She Died Twice and Rebuilt Her Life - A Story of Curiosity & Courage

What if your life stopped — and you got the chance to rebuild it from the ground up?

In this deeply moving episode, I sit down with author, musician, podcaster, and storyteller Jennifer  Chambers to talk about resilience, curiosity, creativity, and what happens when life forces you to start over. After facing near-death experiences, illness, and memory loss, Jen didn’t just recover — she transformed her entire life.

This conversation dives into the mindset that helped her rebuild: staying curious, embracing imperfection, following joy, and giving herself grace. Jen shares how creativity became her lifeline, why failure isn’t the end, and how choosing curiosity can completely change your path.

If you’ve ever felt stuck, discouraged, or unsure of your next step, this episode will remind you that your story isn’t over — it may just be beginning.

✨ In This Episode We Talk About:

• How curiosity can change your life trajectory
• Why failure isn’t something to fear
• Rebuilding confidence after setbacks
• Letting go of perfectionism
• Creativity as healing and self-expression
• The power of community and storytelling
• Learning to give yourself grace
• Why it’s never too late to start again

💛 Key Takeaway

Your story doesn’t have to be perfect to be powerful. Sometimes the hardest chapters become the most meaningful ones.

You can connect with Jen 

Her Ig: https://www.instagram.com/j_b_chambers/

Her Website: http://www.jennifer-chambers.com/website

You can find me at:
https://www.instagram.com/cataton/
https://www.facebook.com/casey.taton/

You can find what sparks me at:
https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1AgeRtyojY/
https://www.instagram.com/lmbdcelebrations/

Music by: Jason and Ashley Scheufler
Artwork by:  https://www.instagram.com/graphx_ink/

Transcript

0:00

I think the only way to live is to be curious about everything. I wanna do everything. I wanna do it all. Hey friends. Welcome to the Enter Spark podcast. I'm your host, Casey Caton. If you're looking to hear stories of transformation and personal growth, this podcast is for you. My guest and I will be sharing those sparking moments that has changed the mental living a more fulfilling authentic life. I'm so excited for you to hear each unique story. So sit back, relax, and let's get started. Hey friend. Welcome back to the Under Respect Podcast. I'm your host, Casey Taton. Today I have a special guest here with me, Jennifer Chambers. She is a writer, a speaker, and a host of the Your Voice Matters with Jen Chambers and Same Crime, different Time with Jen Chambers podcasts. Yes, you got that right. She has two different podcasts. She is amazing. She is a former columnist and a co-owner of a publishing company, founded the TEDx Venue Woman event and has spoken at events across the us. She's an alum of the University of Iowa Summer writing program. She is also one of the most resilient, humble humans I get to call a friend. She has overcame such a huge life changing experience, and when I say life changing, I mean her life truly stopped and I'll let her share that, we have taken courses together. Got to know each other pretty well over the last three years. She's also a pot sister of mine, so I'm sure you've heard her beautiful voice on some of my other episodes. And she also is in a band. She didn't put that up there, but I'm just gonna shout it out 'cause I think it's amazing and I think everything she's doing is amazing. I'm so honored to have you here. I actually interviewed her months and months ago and I did not put it out. And this is just true honesty of, I have watched her change and just do so many cool things within the last probably six months, nine months, I don't know, over the last year. It's been amazing. And so. We are rerecording because I wanted her light to shine on everything she is currently doing and that she's changed over the last months. It's been huge. And so welcome Jen. Thank you so much for having me. I love you so much. I'm so glad that we get to hang out together. Oh,, I love having you here. I'm so honored that you're here with me. I could just go on all day about all the cool things she's doing, but let's just dive right in 'cause I know we could talk all day about everything. And so, can we just jump into your life changing story? Yeah. It's, that's actually a good place to start because my life, my new life kind of started when my life changed. So I was, I'm 49 now and when I was 15 I was in a car accident and I had a brain injury in that car accident. I lost all of my memory and I lost all of my ability. I had to relearn everything from walking and speaking to tying my shoes. I was in a coma for 10 days-ish, I think. Goodness. And yeah, I had to restart everything. It was incredibly difficult. I had a ton of help, which was the only way I got through. I had a lot of, physical challenges because of that. Uh, broke my shoulder and my hip. Um, I guess I separated my shoulder. I still have problems with it. Yeah. You know, it's one of those weird injuries that like when it rains Yes. Feels funny. I can relate. Yes. Those kinds of things. Um, and I mean, there's so, so many. Crazy things about that story, but, I also have a super rare autoimmune disease that I've had since I was 12, I guess. Well, I've had it forever. It came out when I was 12 and it's so rare that like six people in the United States have it and they might name it after me. So I guess that's cool. Yeah, I mean, yeah, that, that is, um, definitely where, somewhere where we connect and I think that's why we can relate so much. So yeah. That, that is kind of cool. Um, yeah, does but also like an unfortunate thing of, but I also don't, I don't wanna say unfortunate. It is unfortunate that you've had to go through this and you're like the Guinea pig of the testing and all of the finding out and the experiences, but mm-hmm. Um, I also think in a way it's made you like the unique person you are. I think that for all of us that have those kinds of particularly long running autoimmune diseases that don't have answers. Yeah. I mean, you have to be resilient. You have to be flexible. You're allowed to feel the feelings and have it be really crappy because it is absolutely. But also you have to do the dishes or you don't eat, you know, you have to go to work. If you're a person who can work, you know, there's, you have to figure out, so you really are forced to be extremely, I mean, think outside the box, I guess, and, and you have to be willing to advocate for yourself, which I think is something that people don't understand about people who have auto autoimmune conditions often. Yes, a hundred percent. Like, you know. It sounds crazy sometimes when you have these weird symptoms that don't make sense. Mm-hmm. And you go to a million doctors and they're like, oh, there's nothing wrong with you. You're making this up. Yes. I know. You, I know you're familiar with that. Yeah. It's so interesting. I think you learn your voice. Mm-hmm. Um, and you learn the power of your voice, and allowing it to be heard and you get when people fully hear you and when they're not getting it at all. Oh, definitely, definitely. I wanna take you back, I know that you've talked about this a lot, but back to, not only do you have an autoimmune condition, but you were in a rec, and I know that rec stopped your life. Mm-hmm. Do you wanna go into a little bit of details about that? Sure. Well, it was an interesting thing because, I lived in a very small rural town in Oregon. I'm from Oregon. And, um, very Americana. Literally we were driving home from a football game. There were two cars of us kids, five people in each car. And I think, it was about an hour away from where we lived. And unbeknownst to those of us in the cars, the two drivers decided to race. And so, um, where I live, there's a lot of roads that start out pavement and then go to gravel. Yeah. And then go back to pavement, you know, depending on where they're at. And, like I said, there were five people. I was sitting in the middle of the backseat and, they think, of course I don't remember any of this, but I've been told that we were going extremely fast. I've heard 60 to 90, I don't know. Either way, we were on a gravel section of the road and it was, they thought that it was a shortcut back to the house, where we were all hanging out and, we ended up, I don't think we hit anything. I think we spun out and then we rolled the car, uh, three or four times and landed on a fence, post upside down. And I landed on the fence post, um, my part of the car. So, um, another weird thing is because I'm from a really small town. Yeah. Everybody knew everyone. Like I grew up with the same people. I went to school with the same kids since I was five. Um, interestingly, I was born in California. People in Oregonian don't love Californians. So whenever I do book Sundays, I'm like, I'm really from California, but I'm not, I feel like I'm, I'm from here now. Yeah. Um, but everybody, the place I, I grew up like you weren't local unless your grandparents went to the high school that we all went to, right. So, oh, it's just kind of funny. Yeah. Um, but because we all knew each other, the boy who was in the front seat, so there was, um, four girls and a boy in the car that we were at, and the other car were all males. He actually, his dad was the chief of the volunteer fire department. So I can't imagine getting that phone call. Right? Yeah. And your kids in this accident and you're the, you have to go and work it. Yeah, I, I can't. But we were all so injured. But I guess I have to back up a little bit. So the boy who was in the front seat, so we, after the crash, um, we were all hanging from our seat belts and 'cause the car was upside down and he was in the passenger seat and he had been cut by the window, but he was able to crawl out and he had to run, about a mile to get to a main road so that somebody could possibly help us. He was the only person who was conscious at that point, I think. Um, I don't know, you know, but that's kind of what I think. So he ran literally across this giant field to this highway. So here he is like bleeding and definitely injured. I don't remember exactly where he was injured, so he's bleeding and he's, you know, trying to like flag down people for help. It sounds like it's a horror movie, right? Yeah, it does. Yeah. But nobody stopped. Nobody would stop. So he had to go knock on doors and he had to knock on two or three houses before somebody would let 'em in. And we didn't have cell phones then. This was like pager time. Yeah. Oh my god, I feel so old. So he knocked on the door of this person's house and they called the police of course. And so we all had our own ambulance again. I guess. That's cool. But they were all people who had known all of us since we were small children. So I often am very so grateful. And, and think about it now as a parent and as an older person, you know what that would be like? Having to help all these people in your community and the kind of bravery it would take to be a volunteer, fire department member I think is just incredible. Yeah. So we all had our own ambulances and my parents got that 3:00 AM phone call. 'cause I think I was spending the night at wherever we were all going to. And when they got to the hospital, we were, it's a small hospital, uh, of the bigger town that's next to where I, we were from. And um, I guess our party was the entire er, which is also kind of funny. Um, that's crazy. They had used the jaws of life to get me out of the car and I guess I had died on the way there. And then I. Died again on the table and they were trying to, you know, keep me alive. But part of the problem, so I had a brain injury, and when you have a brain injury, it's funny because when you think about the brain, it feels like it's all smooth like an egg on the inside. Yeah. But it's actually, it has little pokey things that, that jot out. And so when we had the accident, it was like you shook up a soda can and then my brain was like popping around and pieces of it got sheared off. So that's why in a lot of brain injuries, you have damage in different parts of your body because it's different parts get cut off or injured. So my parents, got to the ER and apparently, I was in high school, right? So I, was back alive when they had gotten there. And, I took Spanish in high school. But another funny thing about brain injuries is that you, it's like you're in a giant library and all the books fall down and there's no organizing system. So your brain just like spews things. So I guess I was speaking Spanish. That was way more advanced than I should have been speaking. Oh my goodness. Because apparently I'd read ahead in the book. Yeah. So my mom speaks Spanish, so she was like, what is happening? You know, what's going on? It was just kind of a funny note. Um, and so that means it all lives in there somewhere. I don't speak Spanish particularly well now, but, I just thought that was kind of funny. And, I guess I was also like swearing up a blue storm, just swearing and swearing and swearing. I, um, I think that, I mean, I was in high school, but also Oh yeah, yeah. Um, you know, when you're paying, that's who knows what's gonna come out. Oh, yeah. Um, but they sent my parents to the chapel because they didn't, they weren't sure if I was going to make it. And, and it took a while for them, you know, they were working on me and, and while my parents were in the chapel, my brain had been swelling and swelling because that's another thing that happens in brain injuries. Your brain just gets really swollen. And that's where damage can keep happening. So. My parents are in the chapel and they just don't know if I'm gonna be alive or not when they come down or if they're, when they're allowed to talk to me again. And, a nurse comes in to the chapel and says, Hey, there is a doctor who got here just now. He literally just got back from a brain injury conference. He's our head brain surgeon and he has a sample of some medicine that might be able to bring down the swelling in Jen's brain. Otherwise, we're going to have to drill and put in a shunt. So a shunt is like a pressure valve kind of thing. So, um, my parents were like, do whatever you have to do. Yeah. And they gave me the medicine and it brought down the swelling. But the crazy thing about that is that later when I went to go write about this, um, nobody could find a record of the doctor or the medicine, and I still haven't been able to find it. That is crazy. Isn't that weird? It just kind of like gives me chills thinking about it like it was meant to be somehow. Yeah. That he, yeah, because they document everything so close and there's so many people going and then to not yeah know. It's this, it was like an angel, whatever you believe, like an angel just walked in and like saved you from having, did you end up having a shunt put in or this, this medicine? No. Yeah, so this medicine worked. The medicine worked. Yeah. Yeah. The medicine just totally worked and, um, they don't know what it was. It's funny because I was like, wait, what? That's not exactly like everything is documented. Yeah. But it was like a perfect storm, I think. I'm sure. I think I remember there was like a fire and the records or something, so maybe it was there at one point, but, I've never been able to find it. Yeah. I've never been able to find it. I think I know who the doctor might have been, but I don't have a confirmation of that. So it was just like this person who was put in my life for whatever reason. Yeah. To save me and to say that you, died twice and they brought you back to life is mm-hmm. It, it's such a gift and just a miracle that you're here today. It is. It It is. And it's weird. I don't, um, I think I told you this when we talked before, I don't often talk about my experience there because I was really, when I came back, I didn't think anybody would believe me. And also, I'm not a religious person, so I mean, if whoever is, that's great, but I don't know. And I didn't know why I was saved or Right. If it was just some giant cosmic accident or, I didn't know. And I was angry for a long time. But I had this weird, and I don't know exactly when it was, but I had this white light experience. Absolutely, a hundred percent. I remember it so clearly. It was the first thing that I remember remembering. Yeah. If that makes sense. It was like there was a dark tunnel. And it's funny because I hadn't read a lot of those kinds of experiences before this. So I don't know, I don't think that was one of those things that just cropped up because I was making it up in my head. So it was like I was walking down a tunnel tunnel and it was really dark. I couldn't see anything on either side. And then ahead of me, there was like a hole in the ceiling and what looked like a giant ladder and there was light coming down the hole. And all I could hear was this voice, this. And I couldn't tell you if it was male or female know generalist, I guess. But it just said, you can go or you can stay, but if you choose, you choose pain. And it seemed like my whole life. Was just like flashing in an instant. I mean, I don't remember what those memories were, but it just felt like, you know, like in a movie? Yeah. Like a Rolodex of images just going really, really fast. Like I said, I couldn't tell you what they were, but, I just remember wanting to come back and I, and it felt like it happened at the same time, at the exact same time. It happened in like a half a millisecond and 10 minutes of me thinking about it. So even though I don't know what's true, but it just, it, it was really, really long and really, really short at the same time. That was when I woke up, like really, really woke up. And when you wake up from a coma, you wake up, quote unquote several times before the real time that you wake up. You like go back and forth and you're not, you know, it was like a half awake sort of thing. But this was like the last time and the final time. Wow. And I didn't tell anybody about that for probably 15 years after the accident because I was just so worried that people would think that I was crazy or that, I mean, I felt like nobody believed me about anything anyway. And I had to ask everyone because I didn't remember anything. So I was, I was pretty Keeping it close to the rest All the time. Yeah, all the time. I just wanna thank you for sharing that because every bit of that is hard to. Relive an experience and that you're just open and willing to share about what you went through. We think as kids we're, nothing's gonna happen to us and we're just living and, you went through life changing, a life changing experience. I can't imagine, being your parents, feeling their feelings, you going through all this and then seeing those lights and then saying like, is this even normal? It's interesting now that I'm older and I've heard people talk about seeing the other side, like I mm-hmm. You know, saying like, I almost died. You know, they'll say like, this white light came and mm-hmm. Or I saw this and I saw this, and they're like, I don't feel comfortable telling people that, at first because they're like, it's so weird. And it's so like, I know what the other side looks like. Whatever you believe that looks like, or whatever. Mm-hmm. You know, there was this big bright light and so it's so interesting to hear you say that. And just put it in your own words and you know that mm-hmm. When you finally woke up, um mm-hmm. How did you feel when you finally woke up? I was absolutely terrified. I didn't have any words, so I didn't know how to speak. So imagine, I guess the way I've always tried to describe it is like being an infant or maybe like a 4-year-old. So like, you can feel stuff, but you can't articulate anything. So everything was cold and everything was really, really, really loud and really, really, really, yeah, like the most bone chilling terror you could think of. Everything was scary 'cause I didn't know where I was and I was, it sounds so dramatic. I was, um, restrained, so I was like, I, I was like tied down and I. Thought that people had kidnapped me or I didn't know where I was and why were they holding me there And I couldn't leave and nobody would talk to me. And of course they were, I just, I wasn't aware of that at the beginning for sure. And brain injury rewards are extremely, like, they're supposed to be really quiet, but the brain injury patients are not, because we all feel like that. We're all like, what is happening? And there's a lot of screaming and a lot of, you get poked a lot and Oh yeah, you have your vitals taken all the time and bright lights and even though they tried to make it nicer for you, it's not comfortable. Yeah. Anybody who's been in a hospital, it's no fun. Yeah, it's no fun. So I went in and out and when I finally came to. My parents were there and I didn't know who they were. I didn't recognize them, I didn't know their names. It's funny 'cause I talked about everything, even scrambled up. I called my dad by the name of my, the family dog, whose name was Max at the time, so Oh, wow. So I kept calling him Max. Yeah. Not dad or, and I have a pr, my family's pretty close. I we're at, at the time, my, my mom and my dad and then I had one sibling and, he wasn't there, but my family, my parents were, and, and, I just remember during that period, every day was the same. So it was, I lived in the hospital for about six weeks and, but I mean, I guess it's not really very long in the scheme of things, but I can remember it is long enough. I can remember the feeling of, I had my own room and you know, I had my dresser full of, I don't know why I remember this, like color coordinated sweatpants. So I had the sweatpant and sweatshirt and the same color, but I had like five sets of them because of course I wore the same thing every day. Yeah. Um, and the t-shirt, you know, they're all like navy blue and I just remember seeing this drawer full of all these sweatpants, which is really weird. Because my days were filled with different kinds of therapy. So I had an occupational therapist, an educational therapist, physical therapist, you know, all things. Occupational therapy was great because in that respect, they were the ones who helped teach me again how to read and, when I say how to read, like I had to be taught what language was. I didn't recognize any letters or anything. I didn't know what they meant. You could show me an apple and I didn't know what the name of it was or that you ate it or what the color it was. I had to relearn all that stuff, like the color red and, just like little kids. It was faster because I did know a lot of it somewhere in there. Yeah. And I had to, relearn how to walk. I was in a wheelchair for a while and then I had a walker for a while. And I can remember being on those like, parallel bars. Yeah. You know, where you're learning to walk again. Um, and being so excited when I got to the end. It took me so long to recover in a lot of ways because of, um, a lot of the thing for me was that I, all of my, sense of direction was also destroyed. Like my inner ear, at the very beginning, particularly if I like leaned over the side of my bed, it felt like I was falling off a cliff because all of my inner ear had been broken. Oh, everything in there had been busted. And of course then I would scream, um, because it was just ter you don't know what's happening to you. So that was a hard thing as far as, walking and physicality again. And I still have some physical. Challenges. I often walk with a cane. I, occasionally I've used crutches at times, but, um, and I've occasionally used, I guess I used a walker at the beginning too, but, now I just have a cane and I don't use it all the time, because my hip is still kind of damaged. It kind of healed wrong, you know, so it, it took a while. The longest thing, and it lasted for several years actually, was, even though I didn't think, I thought I was all better, um, I was in outpatient therapy. So I was in the hospital for about six weeks and then I was in outpatient therapy where I would go back to the hospital and learn all of these things for another six or eight months. So I'd go to the hospital every day, and then after a while I would, I was able to go back to school for a part day and relearn some of that kind of stuff. But one of the interesting things that I remember is I was so excited towards the end of when they were gonna let me out and go home. I still didn't believe that. So when you have an injury like this, like you have to take everyone else's word at face value. Like you tell me, my name is Jennifer, but I've got no clue what that is. And there's these pictures on the wall. Oh my god. Yeah. It was terrifying. So one, one day, they signed me out for a day trip visit to my house and I grew up on a farm and my parents and my sibling took me back home and I didn't know anything about it. I didn't recognize the driveway. And we live on 33 acres, so it was like we have a really long driveway and there's like cows and all sorts of stuff. And I had. No recognition. And all these people told me that they were my family, but I didn't have any reason to believe them other than that they kept showing up. For weeks I was just like, okay, if that's what'll get me outta here. Alright. I just wanna get out. That is like, yeah, there's so much to this and it's not even, brain injuries are so unique. Mm-hmm. In the fact that you had to relearn everything. Mm-hmm. And start completely over. Mm-hmm. And then I can only imagine the fear and everything of. Okay. If you say, these are my parents and this is what's gonna get me out of this place, that's fine. I'll just go, and you're just literally trusting what everyone else says, yeah. I can't even imagine, how that felt or you're just taking everybody's words of Okay. Yes. And just hoping, like something's gonna connect. Okay, yeah, that's me. I see myself, or yeah. That's just my mom, like, right. And I didn't for so long. And I mean, part of brain injuries is being paranoid, which it doesn't help, because you do, you just have to trust everyone else because you don't have anything that you know that is true for yourself. So you can't like, recall any of that. Oh yeah, that's right. This is my room and yeah, these people like me, um, everybody you meet could be a potential. Bad person. Yeah. You don't know. So you're always guarded, which I think I still am and that's hard. I try really hard not to be, it's just a coping mechanism, not necessarily bad or good, it just is. So on this visit, like especially the first couple, like we have this wall at my parents' house and a lot of people have this where your family photos? Yeah, just the hallway. Right. The hallway. And I call it the wall of shame. And so all these pictures of like former me and former my family and my grandparents and family and all this stuff. I didn't recognize any of them. I didn't recognize me. I didn't know who any of these people were. Oh my God. So I just had to be really quiet and just say the least possible that I could in order to try and like absorb it and maybe something's gonna click and nothing clicked. It took a really long time, I had been released to move home by the time I sort of started trying to believe it. And it's funny 'cause like when you think, when I say it out loud, like, who else is gonna go to that kind of effort? Except for people who love you. Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah. Right, right here. Like we just keep showing up over and over and we're right. Watching you go through this and trying to cheer you on and right. All the things Yeah. Like, bad guys are gonna give up. They're not. Yeah. You know, unless they're really, really, really wanting it. So I eventually, one of the highlights of my time there was towards the end when I tried daily, one of my things that I had to do, they gave me all these different tasks and one of them was find my way from my room to the elevator at the other end of the floor and find my way back. And you had to go around a corner, maybe two corners to get to the elevator. And I would, I can remember now, because I have a few memories from inside the hospital. But I can remember like getting to the elevator and just, okay, I give up. I don't know where I am. I don't know how to get back. I would just like sit down Yeah. In a chair because I just, I had no clue. And they'd had someone shadowing me, so I wasn't like by myself. But, I was so frustrated and I felt like I couldn't ever say anything out loud because then they wouldn't let me leave. I mean, my whole goal was getting out. Yeah. I just, I don't know who any of you people are. Why are you wanting to hurt me? But I am outta here. Which is poor things. Like all they were trying to do is help me. I didn't believe it. Yeah. But eventually when I was able to move home and I went to my therapy every day and, I had a wonderful woman who worked at our school and was friends with my parents, and she came to teach me speech therapy every day. And another one that taught me reading and things every day. And I had this little, it was funny, I, I have it still, but I had this little notebook and it was like a spiral notebook, but it was like the size of like a big checkbook kind of thing, so I could put it in my pocket. And, um, I had sections for my family members and my friends and my pets and the places in my life. So like I can flip back to it and be like, oh, that's my grandma. Excellent. That's who that is. And then I didn't have to like, theoretically then I wouldn't have to feel bad because I felt really bad when I couldn't remember anyone. Yeah. And they tried not to show it, but they were devastated. I'm sure. You know, so it was really nice when I was able to, feel like I was a little more comfortable with that because I had this adaptive device and I was so embarrassed that I had to have it, even though it was so important. And I'm like that today. Sometimes, you know, I get embarrassed when I have to use the adaptive devices like my cane or if I have to have something different. And I think a lot of people do that, but I was just mortified, like, uh, everyone can see that I'm broken. Yeah. Like I can't pretend because they can tell. Yeah. But I mean, I guess I'll probably always be like, the embarrassment part is still, even though I am an adult. I mean, come on, everybody's got their things. I know that intellectually. Yeah. But like your heart doesn't sometimes. So especially that age and then relearning everything and mm-hmm. You're not only, you're relearning like emotions and feelings and that, you know, you were like, I don't wanna say these out loud, because if I say this out loud, that means I'm going to be here longer, or they'll send me back Yes. Or I don't wanna go back to that place. Or even the embarrassment of not knowing someone when you feel like you should know them, even though you've just survived something that is a miracle that you survived and mm-hmm. I'm so grateful you did, but it's just crazy to think about like, everything you went through, oh, this is food. I eat this. Like, retying, redressing, mm-hmm. You started completely over. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And interestingly, some people that I know from before say that I was, I'm completely different than the way I was and I mean, not that I have any control over that. Yeah. It used to make me mad, be like, you know what? Screw you. It's not like I can try. I'm like, what does that even mean? Like I'm a different person. Well, yeah. Yeah. I was kid for one thing. Well, yes, a we're kids and then now we're adults. But it's just interesting. Did you get the worst of the injuries because of where you were located? I did. There were a couple, all of us had seatbelt injuries. Um, yeah. Which is interesting because they used to, they tried to tell my parents that I didn't have my seatbelt on, and my parents were like, I don't believe that. And then I had, my hip and my shoulder and yeah, my parents were like, we don't know a lot, but we're pretty sure. Yeah. Which is nice and good for me. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure I didn't always, 'cause I was a kid, and the boy in the front, he got some cuts and then a couple of the people, they got one or two of them mild brain injuries, but not like mine. Um, not, not even, I don't even know if they were brain injuries. I think maybe one of 'em got a, got a small one and then they got, cuts and bumps and bruises and things like that. I don't think anyone else was. Was hurt. And then nobody in the other car, 'cause they went all the way home, oh my goodness. But, that's a whole different story. That's crazy. Yeah. I'll get to that one too. Yeah, that, that was crazy. Like I say, I'm so grateful and so lucky. I mean, my parents had, we had a really supportive community and I don't know that would happen everywhere growing up in a small town that was extremely like my parents' friends, this is above and beyond. I was like a pack rat and my room was destroyed and they went in and they like completely cleaned our house and cleaned my room and put in like the new beds and stuff so that it was all good for me. And I could get around all the doorways and stuff like that. So we had some really incredible friends that did a lot more than just a meal train, you know? Yeah. It was just really incredible to have people, not that meal trains are bad. They're, they're super helpful. We have that too. Yeah. I'm sure. But, people who showed up and did things that weren't necessarily even think you would even think of asking for, I'm, I still feel so grateful to those people that helped my family at a time when they just were trying to survive. The rest of them were too. Yeah. Oh yeah. It doesn't just, you know, you're thinking you as a patient, but it has an impact on what everybody else is doing as far as they're trying to survive. Are we going to lose our daughter? And then we take her home and we have to redo her bedroom because everything has to have, devices so you can relearn everything and get out of bed and like all the things, it's a lot. I don't think that's something anybody ever just thinks about, you know, like you, that's nothing. You ever just set and ponder. If I got in a wreck and I lost my memory, what would happen? I think it's amazing that the community, and I definitely think it's, a small town, the small towns, there's something about a small town that they really come together. To support one another in that way. I've seen that like with my hospital parties and it's really amazing that the community can just, when they can just show up for each other and do so much, because it takes off so much pressure off everybody. Mm-hmm. When everybody's just thinking about, I have to eat, drink, go through the day, and then you have all these other titles and you're just trying to go back, right. At the end of the day, we're taking care of our daughter and she has all these appointments and everything. So I know we've talked about like fillings and, um, we've talked about this a lot. The feeling of just, of all the feelings we've gone through, through all these things. When did you go back to school? Um, let's see, so my accident was September 26th and I think I went back to school like. November, maybe after Thanksgiving, maybe Christmas, something like that. Yeah, it could be New Year's, something around there, I would say three to four months later, But again, because of our small town, my dad actually was president of the school board, and my mom taught at school. Uh, that's so small town. Um, but honestly, like my, my class had 40 people in it, so yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. Uh, yeah. Very small. But, um, you know, they were able to not just fulfill the legal. Interpretation of what had to be done. They were very creative about it. Stuff like I had a nap in the middle of my day. I got to go to the health room and take a nap. It was great. It was the only way, 'cause my brain would shut down after a while. Yeah. I could only do a certain amount of stuff. And then my brain was like, Nope, I've fried. And I had what they called absence seizures where you're kind of like looking at somebody and, but there's nobody home for just a little bit. Mm-hmm. Um, just 'cause your brain is just basically like overloaded. It's kinda like a computer that just is like, you know, so I, you know, they did that kind of thing. And not to make it all, all about the community, but part of the other incredible thing about the community that we lived in is that, um, along with the accident that dealt with the, the five of us, um, the other group of people in the other car. Um, not all of them, but I think most of them were in another car accident a week to the day after my car accident in front of my house, and they all died. Oh my goodness. Yeah. So the community was also reeling from, from losing all of those kids? I think there was four of them, maybe five. I can't remember if it was four or five. Wow. I didn't know. They didn't tell me until after I left the hospital and I was, of course, I was angry because I didn't get to go in anyone's funeral or anything like that. Right. But like, I knew that I was supposed to remember them, but I didn't really remember them. Mm-hmm. Um, I mean, I remember them sort of, uh, I, I remember them now, but I mean, it was just such an incredible loss for a whole community. Um, so. It's 10 times as special that they took such good care of me. I feel so, so grateful that they did that. They, and the whole, like everyone, the school and, and I mean, I wasn't always pleasant. Like sometimes I was just like, uh, you know, I was a teenager, so I was pretty pissed off at everyone, especially then. Yeah. Because like now I'm living with this and part of the thing that made me angry was that, you were talking about like relearning the physical things. The hardest thing to relearn that took so long. The longest thing was relearning like social patterns because you can't really teach them. Like, you can't teach how to have a conversation and like wait for someone else to speak. Or that time period, um, you can't really, you can tell someone to be interested in the other person, but you can't tell 'em exactly how, or, stuff like that, like the social components. Yeah. Were so incredibly difficult to learn. And so I was quiet a lot because I observed and I learned so much more by observing, and I also learned a lot by when I could learn to read again. Yeah. Which is interesting that, that's kind of fun. And that's a good segue because uh hmm. That's what I do. I write for a living. And, I think it's because of both of those things, because I learned by observing, so I still do that. I wanna know why people do what they do. And then I can write about it. And also because when I started learning to read, I could absorb how people interacted on the page a lot easier than I could do it in person because it was slower, right? Mm-hmm. So like this is how these people are having those conversation or interacting or, these friends are talking to each other in this way and I can read it and then slow it down and then it made sense. Yeah. it's so interesting that you, and guess this is a perfect turnaround. Her story is, I encourage you guys to all go back and listen to it and just think about all she's been through and now, what she's turning this into. 'cause it's, it is so powerful. I never thought about reading a book mm-hmm. And observing it that way. Mm-hmm. And I have never actually thought about a book. And until you've just said that. And so it's like the ways different people learn and we all learn different ways and so it's interesting that you retaught yourself to learn things through reading. Mm-hmm. And now, and now we look what we have today. I mean, yeah. It's interesting. Like I always feel like things are nailed down when they're on a page. Like, you know why the villain is bad? You know why the person wants the thing that they want because they tell you what their motivation is. You don't have to guess. Ah, so true. Yeah. So that's what it is. That's if I have a secret, that's it. I just watch things. And, you know, it's, it's interesting too because, so one of my podcasts is about crime and, and people's motivations are generally. They've always been the same, you know, love, envy, hate, want those kinds of things. Isn't that interesting? Those, it's, yeah. Really the patterns, right. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Needs are huge as far as why people do what they do. And I love that. I love that I get to kind of puzzle those things out now, I think that's also why I like to do my other podcasts because I think people's stories are endlessly fascinating. I wanna know who people are and why people are, and I don't have any motivations besides us, really. I just wanna know, do you think that was a turning point for you like the curiosity, staying curious, being curious of everything you do. Mm-hmm. I think in some ways having an injury like that is a gift in that. Why not? Yeah, I know what the alternative is. Absolutely. And I was saying for something, even if I don't know what it is, so why not? And everybody, if you think about it, why not? Like all you can do is fail and fine, just try again or do something different or, I mean, it's not that bad. This is why I absolutely love you because there's so many people. You can take two turns, right? You can look at life and say, I'm done. I hate it. This is not what I was here for. Or you can look at life like you look at life and I, you're just such an inspiration because why not? All I can do is fail. Like you're like, I've already been there, done that part of it. Well, I can either choose to go back or, you know, I'm not living like that anymore. I wanna make the best out of everything I do now. I mean, that's all we have, right? Yeah. So why not? I, yes. Does everything always turn out? No, of course it doesn't. Yeah. Um, I taught, I actually, I taught an editing class the other day and they were asking me all different kinds of writing questions and, they were asking me about having an agent and I had an agent. This is like skipping ahead, way ahead, but I had an agent and I didn't follow through. Like I had a dream agent, a New York agent at a really prestigious agency, and I just couldn't do it. I just couldn't follow through. I just didn't believe in myself enough, and I messed it up. And she dropped me, of course, because I didn't do what it was supposed to do. Yeah. And I was like, okay, so that, that's telling me something. It's telling me that maybe I'm not ready for that or maybe I need to do something a different way. I think the only way to live is to be curious about everything. I wanna do everything. I wanna do it all. I wanna learn it all. I play a ton of instruments. Not all really well, but I'm learning them because why not? What are we here for? Except to do all of the things and love all the people that you want to. And I guess we don't need to go overboard there, but I mean, why not? Why not? Yeah. I love it. I think you just need that phrase, all of you. Why not? I'm here for it. Yeah. Do you wanna talk a little bit about your writing? 'cause you've done so much and you're so humble about it. And I I think it's huge. Oh, I mean, some are better than others. Yeah. I've written I think 32. Books, something like that. Not all of them are full books. Some of them are like chapters in other people's books or things like that. Yeah. But, um, I started out writing, well, I guess to back up again, so I, um, I never thought that I would have kids and I just kind of never have wanted to put myself in a, any sort of a pigeonhole. I never wanted to label myself a certain way because I didn't know what was possible for me. And I did go to college. I went to a lot of colleges, but I never finished because I was like, I was writing a lot and I thought, you know, I can take tons of English classes and. Everything, literature and theory and all kinds of different classes, but I don't need to have a piece of paper. I don't need someone to tell me what I am. Once I finally figured out who I was, I was like, I wanna have kids, I wanna be able to write in the career that I want. I can do it all at the same time, and I wanna do it all at the same time. So I did, I didn't really write, I wrote in later high school, and I wrote a little bit in college. But I'm still like 12 credits away from getting my degree. I have an associate's degree, but my bachelor's degree I never finished. And I'm like, okay with that because I was like, you know, I'm gonna have kids right now and write my books, and if I wanna go back, then I can, but so far I don't really care. They don't need to take my money for giving me something that doesn't mean anything. That's dumb. Yeah, that's dumb. Yeah. Everyone's choice is valid for them. I just was like, what do I want? Where do I want to take this? And I picked a career that didn't, you know, it's not like I'm a nurse. I didn't need to get a degree. I didn't have to take anatomy, thank goodness. 'cause I wouldn't be great at that. Yeah. And it's a really wonderful career. It's just not, that's not what I could do. Not for me, not for me. It's definitely interesting. I've never thought about that. You're your own unique person and you have your own unique writing style. I still struggle. I write in a journal, I've told you this, I have a writer's block and I think it's 'cause of like my grammar and is everything spelled properly? Is everything written, everything, you know, all the things that I get in my head when it's I, no one's even seeing it but myself. Right. And I'm just writing. But, and that's a belief from a long time ago, you know? Mm-hmm. From being kid, probably from school. Yes. Yes. Yeah. It is Uhhuh. And so it's just interesting that I've never thought, no one can teach you to do those things. You're uniquely you and you're going to write however your style is. Absolutely. And you know what, that's what spell check is for you. Just, yeah, for me it's more important to get it all out. I do that when I was just, when I was teaching the class the other day, they were, asking me when I'm doing a project, how I do it. Like how a lot of people are like, God, I don't even know how you find all the hours in the day or whatever. And yeah. And that's valid too, but so what I like to do when I'm doing a project, I write early, so I write from like four to six in the morning. Um, and for me, the best way to get through those kind of blocks, 'cause I've totally had those mm-hmm. Is just to, um, I like to, when I'm having those kind of blocks, I write longhand. So I write in a journal instead of write on the computer. Um, and I don't censor myself at all. I set my timer for whatever time limit I wanna do. And I write it, and I write and I write, and then I can go back to it if I want to, but I don't have to. Yeah. So that's what works for me. And when I'm writing a project, that's a little bit different because I have, I write from a very detailed, outline. I'm what they call a plotter, so I like a plot rather than a seat of your pants person. Um, a really good friend of mine just finished her book and she is a pants and I'm a plotter and they're both good. Yeah. I just can't imagine working like that. 'cause I like to know at least where, sort of where I'm going and then I can get there. Yeah. I just like to have an idea, but I love writing. It just makes me so happy because I think I write nonfiction and fiction. And with nonfiction it's nice because I know the answers. Which is something that I was always insecure about. Like, I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing or where, what I'm supposed in this situation, how am I supposed to react? Or stuff like that. So, so in some ways writing nonfiction feels almost like cheating because I have it all. I know all of the answers, but it's also really fun. And then when I write fiction, it's nice because I can control it and I can do what they'll do, what I tell 'em to do. So in that way, I also know the answers. It's all about what makes you feel secure, I guess. Huh. That's so interesting. It's like inside a writer's mind, like Yeah, yeah. Well, things I've never thought of. You're just so creative. Well, it's again, why not? That's why I like to do all the different instruments because it's just like, I mean, all I can do is suck at it. And if you start something, you're gonna get better if you keep practicing whatever it is. Yeah. And I've noticed that, for a long time, I denied a lot of my creativity because I thought that it was scary, and I thought that it was something that drew attention to me, and then I was worried about it because I was worried that I wouldn't measure up. And so I linked it like that in my head when I cut myself off from creativity for so long. And it gives me so much joy. I'm so sorry that I mean, I understand why I did it, and I, forgive myself for that, but, that's something that brings so much joy to my life. Finding more ways to do that every day is just lights me up. It's just, and I do all kinds of stuff. Like I, I crochet and I make zines and I, I like to work with beads and I like to, I do collage. And I'm not really a painter, but I can do it and music. Music is my favorite. Favorite, favorite, I just love it so much. So I would encourage anybody who's listening to explore any part of creativity because like, we're the only beings on the planet that can experience it. Oh, yeah. You know, and it's just such a gift to yourself. Yeah. And the world, I think the more you put out the better everything is. So that's why I like to do it all. It doesn't, and letting go of the perfection part is such a relief I think part of that was really helped because like with my first couple of books, I go sit at these writers events or conferences or sales, or. Book signings, whatever. My books are not for everyone, and that's okay. There's room for everyone at the table. You know, I like all different kinds of things. I'm not gonna, like every author at this artist fair. I can still be kind to them, but you know, I'm probably not gonna buy all of their books and that's okay. And that kind of extends to everything else, right? Like, it's okay, it's okay. I'm not gonna be the best musician in the whole world, but I can have a lot of fun and be pretty good at it. And, and that's okay. That's enough. And yeah. You're enough. Yeah. Your look at life is just, it's just so amazing. And I think it's, in the last few months, I've seen you expand so much and you're like, oh yeah, by the way, I'm doing this now. And by the way. I'm in a band. Like, first it was like, oh, I'm playing this instrument. And it's, you're just so casual about everything.. Yeah. I'm gonna have my book at this signing event. And I'm like, I mean, these are huge things and you're just like, ah, it's just something. And to me, these things are like huge honors of you have that many books out and Yeah. I mean, like the last time we talked, I think I might've talked to you until or kind of got you inspired. I was like, can you write a book for me, please? Mm-hmm. And that was like, so that was the last time I interviewed you and that's why I said it's been so long, because you were just starting that process. You were like, oh, mm-hmm. Yeah, maybe I could do this book. And I was like, I was just kidding. Like, you really don't have to do this book. And then like. You're really doing that. Mm-hmm. I've, well, I got really sick over the holidays and before the couple months before that, so I, that is another thing that I have had to teach myself a lot, is giving myself grace. It's funny that you bring that up. Yeah. Because I was working on it last week and this week, and I'm overdue on it and I'm like, you know what? Sometimes you just gotta let things be okay. And I know myself enough to know that I'm gonna keep going. It's just my pace isn't what I would want it to be sometimes. But forgiving myself for that has taken a lot of work. And, giving yourself grace, gosh, that's the hardest thing you can do. But it only works if I honor the things that I say I'm gonna do eventually. Yeah. And I don't think, there's no timeline on it, honestly. Like you're doing this No, no. I know. As like a favor to all of us and. To help us get creative. I mean, it's something I've never got to tell. Like I've never really dug into my story like that, so I'm so excited to be a part of it. But I think the grace part, that's something that we're not really taught. And then especially after you've gotten sick or gone through a battle or, had something happen, you have to allow that. And it gets harder as we become adults, even just as adult in general. It's like you have to end to listen to your body and to know. Mm-hmm. And if it's not bringing you, like so much joy and so much fun right now, put a pause on it and come back. Oh my gosh. Yes. That is such an important thing. And it's so hard. Yeah. Because our society is taught that you have to like, produce or perish just keep going. Yeah. You just gotta keep pushing through. That's the only thing you can do. And that's the American way. And, and it's garbage. Yeah, it is. It's crazy. She says she's not doing a lot. You guys, she has two different podcasts. I have one podcast and I'm just, I'm good with this. And you have two different podcasts and your books, and you're in a band, I mean mm-hmm. Like, you light up when you talk about it the first time I heard you say we have a gig and this is our name. I'm not gonna tell everybody information, but I was like, so excited to hear you say that. And you just like lit up saying it and then it's every time we get on a call with you, you're like, oh yeah, I'm doing this and I'm doing this and I'm gonna go here. What is the latest thing you wanna tell them you're doing? Do you wanna talk about any of it? Oh yeah, sure. Yeah. The band is great. I think we have a name. I think this is our final name. It's funny, it's good to be flexible about it until like you have your first real gig and then you have, then it's set in stone. Um, we're called hot flashes and heartstrings and, we're all about the same age, so it's kind of nice. We're all, you know, middle aged women basically. Uh, there's three of us. And, I play the ukulele and the banal. And a banal le is like a, right, it looks like a banjo, but it has ukulele strings, so I can play it like a ukulele. So it's kind of like, it sounds like a banjo, but it's easier. It's really cool 'cause we play a lot of, acoustics. Some of it's bluegrass, some of it's not. Uh, it's all like the kind of music that we play covers. We have some originals, we play things that you would hear like a winery on an afternoon. Yeah. You know, that kind of thing. Um, so I play those two and, Becca plays the mandolin and the guitar, and Jen plays the guitar and the ukulele, and then we play assorted other things. I was just given I a, a different instrument. I don't know how to play it yet, but, uh, yeah, I just like to pick 'em up 'cause they're fun. And once you have a basis with music, I was taught, from about 12 to about 18 to sing professional opera, which is weird, but, that's what my parents had access to because there's a woman who was from the San Francisco Opera who lived in our community. And so I have a really good basis in that kind of music. So we have lots of really good harmonies and, and they're just amazing women. It's really cool because, so between our pod group and my band, I've been able to be a part of groups of women in such an incredible, empowering, positive way that I wish everyone could experience because I didn't have that before. You know, I had a few good girlfriends, but nobody like, um, not like that combined group of women. Yeah, there's such power in that and that's been such a gift that's been really cool. So we play lots of different kinds of stuff. And, yeah, so we've got that going on. And then also I was selected for, um, I was given a storytelling fellowship for 2026 through, a group called Oregon Humanities. And they're a statewide group. Like I said, I'm from Oregon and they have a podcast and a TV show and a radio show. And, the goal of this is to help people around Oregon tell their stories. So what I'm doing is I'm going around to different locations in Oregon and I'm having podcasting workshops because it gave me so much joy and helped build my community when I was a person who lived in a rural place and I was disabled and I felt like I needed more. And I wanted to have more connection, so I want to give that to other people. So, um, I have two scheduled so far, and I have three, three or four more during the rest of the year. And I can't wait to share people's stories. I'm, I just think everyone, the magazine and publishing company that I used to own, their like tagline was bubbling up in our own good time and the mission was that everybody has something worthy to share whatever kind of creativity they have. And we were so lucky to do that with the publishing company, like 1500 people to share their work. And I just hope that this is another. Iteration in a way that I can help people share themselves because I think that people don't get enough recognition for being who they are. And I can't wait. I'm just so thrilled to be able to talk to all these people and, you know, share the stuff that I know. So it's cool when you're a writer, you do a lot of writing by yourself in a room or with your cats in my case, you know, so, yeah, so it's kind of, that's the really exciting part thing is the, there was a monetary grant, so I was able to get really good equipment so that I can showcase them the way that they deserve it. And part of the workshop, there are one day workshops. So the first part is I tell them how to tell their story. So it's the building blocks of story. And the second part is the mechanics of podcasting. So we'll go through all of that. And then, the third part, I help them write what I call. The heart of the story. So it's like their mission, what their story is about, what their show's about. And then we'll record all of those, all of their heart of the story submissions, and then I'll professionally produce those and send it to them so they have like a jumpstart for their podcast and a hopefully a plan to take their podcast as, as far as they want to go. So that's 2026 for me. So I'm so excited. I can't wait. That is amazing and so powerful. And you guys, I know you can't see her, but she just lights up when she talks about it and it's just the best thing to see. We've talked about this several times. How everybody has a story and there's so much value, and I'm a curious person like you, so I think what you're doing, that's why I love podcasting is because you definitely get to get curious with people. Like, thankfully, like Facebook was around when I was sick. But if you didn't have that and you know, you look at some of the other places or where you live and everything like that, there's no connection because there was no one around me that had my condition. And so there was, you feel so alone in a world, but now we have so many tools to connect people and so many different platforms and I think it is just so incredible and so powerful that you are going to teach these people to do that. Yeah. Okay, so there's a person who lives outside of Bend, Oregon. Yeah. Which is a, like a skiing town. And, but what they're really passionate about is like candle making and they can do a podcasting about candle making and, and, and then they can like meet other people in their area because they're like, Hey, I just listened to this great podcast about how to make candles and I saw on your website, you know, that kind of thing. So like teaching them to make and build their own communities is just the coolest part. That's so cool. It's funny 'cause I was talking about how I like to control things when I write them, um, which I didn't realize until a couple years ago. And I was like, huh, that makes sense. For a person who feels like they can't control anything about themselves. Right. You're the puppet master. That makes sense. Um, but part of the funny thing about this is that the nature of it is that I don't know what's gonna come out. I don't know what kinds of things people are gonna say, but that's what makes it exciting and fun. And I think the curiosity and the openness is the room for growth for me. And if they come to it with, you know, wanting to know stuff for them too. So much goodness your story is so powerful and from literally having your life stopped and you are doing incredible things. And I'm just so thankful to be your friend and get to know you and get to witness like all this excitement and joy. It's like the best thing when you get to cheer your friends on and see them excited to do cool things and knowing that you have friends doing magical things across the world. It's amazing. If you could leave people, a piece of advice, what would you tell them? Follow your curiosity. Definitely always, always. I mean, I feel like that was the other thing about college. Like I don't care about school, although I love going to school and I keep doing it in different ways. Yeah. Just be open to learning your whole life and you'll never be unhappy for long, I feel like that's the most concrete thing I can tell people is just always be ready and willing to learn. The times in my life when I've been more open to that, I've just gotten so much more. Yeah. And that's open to learning about anything. The stuff that makes you happy, learn about yourself and the things that you know don't work for you. That's only more good information for you to have about yourself. So just keep learning. That's what I would say. Long story. Long. Yeah. I love it. Where can people find you at? I'm on Substack. That's my main place. Uh, also my website, uh, Substack is if you go to Substack, it's at J as in Jennifer, B Chambers. And then, also you can see my website, which is www dot Jennifer Chambers, C-H-A-M-B e.com/website. I know that's long, but you don't come up if you do Jennifer dash chambers. So either way, those are the places I'm at. And then my podcasts are, available everywhere that you get podcasts. My podcasts are called Beyond the Margins with Jen Chambers, um, and Same Crime, different Time with Jen Chambers. And I'll leave all that in the show notes for you guys so you can go follow her and her creativity, everything she's doing. Thank you. You're just such an incredible human and I'm so great to call you a friend. I thank you so, so much for being here today. Oh, thank you so much. It's such a joy talking to you, and thanks for the opportunity to talk about myself. Oh, your story is so impactful and what you're doing now, and it's just, it's, there's not even words for it. I just get so excited for you. You're the best. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah. I wanna thank Jen for coming on and sharing her story from literally dying and coming back to life and creating this life she has now. And just staying curious. And it just shows that when you're open. Stay curious of things that can come in your life. I hope you guys loved this episode as much as I do. Go follow Jen. She is an amazing, beautiful person. If you didn't get this, she has so much more about her. She didn't even share. Go follow her and thanks for listening. Thank you for tuning into another episode. I hope today's story inspired you to embrace your own journey of growth and change. Remember, transformation isn't always easy, but it's always worth it. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe. Share it with a friend, and leave a review. If you found something that sparked you in this episode and may spark a friend, I encourage you to go share with them. If you have your own story you would like to share, I would love to hear it. So please reach out to me. Until next time, friends, go have some fun and let those sparks lie.