On this episode we come full circle as one of our first interviewees reconnects about eighteen months after our initial conversation where she was learning how to walk in the world as a new widow. On January 16, 2016 Stephanie Sprinkel unexpectedly became widowed when her husband passed away from a sudden heart attack. Feeling alone and misunderstood she decided to create a separate Instagram account. One where she could openly express her wide ranging emotions from her loss. She quickly began to connect with other widows, widowers, adult children that lost their parents and sadly parents that lost their children. Soon after she realized two things:
Grief is not a phase, it’s a lifelong journey
The journey is misunderstood by those who haven’t been through it.
The feedback and fellowship she found from her Instagram account and Facebook page that followed, started to pull at Stephanie. She felt a strong calling use her experience to help others. As fate would have it sponsored ads for life coaches and widow coaches began popping up in her Instagram feed. That’s when she realized that’s what she needed to do. She decided to become a coach so she could walk alongside others through their grief journey.
In 2019 Stephanie embarked on an intensive life coaching program. She has now graduated from the program with the intention to assist other women. Help them find the self confidence to grow, get unstuck and move forward after the loss of their significant other. She found her tools in becoming resilient are also helpful for women who experiencing the ending of a relationship do to a break up, separation and/or divorce.
You can follow Stephanie on Instagram @survivingtheloss or @chooseyourselfcoaching. If you wish to contact her for one on one coaching services in Grief, Loss and Resiliency she can be reached through either account.