Guest: Dan Stowell, NOVA FUSION

Episode Introduction

Some stories don’t bow to a neat arc. This is a story of literal survival.

In this episode of The Hook, I talk with Dan Stowell, creator of Nova Fusion, about living with Crohn’s disease, growing up in chaos, and choosing resilience on the hardest days. Dan shares how he rebuilt his body, his mindset, and his mission, and why telling the truth about our darkest moments can become a lighthouse for someone else.

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Sarah: Welcome friends. This is “The Hook with Sarah Larsen.” I’m your host, Sarah Larsen, and I’m excited to introduce my guest today, Dan Stowell with Nova Fusion. Dan, I’m going to ask you to do your own introduction here. Tell us a little bit about what Nova Fusion is and what you’re doing.

Dan: Nova Fusion is really an icon of inspiration, and I really strive to be a beacon of hope. It started with just sharing a blog about the first four years of my health journey with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. I didn’t know what any of that was when I got sick, and it was a long process for me. I wanted to just help others in similar situations, and I realized over time that it’s not so much about my personal situation, but more about the hardships and the adversity that I went through, because we’re all battling something out there.

I just wanted to be that beacon of hope and show others that if I could get through these extreme experiences, then so could you with whatever you’re fighting in your life. That’s kind of where I started with all of this. From there, it really just transitioned into a platform to honor those who overcame hardship. I just want to share their stories and pull out the lessons that they learned along their journey.

Sarah: That’s incredible. You are actually fairly young as far as the guests on my podcast go, because I’m typically looking for entrepreneurs who have long life experience. But given the things that you have been through, I’d say that you have a little bit of experience in overcoming these, what I like to call disruptions—hardships as you’ve referred to it—and you have a little bit of knowledge about how to get over that.

I’m really interested to dig into how you have approached that. Let’s back up a little bit. Can you tell us where you grew up? What was life like?

Dan: Life was everything but normal. I was kind of that guy that went through a lot of pain, like you said. Similar to an alchemist, I kind of turned those tough times into a propelling purpose that fuels me every day.

Growing Up In Survival Mode

Dan: I grew up in a small town, Livonia, Michigan, not too far from where you grew up. We grew up in the same area, so to speak. Small world on that part, but home life was never easy for me because not only did I get diagnosed with a life-changing condition, but I grew up with an alcoholic father for as long as I can remember.

He was pretty bad when it came to the alcoholism and even other drugs, prescription drugs, and street drugs. That caused uncertainty for years, and I was pretty much living in survival mode every day, just not knowing what I was going to come home to. It was never something that I talked about with my friends.

In that suburban community, it wasn’t like a snotty rich place or anything, but most kids just had normal lives: their parents were married, things were good, and those conversations just didn’t really happen. So I always kind of felt embarrassed, and I suppressed my emotions a lot.

Honestly, basketball was my outlet. When things were bad inside, I would just go outside and play basketball. We had a hoop out there. There’s a community rec center like a quarter mile away, so I had a membership, and that was honestly like my second home. Having those outlets definitely helped.

Things got really bad from about fourth through eighth grade. It was to the point where my mom and I had to bounce around different family members just because it wasn’t safe at home. Things were getting really bad and unpredictable with my dad. That caused me to struggle in school because my mind couldn’t focus on what I was trying to learn; it was more about what I was going to come home to.

That was a tough period for me. That’s where a lot of my stress kind of built up. I wouldn’t be here today if I had let my emotions lash out and I didn’t have that self-control. My mom definitely helped me with that. We pulled through; we made it to the other side.

Things kind of settled down from ninth to 11th grade, and then things really picked up again. That’s when I got diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, and at the same time, my dad kind of relapsed harder than ever. So it was just a big storm for that senior year of high school that everyone looks forward to.

Sarah: Wow. Tell me more, if you don’t mind. You said that you and your mom were bouncing around, and then things kind of calmed down around ninth grade, at least for a couple of years. It sounds like you moved back in—you were back home with your father and your mother together. Did he get sober, or was it just stable?

Dan: It was like kind of stable. During that time where things were really bad, fourth through eighth grade, there were times where he was in rehab. There were times where we had to be at other houses. There were times where he was in jail even for like a work-release program in the summer, and that was like my only time I could see him. I

t was pretty tough around there. He got kind of stable, but it was always these moments of unpredictableness. He has bipolar as well, so we didn’t know if it was him relapsing or if it was the bipolar, the ups and downs of that. So it was as good as it could be, I guess I could say, from that time.

We actually realized that he wasn’t sober the full time. So if he said he was sober for two years, it was more like one year, and we would just never know. But we definitely knew by 12th grade that something was up, and that’s when we had to really cut the cord and get out, get a whole different house. We couldn’t stay with him anymore. Honestly, I haven’t really talked to him at all since those times, and that’s probably been like six years now.

Sarah: I wondered that—what the relationship is today. It sounds like you haven’t really interacted with him since then. Understandable. I can’t relate to that experience. I can’t imagine how hard that must have been. When you describe being in school and not being able to pay attention, of course you couldn’t. It’s heartbreaking. I feel for you. But I can hear how well-spoken you are. You have obviously come through this in such a strong way.

Chronic Stress Becomes Chronic Illness

Sarah: Can you tell us a little bit more about when you were diagnosed? What did you say it was?

Dan: I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, but it evolved into Crohn’s disease.

Sarah: I have a question before you go on, and maybe you’ll talk about that and address it. Do you think that the trauma of everything that you went through during those years leading up to that may have caused some of that illness?

Dan: That’s actually something that I’ve been learning a lot more recently: how those stress and traumas really build up in your system. When you do things like working out or you have a strong meditation, you can feel those things release through years of that suppression. You’ll have a really strong meditation and you just start crying for no reason. It’s like, “Why am I doing this?” It’s because those things can store in your body.

It’s something that I’m new to learning, but I do believe that if you go through chronic stress and you’re living in survival mode for such a long time and you don’t have ways to really cope or manage that, then yes, it is going to manifest in your body. They say disease is your body at dis-ease. So I was at dis-ease for a very long time. I don’t want to directly say that, but indirectly I feel like it did play a big, big, big role in my diagnosis of getting sick.

Sarah: That makes a lot of sense. All right, so what happened at that point? And when you were diagnosed, then what? In addition, you have this explosive situation with your dad. Lead us through the story.

Dan: I was—my mom moved out at the time—so it was just me and my dad, ironically. At first it was good because 11th grade he was still relatively sober and stable, and I just liked having my freedom, to be honest. As a 17-year-old kid, you get your car at 16, and you just want to do your own thing.

I got sick the summer going into my senior year, just about three or four weeks before classes started, and we had no idea what was going on. After a couple weeks of it continuing, we were like, “We thought it was just like some stomach bug, I ate something wrong, whatever.”

I ended up seeing a GI doctor. I had to get a scope. That’s the only way that they can tell for sure if it’s Crohn’s. They found the ulcers and they put me on some steroids and some oral medications that didn’t do anything to help.

As my disease was continuing to progress, my dad was getting worse. Him and his family, they couldn’t really wrap their head around me getting sick. It was almost like a denial. So that was a constant battle: “Why aren’t you doing your chores? Why aren’t you cleaning up after yourself? Why are you just staying in bed all day?” It’s like, “Okay, well I’m sick, dude.” Nobody really knew what was going on to that point. But there was a point where later down the road it’s like, “Okay, he is sick. We should help him out.”

I was homebound for that whole year in high school, and then I ended up elevating my medications to an IV. It was called Remicade. They do that just because it’s more potent, and it goes straight to the bloodstream. Again, that did nothing to help me. After those first two treatment options, you’re left with a life-changing surgery. My affected areas was my entire colon. It was all the way from the start of your colon to the end, so they couldn’t really save any of it.

Four days after graduation, I ended up walking—even though I was homebound—but I had the first of two surgeries that removed my entire colon. That was honestly the darkest time. From being diagnosed to getting past those surgeries, it was the hardest thing ever.

From August, that’s when I got diagnosed. My first surgery was June 8th, I believe, and then I had a second surgery in August, and that had some complications. In between those surgeries, I had a colostomy bag. That’s what really made things really bad for me. I just had zero self-worth. That mindset really carried with me. Even when I did feel a little bit better, I still had these negative thoughts about myself, and I was still in that victim mentality.

It took me a long time to get out of that. I would say probably from August 2015 to January 2017, that was that really dark time of recovery and surgery. After that, I kind of started to find my way a little bit more, but man, it was a process for sure.

The Darkest Night

Sarah: What kept you going in that dark period?

Dan: Little things, little things and acts of gratitude. Just taking those small steps.

Here’s a big thing that I really haven’t shared before: I was actually really suicidal when I was before my surgeries, probably that November period when I got diagnosed. Just a couple months into it, that’s when I was really feeling the worst. I put a deadline to end my life, and in a week, I was going to do it.

The reason why I didn’t is because I didn’t want to transfer the pain that I was going through onto the people that did support and care about me: my mom and my grandpa. Those were two people that were in my life that stuck with me from the very start, and they were always supportive. They didn’t question it, and they always had my back. So I was just thinking of everything that they did to sacrifice for me. How can I repay that back? One way to not do it was just ending my life and making sure that everything that they did for me just went to nothing. So I was like, I can’t do that.

I really had to dig deep, and that was like my purpose for a while, just to not transfer the pain that I was going to onto others because they’re going to have to live with it for the rest of their lives. That wasn’t fair. I did have a girlfriend at the time who helped me a lot during that period. I needed like a rock, honestly. I don’t think I could have done it by myself. Between her and my mom, those were the two people by my side.

Honestly, just doing little things each day to get better. For me, I had to take walks, and that’s what helped my body feel better, helped just move things in my system. So when I was in the hospital, that was the one thing that they told me to do: just do laps around the hospital. I knew that’s something that I could do and just be active, drink a lot of water. I just did everything that I could. I’m researching all the time, anything that I can do to feel better. I just took it one day at a time because that’s all I could do.

Sarah: Were you living with your dad the whole time of that, or did you finally move out? I know you said that he and his family were not understanding of what you were going through, and that you weren’t, you didn’t have a lot of energy to bounce around and do chores and things like that. At what point did you end up moving in with your mom? Were you on your own at that point?

Dan: I ended up moving with my mom. She just ended up getting a condo at that point just to get out, and so I moved with her probably around January, December, before my surgeries started.

Sarah: Wow. It’s a really powerful story, Dan. I feel like people are really going to resonate with some of—not all of what you’ve been through, but hearing—maybe “resonate” is not the word I’m looking for. They will be inspired for sure.

I think that you are on the right path with the business that you’ve started of just being that beacon of hope. Having gone through this, we haven’t even gotten to where you went after. But that inspiration, just hearing you say that you couldn’t put your mom and your grandfather and your girlfriend through that pain of ending your life, and that you powered on through thinking of them, which is great, frankly.

Dan: Yeah, we’re here for each other.

A Second Beginning

Sarah: As you eased out of that sort of dark period that you talked about, how did things progress from there?

Dan: 2017, that’s when things started to get a little bit better for me, and that was really just like a trial-and-error year, because everything—like my food and diet—was just completely new. From being in a colostomy bag to having the surgeries, it was just totally different, night and day. So that whole year, I was just trial and error, figuring out what I can and can’t eat.

Dan: In 2018, I had a big moment in there that really was my catalyst. That February, I ended up getting diagnosed with mono, and I was just extremely tired from that. I got E. coli too, somehow, and that was really messing up my stomach.

On top of that, I had an intestinal blockage, which is a complication from my second surgeries because I only have my small intestine now, and it kind of forms a J-pouch. The way it settled in, I kind of have like a twist in there. So if I eat too much at a time, it’ll get clogged, and that’ll be an intestinal blockage, which I may have to go to the hospital, or if I can power through it, I will at home.

I ended up having to go to the hospital for that blockage because it was a pretty intense one. The fourth thing that happened in February was my girlfriend that was with me through the surgeries decided to break up with me. So I was going through that really tough experience of everything just piling on top of me.

I had to really dig deep, and I was like, “Why am I doing the things that I’m doing?” I knew I didn’t want to go back. I lost so much weight, so I went back down to like 118, which was my lowest that I could ever be. That’s what I was at with surgeries. I spent all of 2017 kind of rebuilding my body, and then in a span of one month, four weeks, I just completely crashed. That was a big hit on my mental. I was upset about losing my girlfriend. I just felt like I was never going to get over this illness.

I completely went all in on reinventing myself. I started going to the gym like four or five times a week. I started listening to podcasts every day, and I just wanted to grow and become a better person. Through that process, I was just discovering new things along the way, new things to help my mindset. For a while, that was the biggest thing for me: just reshaping my mindset because I was at such a negative place, and then I had to start seeing the positive in life.

Through those years, I actually was taking pictures of my transformation, my body, just because I didn’t really have the words to explain what was going on. So I was like, “Okay, maybe this will come in handy one day.” Through those pictures, I started adding some captions and just finding the words that I could at the time.

I ended up starting a blog in 2019. That was really just to share the first four years of my journey. My purpose for that was to help those in similar situations and be like, “You can get through it. I went through the wringer with all this, and if I can do it, so can you.” That was my main message for that.

After that, I was like, “Okay, what’s next?” because I didn’t really know. I just wanted to put my story out there. That’s when, like a month or two later, I developed my philosophy: “Experiences plus mindset equals growth.” That was just through my experiences. It just made sense to me. I wanted to really create a platform and a brand beyond myself that honored other people that went through similar situations, went through those dark times, but they came out on top, and now they’re a beacon of hope for others in those situations.

That’s kind of how it all led up to where I’m at today. Just one thing at a time. I didn’t really have all the answers, but I just took one step in front of the other, and I tried to do the right thing the best I could.

Managing Chronic Disease

Sarah: It’s really an incredible story, Dan. One of the things that occurred to me as you were describing your weight loss and how you had dropped down to 118 pounds, is that not everybody probably knows who’s listening what Crohn’s disease is. I actually had a brother-in-law who had Crohn’s disease and had surgery and things like that, so I’m familiar with it. Maybe we should have you explain what it is exactly.

Dan: Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are a form of IBD, which is inflammatory bowel disease. What that is is inflammation throughout your entire digestive tract. It causes these ulcers to form. If the ulcers get bad enough, that can actually cause a perforation. That’s why I had to get surgeries because the medication just wasn’t helping me.

That’s kind of what it is, but it causes so many symptoms, with not being able to eat, having to go to the bathroom all the time, and weight loss, fatigue, and mental fog. There are all these things that come with it, and malnutrition. I’ve realized that diet and stress management are the two biggest things that bring on flares for me and bring out my illness. So if I can manage those two aspects of my life, I’m in a lot better shape. That’s what I would recommend for anyone out there in a similar situation battling an IBD: really focus on your diet and your stress management.

Sarah: My understanding was really just your body’s inability to absorb nutrients, and that is why you lose weight because you’re just not keeping the nutrients in your body. Diet, for sure, is something that I’m aware of as a solution that will help you keep it under control.

It’s interesting that you say the stress release, the stress as well, stress management. It kind of goes back to what I was thinking before: you had so much stress in your life in your early years, all growing up, that I’m sure didn’t help your situation. Maybe you would’ve had that anyway, but I’m sure that did not help. It’s good to hear that you’ve figured out how to control that a little bit. Do you want to talk about what you do for both sides of that?

Dan: For stress, exercising is one of the best things that you can do just to get out of your own head a little bit. For me, it was always basketball, so as a child, I would always just play basketball. Find what activity makes you happy and you can kind of get into that flow state—that’s a good one right there.

Then journaling, that’s another thing that I highly recommend. I do it pretty much morning and night and throughout the day. Just any thought, like a to-do list, anything that’s going on that might stress you out. If you have like a crammed schedule, you can prioritize that. When something does happen in your life, I think it’s good to reflect on that, and then you can kind of just see it from a new perspective. You won’t have that emotional attachment or those negative emotions towards what you’re going through. You can kind of just pick it apart a little bit. So for the stress, those are two big things that I use on a daily basis.

For the diet, I’m really big on like an animal-based diet. That’s not like a carnivore, but definitely eat your meats, and the dairy is good if you can tolerate that. I kind of stay away from vegetables, but I eat tons of fruit. So meat, fruit, dairy, water, tea—those are all great things.

Just overall stay away from processed foods, and eat as much whole foods as you can because, as you know, with the American diet, if you look at the labels, it’s like, “What is this?” You want to find things that have like one to three ingredients, just make it really simple, and you’re going to feel a lot better.

Sarah: That’s probably good advice in general. We know that limiting your processed foods can really help. I’ve seen you post a few things on Instagram where I was like, “What is that? That looks so interesting.” Describe the one that I asked you about the other day. It was like beef bone broth and cut up avocado. I think you said that there was some ginger in it as well.

Dan: You can get the collagen, the glutamine, all of these good minerals in the bone broth that help and nourish your gut. Then obviously the avocado, that’s a great thing—the protein, the fat, the nutrients in that. That’s just like a nice power meal for me, and especially when I’m not feeling so good, it’s a good light thing that I can have that’s also nutritious. So that’s what a big thing is, like finding these nutrient-dense meals and foods and then keeping them simple. That was three ingredients, just some spices in there.

Another thing that I’d like to add is, find anti-inflammatory foods and really try to eat more of those. Things like turmeric; if you can just put that in a lot of your food. That was in the soup that I had. I’ll do that in the eggs that I cook. I’ll scramble some eggs and put some turmeric. If you can just incorporate these things into your diet, again, you’re going to feel so much better. It’s not just the IBD and the Crohn’s disease, but like arthritis, any autoimmune disease, those are mostly caused by inflammation. So if you can get rid of the inflammation that you’re intaking through your food, that’s going to help you so much.

Sarah: It sounds like I need to have some dietary advice from you, or at least not so much the advice, but what are other meals that you’re doing? I looked at that, and those are two things that I really love: the idea of bone broth and avocados. But I would never have thought to put those things together, but it sounded really good.

I have psoriasis, which I’ve had since I was a kid, and it is an inflammatory disease, I guess, for lack of a better word. It doesn’t affect my daily life other than, you know, I’ve got it in areas that are visible and it’s not super attractive necessarily. I have tried different things, or seen the benefits of low carb. There’s a whole other conversation about my relationship with food.

I have done low carb. I have done some different dietary changes. You mentioned carnivore. I have done that as well, and one of the reasons I tried carnivore is because there was a doctor who was talking about that. He was on the Joe Rogan podcast a few years ago, and he mentioned that he’d had very bad eczema, and that going carnivore had helped that. I thought, “Well, maybe that could help me.”

That was a bit extreme, and I also did not see benefit for my psoriasis. I did it for four or five months, pretty strict carnivore. Didn’t see a benefit. So, just listening to some of the things that you have mentioned: the anti-inflammatory spices and other types of collagen, actually, is an interesting one that I have not learned enough about, I think. But I was taking a collagen supplement for a while that really seemed to help, but unfortunately, it was also an investment, let’s put it that way, and one that I ended up taking out of my diet just because it got to be a bit much. Are those things that you have found helpful?

Dan: A tip for you is having some bone marrow. You can do it straight out of the bone and save it for later, freeze it, and put it in the fridge, stuff like that. That is like straight collagen right there on a budget. The only thing is eating it out, but if you don’t even want to do that, you could just boil the bones, just with the marrow in there, and there’s your bone broth right there. Definitely cost-effective.

Sarah: I imagine that you have learned that as well, given that you are ingesting those things pretty regularly. What’s your trick? What’s your tactics? Do you buy bones specifically, or do you buy cuts of meat and then use the bones? What’s your suggestion for that?

Dan: I’ll just buy a bag of bones, and then you can freeze the bones and pull them out one by one, pull out a couple of them. I’m a little extreme: I’ll just put them in the oven and put the marrow on my bread and stuff like that. But you don’t have to be that crazy. You can just put it in sauces and just use it as a butter because it really doesn’t have a taste.

Sarah: I’ve had it where I’ve just baked bones in my carnivore experience. I did do that and tried it and thought it was quite, it was fine. It was delicious. I think I just added some salt.

Dan: Yeah, exactly. That’s what I love to do, but it creeps my mom out a little bit. So for anyone that is like that, there are easier ways that you can do it that you can incorporate it without having it be bone marrow.

Another thing that you mentioned was like those diets, because there are so many around. I like to say that there is no one diet, and the reason for that is because what my medicine is for me food-wise could be your poison. Things don’t agree with everyone. We’re all different. We all have different circumstances and situations, and so I kind of take diets with a grain of salt. I look at what are the foods in there, what are the macros: your fats, protein, and carbs.

Try to get a good balance of that and just eat nutritious things that agree with you. Because if you’re eating something that doesn’t agree with you, what’s the point of doing that? Food is fuel. Food is to be enjoyed, if you can. I would just encourage people not to focus so much on the diets, but focus on how they make you feel and lean into the foods that make you feel good.

Sarah: I love that. That’s great advice. What works for you doesn’t necessarily work for everyone. I heard a story recently from another nutrition coach who said that she had a client that was following some cleanse that involved eating a lot of eggs, I think. Eggs can be great, but apparently she hadn’t really been an egg eater prior to that cleanse. When she was eating a lot of them, it ended up that it affected her in not good ways. Basically, once she got off the cleanse and stopped and went back to what she was doing before, which didn’t include a lot of eggs, is when she realized, “Oh, I feel much better.” Certainly, there are things that we can do that aren’t good for us.

Dan: With that, if you’re going to try something new like that, take it in baby steps. What I learned from a nutritionist is to start first day, a small amount. You’ll do it the second day in a row, do a medium-size portion, and then the third day you’ll have a big-size portion. Then you’ll know by those three days if it agrees with you or if it doesn’t. If it doesn’t agree with you, don’t do it again.

Sarah: You mentioned that you don’t really eat a lot of vegetables. Is that why? Because they don’t really sit well with you?

Dan: Yeah, it’s just digesting them is a lot harder. I can’t touch any leafy greens whatsoever. I want to. I’ve tried them in smoothies, I’ve tried green powders. It just, it doesn’t agree with me, so I can’t do it.

Experiences + Mindset = Growth

Sarah: Are there any other bits of advice that you can offer from your experience of just getting through life, getting through the tough times in life? Any advice that you have to offer on that?

Dan: One thing that really helped me throughout my healing journey, and I found this around 2018, is the philosophy of Stoicism. It’s an ancient Greek philosophy, and in a nutshell, it’s “Control what you can control, and don’t worry about what you can’t.” Much of life is beyond our control, and the only thing that we really get out of that is overthinking and making this big dramatic mess in our heads. So if you just focus on the things that are in your control, you can make progress that way.

When I was going through those tough times, I couldn’t look at, “Well, why did this happen to me?” That was irrelevant. It’s like, “What can I do to make things better?” That was the better question that I had. If you can ask better questions, you’re going to get better answers. I think that’s a good tip right there.

Sarah: Absolutely. We both follow Craig Siegel, who likes to say, “Marry the process and divorce the outcome.” I think that sort of falls into the philosophy of “Control what you can control.” Obviously, we can’t always control the outcomes of things, and you need to leave that to the universe and work on what we can control. In the case of your situation, like you said, the food and the stress management. I love the tools that you mentioned earlier of journaling and working out, getting movement, moving your body.

That is something I’ve been studying a lot of energetics recently and the energy of movement, whether it’s physical movement or other action, taking other action, even if it’s a mental action or making decision-making and then taking action on those decisions. Whether they’re good or bad, the action leads to some clarity. You’re going to learn, “Okay, that wasn’t a good one this time, although I won’t do that again,” but you’re clear on that. Or you made the, made the act, took the action and then had the good outcome.

You mentioned playing basketball was something that kind of—you mentioned flow state in with that, and I wasn’t sure if you were saying that the basketball got you into the flow state.

Dan: Yeah, like with painting, that could be your hobby, and you just get into the flow with your painting, and you’re not thinking about anything else. So whatever that is for you. It could be horseback riding, like, I don’t know what that is for you, but there’s something out there that you gravitate towards, and whatever that is, lean into it.

Sarah: You mentioned that you have this business and you are coaching people with regard to wellness and resilience. Where is that going? You mentioned to me that you’re launching a podcast soon. Is that okay to talk about here?

Dan: The podcast is coming out March 31st. That’s going to be, as of right now, “The E.M.G. Podcast.” The goal for that is really to just bring people on that went through those tough times and pull out the lessons that they learned, and show others that, “Yeah, if they can get through this, I can get through that.”

Because my situation is so extreme, a lot of people can’t relate to that, so I want to bring people on that everyone can relate to. So you can just scroll through the episodes, “Oh, this person’s battling this, let’s listen to that. That’ll help me out.” I just want to be, again, that beacon of hope for anyone out there.

The coaching is something that I started this year actually. It’s been something that I wanted to do, but developing my process all of last year, pretty much, and getting my program ready to make public for others.

Really what that is, is wellness and resilience. We cover all things mindset, wellness, so your nutrition, and then that resilience X factor because I like to say that mindset is really the foundation of everything. If you have a strong mindset, you’re going to be more willing to do the things that you need to do. Whereas if you have a negative mindset, are you really going to eat healthy? Are you going to go work out in the morning? Are you going to really take care of your relationships and nurture those? Probably not.

So I think getting that mindset is one of the biggest things. It’s definitely one of the biggest catalysts for me, and how I transformed everything around from that February moment that I mentioned earlier. It was really just a shift in my mindset, and that was I was more determined and committed to do the things that I needed to do.

Sarah: Awesome. Brilliant. Where can people find you on the internet?

Dan: I’m on Instagram, that’s where I hang out the most: Nova Fusion Co. You’ll definitely see everything that I’ve got going on with the podcast. If anyone out there wants to just reach out, have a conversation, or you have a chronic illness, you need some help with that, please reach out to me. I’m always willing to talk to anyone out there.

Sarah: I think that you are doing something really incredible, Dan. I’m excited for where it’s going, and I can’t wait to hear your podcast.

Dan: I can’t wait to have you on as well.

Sarah: I would love that. I’ve got some stories of resiliency I can share with you. 

I wanted to ask you one last thing, and that is where did the Nova Fusion name come from?

Dan: This actually came to me in college. I was in an astronomy class at the time, and “Nova” stands for like a burst of new light and a new life. That’s what I was doing. I was really reinventing myself. That was 2019, the start of 2020. It was just before COVID. My health wasn’t the best then. I was still figuring things out.

“Fusion” is the core of philosophy, and everything is actually from Bruce Lee. So, “Be water, have your own style.” He would actually fight other people to learn their styles, and he was just this open book of martial arts. So he would learn how to punch one way, kick the other, and in a fight, he would combine all of it. He would take the best techniques from everywhere and then create his own style.

I liked that idea for life. I’m taking things that I learned from wellness, from mindset, resilience, all of these great people and my role models and mentors, taking the best things that I think are applicable for my life, and I’m kind of just sharing those with others. Nova Fusion is the platform for that.

Sarah: That’s awesome. That’s a really cool backstory on your name for your business. Love it.

Dan: It was just perfect timing.

Sarah: Well, thank you so much for sharing your story with us today. I’m so glad that we had an opportunity to do this and for me to get to know you better. We’ve chatted a little bit on Instagram, but it’s always good to meet somebody in person.

Dan: Thank you so much for having me. It’s been an absolute honor to get to know you more as well and just continue this connection.

Key Takeaways

• Resilience is a daily practice. Dan rebuilt his life one walk, one glass of water, one mindset shift at a time.
  
• Your body keeps the score. Sustained stress and unprocessed trauma can manifest physically. Tending to both nervous system and nutrition matters.
  
• There’s no one “right” diet. Pay attention to how your body responds; food is personal, not doctrinal.
  
• Purpose needs honesty. Sharing the truth about our darkest moments turns pain into a path for others.

About Dan

Dan Stowell is the creator of Nova Fusion, a platform devoted to stories of resilience. After years of living with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease — including multiple surgeries and a full reset of life and mindset — Dan now helps others navigate hardship with practical tools for wellness, stress management, and growth. He’s launching The E.M.G. Podcast to highlight everyday people who turned adversity into fuel.

Connect with Dan: Novafusion.co | Instagram

Energetic Reflection

Dan’s story carries the frequency of renewal. The quiet, steady light that returns after the longest night. It’s a reminder that healing is rarely linear and never performative; it’s presence, choice, and compassion on repeat.

If you’re in a hard season, borrow this truth: tiny actions compound. A walk. A journal page. A nourishing meal. A conversation you let someone hold with you. These aren’t small; they’re sacred.

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