1994
Learning that life can change overnight.
Diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma at eight years old. After chemotherapy, I chose to have my right leg amputated above the knee.
Hi, I'm Nicole.
I've become more versions of myself than I ever expected. Some by choice. Some by circumstance. Some because life left me no other option.
For a long time, I thought those chapters were disconnected. Now I think they've all been asking the same question: who are we after life changes us?
That's the question I keep coming back to, in my writing, on the podcast, and in the conversations I care about most.
I'm not interested in giving people answers. I'm interested in helping them find language for experiences they haven't quite been able to name.
A few chapters
2006
Chasing a dream.
Became the first above-knee amputee, male or female, to compete in para snowboard and helped pave the way for the sport’s inclusion in the Paralympic Games.
Today
Still becoming.
I'm fascinated by the invisible beliefs that shape our lives. Why achievement and worth become tangled together. Why healing has its own timeline. Why we outgrow careers, relationships, and old versions of ourselves. And how we find the courage to become someone new.
What you'll find here
01
Essays about identity, healing, ambition, and belonging.
02
Conversations with people who've outgrown old versions of themselves.
03
Observations about the invisible beliefs that shape our lives.
04
The occasional story that starts with something as ordinary as a banana split or a hermit crab and ends somewhere unexpected.
“Sometimes the biggest change in our lives isn't what happens to us. It's the story we start telling ourselves about it.”
Nicole Roundy