression from the loss of her job, driver’s license, and self-identity with the recurrence of uncontrolled seizures. She became an advocate for her health and this practice led to advocating for other areas of her life. Her regular practices of yoga and meditation help her ground into the present moment, breathe, and find peace and clarity within the current of life’s impermanence. To live from the inside out and find guidance from the true teacher, the warrior within. To value, trust, and follow your intuition over the opinions of others.
BIOGRAPHY
Mary H. Nieraeth is a registered dietitian and a registered yoga teacher. She is retired and lives in the Los Angeles area with her husband of 32 years. She is a mother of three adult children. Mary embraces the regular practice of yoga and meditation and finds time to exercise every day. She enjoys cooking, gardening, and travelling.
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