Episode 162
Tricia Pingel:The Forgotten Art of Boundaries in Our Always-On World
Tricia Pingel:
The Forgotten Art of Boundaries in Our Always-On World
In a world where we're constantly connected, have we forgotten the art of setting boundaries? Join me as I chat with Dr. Tricia Pingel, the Adrenal Whisperer, about the hidden stressors in our modern lives and how they impact our health. Discover surprising strategies to reclaim your calm and learn why your phone might be your biggest source of stress. Ready to transform your approach to stress management?
First Aired on: Oct 21, 2024
Episode 162
Tricia Pingel:The Forgotten Art of Boundaries in Our Always-On World
Tricia Pingel:
The Forgotten Art of Boundaries in Our Always-On World
In a world where we're constantly connected, have we forgotten the art of setting boundaries? Join me as I chat with Dr. Tricia Pingel, the Adrenal Whisperer, about the hidden stressors in our modern lives and how they impact our health. Discover surprising strategies to reclaim your calm and learn why your phone might be your biggest source of stress. Ready to transform your approach to stress management?
First Aired on: Oct 21, 2024
Table of Contents:
Table of Contents:
In this episode:
In this episode:
Introduction
Dr. Tricia Pingel, known as the Adrenal Whisperer, joins me to discuss the critical importance of setting boundaries in our constantly connected world. As a naturopathic doctor specializing in adrenal health, Dr. Pingel shares insights on how our modern lifestyle impacts our stress levels and overall well-being.
Episode Highlights
Understanding Modern Stressors
Dr. Pingel explains the difference between external and internal stressors in our modern world.
- External stressors include social media notifications and constant information influx
- Internal stressors can be related to hormonal changes, toxin build-up, and poor nutrition
- The interconnection between external and internal stressors
The Impact of Technology on Stress Levels
We discuss how our always-on culture contributes to chronic stress.
- The stress response triggered by constant phone notifications
- How social media scrolling creates a cycle of anticipatory stress
- The importance of setting boundaries with technology use
Rediscovering Work-Life Balance
Dr. Pingel reflects on how work boundaries have changed over time.
- The shift from traditional 9-to-5 workdays to constant availability
- The importance of creating clear separations between work and personal time
- Strategies for setting and maintaining healthy work boundaries
Practical Tips for Setting Boundaries
We explore actionable steps to establish healthier boundaries in daily life.
- Implementing a one-minute breathing exercise every hour
- Creating tech-free zones or times in your home
- Learning to prioritize and let go of non-essential stressors
The Role of Joy in Stress Management
Dr. Pingel shares her personal journey of rediscovering joy as a stress management tool.
- The importance of identifying activities that bring genuine joy
- How engaging in joyful activities can counteract stress
- Tips for incorporating more joy into daily routines
Notable Quotes
"We are so quick to beat up on ourselves when we compare ourselves to everybody else. And I'd like to go back to the time where we have an answering machine that we check during work. Spend time with our family and we show up to the football games and we're present without trying to do that to impress anybody else."
Dr. Tricia Pingel
"Health is one choice at a time. We put money in our bank account out of our paycheck every month for retirement so that we can live this amazing retirement where we can go party, earn 65, right? We can go party, we can have a great time. If you don't have your health, you can't do as much as you want."
Dr. Tricia Pingel
Other Resources:
Other Resources:
Connect with Tricia Pingel
Connect with Tricia Pingel
Watch this interview:
Watch this interview:
Episode Transcript
Tricia Pingel:[00:00:00] All these amazing technologies taking our health in the wrong direction because what it's doing is it's keeping us always in a cortisol loop.
The cortisol has an impact on blood sugar. So it has an impact on how we use insulin and glucose and how we break down fats and proteins for energy.
Tricia Pingel: And it impacts our mood. You know, as I talked about anxiety and depression, people are put on medications for, you know, to help their neurotransmitters when there's a direct correlation of cortisol impacting that.
Julie Michelson:[00:01:00] Welcome back to the inspire living with autoimmunity podcast. I'm your host, Julie Michelson. Today, I'm joined by Dr. Tricia Pingel, the adrenal whisperer, a leading naturopathic physician who specializes in stress and cortisol management. She's transformed and empowered countless women, guiding them from feeling wired and tired to a state of calm and connected.
Julie Michelson: Dr. Pingle is the best selling author of Total Health Turnaround. She's a hip hop dancer, retired fashion model, and visionary CEO, shaping the future of holistic wellness. In today's conversation, we are talking about the connection between stress and autoimmunity and the role of adrenal health and overall wellbeing.
Julie Michelson: Listen in to learn about the healing power of connection, joy, grace, and love.
Julie Michelson: Dr. Pingle, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for having me. I'm
Tricia Pingel: so
Julie Michelson: excited to
Tricia Pingel: be here.
Julie Michelson: I [00:02:00] am so excited for our conversation because I know it's going to be fantastic. Um, and I, I just, I love your journey. I love what you do. Um, and I want you to just really start out with, how did you become the Adrenal Whisperer?
Julie Michelson: You know, that's pretty cool.
Tricia Pingel: Yeah. Well, you know, I think there's so many different ways how names develop like that. But essentially, I'm just like many of your listeners. I've just powered through my entire life. You know, I was taught you're an overachiever. You just keep pushing. You just, you just keep going.
Tricia Pingel: Just keep chugging along. Just keep plugging along. And despite. The death of my parents, despite the death of my grandparents, despite going through medical school and getting married and buying homes and having children and building a practice and all of this, I literally just did exactly that I just powered through.
Tricia Pingel: And although I've always really been into the endocrine system, I've always loved hormones. I love how they can change on a [00:03:00] dime. I think that system in our body is fascinating, but it wasn't really. Until I just kind of found myself saying exactly what my patients were saying. I'm tired. I don't have any joy in life.
Tricia Pingel: I feel like I'm just running on empty. I'm, you know, exhausted. I'm sad. I'm crying. I don't know what I'm doing with my life. And I felt very lost. And I think, Um, there's so many of us that feel that way, but yet we feel like we're supposed to just keep powering through.
Julie Michelson: Right.
Tricia Pingel: So, I started just really getting vocal about the impact that stress has on our body, both internal stressors and external stressors, and how our health depends so much on being calm and being really focused.
Tricia Pingel: And, um, resting, uh, that I guess the more I talked and the more I brought up about it and talked about what I do, I became the adrenal whisperer because really the adrenals are not straightforward. It's not like, Hey, take ashwagandha and all your [00:04:00] problems will go away. You have to address what's causing the stress in the first place.
Tricia Pingel: And it's not always what you it is something that you're just not aware of. And I think Um, you really have to, you know, want to dig down to the root cause of the issue. And I, I absolutely enjoy doing that. Like it's one of my favorite things to do. So here I am.
Julie Michelson: I love it.
Tricia Pingel: And again,
Julie Michelson: so needed. Um, I don't know that, you know, a thousand years ago we needed an adrenal whisperer, but we definitely do now.
Tricia Pingel: So without a doubt. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Can we talk, talk a little bit about, you mentioned like the internal stressors and external stressors and it may sound obvious to you and me, but what are, I think external stressors are, you know, everyone probably has a fair handle on, on that maybe, um, if they think about it.
Julie Michelson: But what are some of [00:05:00] the internal stressors you're talking about?
Tricia Pingel: Well, yeah, so external stressors, I think people know the big ones, right? Right. But I don't know if people realize that scrolling on Instagram provides a stress response. Like, I don't think people understand those types of external stressors, right?
Tricia Pingel: The little beep of your cell phone, the, the, the addiction to having to scroll and, and see more and gather info and that, All that information coming at us is also an external stressor. So don't lose, don't lose trust yet. The internal stressors though could literally be anything. I mean, perimenopause is an internal stressor, having trouble detoxifying toxins, um, constipation, not removing, you know, not going to the bathroom regularly, poor nutritional habits or loss of nutrition.
Tricia Pingel: And ironically, what fascinates me is that just an external stressor, let's say the death of a parent causes a stress response. But the stress response then causes particular nutrient deficiencies, trouble absorbing [00:06:00] food, inappropriate rest, down regulates, toxin removal, cellular repair. So just one external stressor can in turn actually cause internal stressors.
Tricia Pingel: And I think what people need to be aware of is that we've adapted to this because we're amazing and they adapt. To stress to keep going to fight through but this adaptation is actually doing us a disservice because there's more time trying to run from bears in our life than we are actually resting digesting and healing and we're it's it's really becoming a problem where the external and the internal are now becoming very intertwined this isn't just hey go to therapy take care of your trauma i mean that's a part of it But you also have to look at, you know, was the mitochondria impacted by stress?
Tricia Pingel: You know, are you low in vitamin C? Are you having trouble? Is your liver backed up because the body doesn't have rest enough to remove toxins? I mean, these are all things we have to be [00:07:00] paying attention to. Unfortunately, we just do. And if we do, we can adapt back. We can adapt back to the times where we weren't as worried about it, which would be great.
Julie Michelson: Right? Wouldn't it? Wouldn't it? I want to touch on two of the things. Um, because I think it's really important. You mentioned scrolling and we, we hear this, right? Um, so stressors, which often we think of stressors as negative things, right? But stressors don't always feel bad. Someone, I'm guessing listeners are saying, well, but wait a minute, I, uh, it's relaxing for me to be scrolling.
Julie Michelson: Right. Or, um, boy, I, you know, it feels so good when I eat the bowl of ice cream. Like, how can this be a stressor if you have issues with dairy and sugar and why everybody has issues with sugar. But, you know, so can we just, [00:08:00] I want to. Here, your perspective on, you know, does, does stress always feel bad in the moment?
Tricia Pingel: No, it usually doesn't actually, but our body doesn't know the difference. All it knows is it's being stimulated. So if you think of stress, like a stimulation, I think one of the best ways to go about this is imagine you're in the woods. You're hiking along and you see a bear, right? And you have this reaction like, Oh, there's a bear, right?
Tricia Pingel: Your body, your body chemistry changes. And then you run and there's another bear and there's another bear and there's another bear. Um, ideally we're supposed to get away from the bear and rest. Then what the body starts to do, because it can't get away, is it starts to anticipate the next bear. So social media plays into that anticipation.
Tricia Pingel: It plays into that, I think there's going to be a bear, I don't want to miss this story. I know, oh, what? What happened? And you scroll again. I get more like that. And it's actually playing with your neurotransmitters, first of all, that makes you feel good. But more [00:09:00] importantly, when it comes to a health perspective, is that it's actually creating anticipatory bears.
Tricia Pingel: And I love that. Our levels of anxiety are insane. It's like 43 percent of Americans in the last year say they're, they have more stress and anxiety than they did the year before. We are riddened with anxiety. And if you really think about it, what is anxiety? It's the anticipation of that bear. Yeah, it's what's gonna happen next.
Tricia Pingel: And then you coming up with all the different things that could happen, which is getting ahead of yourself. And unfortunately social media plays into that. And, and I realize I'm on social media. I realize I get out there and I dance and I, you know, teach people about health in a fun way. And the reason I do that is I'm trying to reduce that stress, but at the same time.
Tricia Pingel: I'm not sitting on social media scrolling every day, right? So, I think there's a balance. I think it's one thing to catch up with people [00:10:00] or spend a moment, but how much are you missing during that time that you could be doing for your health? You could be out for a walk. You could be making a nutritious meal with your friends.
Tricia Pingel: You know, so there's a lot we're starting to miss and that adaptation to that bear, we're starting to not notice. Yes. Yes. Oh, you just totally read
Julie Michelson: my next question, which is, it's along the same lines. You just right out of my brain, you took it, which is because I hear this all the time. So I want, I want you to, to share with listeners.
Julie Michelson: Do you? Well, you already hit on, you know, anxiety is higher than ever. We, we, because of how we're living now, um, stress, you know, our inputs are higher than ever. I hear all the time though, but I don't feel stressed out. I don't need to go for a walk. I don't need to meditate. I don't need to whatever, whatever, fill in the blank.
Julie Michelson: I don't feel [00:11:00] stressed out. If stress is playing a role, impacting health, Do you, do you think we necessarily are feeling, obviously some of us feel stressed out when we are, but this whole, I do think there's this misconception about, um, because I don't identify as anxious or feel like I can't control whatever.
Julie Michelson: Um, so my stress is fine. I don't have my,
Tricia Pingel: everyone has stress. Yeah, it's like if you're not having a panic attack, you're not stressed, right? I ask people when they say, well, I don't have any stress. And I say, okay, are you tired? Yes. Do you sleep well? Not really. Are you noticing any hormonal changes? Oh my god, I have hot flashes all the time.
Tricia Pingel: Is your hair falling out? Oh, I hate that! A hair falling out all the time. Do you ever get bloated or do you feel like you're holding on to a lot of weight? Yeah, oh yeah, I'm like, okay. These are all signs of stress adaptation. Just because Stress can [00:12:00] present in every single system in our body. Cortisol controls is linked into every single system.
Tricia Pingel: I mean, there was something with autoimmunity that, like, 80, more than 85 percent or something of people have a stressful event before the onset of their autoimmunity, but they don't link the stress to the immune system. It just doesn't link there. I bet it's higher. So I will give people a challenge. I will take that you're not stressed if you feel freaking fantastic.
Tricia Pingel: You're on no medications, your labs are spot on, you're never bloated, you're sleeping well, you feel great, your life is full of joy. I will agree with you. You have managed the stress. I don't find there are many
Julie Michelson: people who've done that. But, but you just used a key word. Managed. That's the thing, like if you're, if you're not intentionally managing stress.
Julie Michelson: I promise you have at least one, if not many of those [00:13:00] symptoms, like we have to, again, it's the, it's kind of the input output thing, like in our modern life, because like you said, it's, it can, it's little stress. Our body doesn't know the difference between good stress. Bad stress, big stress, little stress, everything is, you say bear, I say lion, either, or actually I should say bear.
Julie Michelson: I live in Colorado. Um, I
Tricia Pingel: live in Arizona. Or mountain lion. I don't know.
Julie Michelson: I guess I need to say scorpion. Yeah. So, but you know, so if we're not creating, If we're not managing intentionally, I promise if you're a listener and you're thinking, Oh, first of all, if you feel okay, you're probably not listening to the podcast.
Julie Michelson: If you're, if you're happy with how you're feeling. Um, but it takes intention. I think.
Tricia Pingel: In every aspect. I mean, I talked about four different areas. Once you've identified. Your external [00:14:00] stressors and your internal stressors, and it takes a physician often or a health coach or somebody to do lab work to find those internal stressors because you don't know how your mitochondria are working.
Tricia Pingel: Like, I don't know, I walk in and they're like, how's your mitochondria today? You know, people are like, I don't
Julie Michelson: know. Right? We need to find those things. Across the board, and I, I agree. I'm such a Like data geek. I love the labs because we want to get better as quick as we can, right? But I promise like if you're expressing active autoimmune symptoms, your mitochondria is probably not so happy.
Julie Michelson: Right. Oh,
Tricia Pingel: yeah. You may not need the lab, but why? Yeah. Have a diagnosis that can lead you to the internal stressors, but you have to identify both and then you have to address it from four different areas. You have to address it from nutrition because if your body's under stress, it has nutrient depletions.
Tricia Pingel: Um, number two, movement, moving with intention, exactly what you're saying. Movement with intention and focus [00:15:00] and in a calm state, you cannot lose weight. in a stressed state. You cannot, uh, because the body is going to pack on the fat around the abdomen so you can run from the next anticipated bear. So there's a very important aspect to movement.
Tricia Pingel: And then there's supplement with wherever your imbalances have been found. And then there's mindset. It's making a choice to change. It's making a choice to interpret stress in a different way. And that's where I think the biggest skill comes from. And it's where our medical society is lacking because we don't teach them.
Tricia Pingel: We, we, we get, find all the things we do, all the data points. And we say, Oh, you're low in vitamin C. Here's your supplement. Take care now. See you next year. You know, instead of really saying, well, okay. Why are we like that to begin with? And how can we now change the way that we interpret, manage, address stress?
Tricia Pingel: Because the stress is not going away. I think we can all agree that I mean, I run two businesses. I have teenagers. I'm married. I have dogs. There's [00:16:00] always stuff going on in my world. And that's okay. It just kind of depends on how you look at it, how you reframe it, and what you choose to do about it. I'm choosing not to spend an hour on social media because I can choose to go outside and take a walk which is going to benefit me in the long term, right?
Tricia Pingel: Everything we do is a choice. And I think Always saying never do this or always do this doesn't help us out. We have to learn how to make a choice in the moment that favors the healthier choice. And it's literally that simple. Health is one choice. at a time. We put money in our bank account out of our paycheck every month for retirement so that we can live this amazing retirement where we can go party, earn 65, right?
Tricia Pingel: We can go party, we can have a great time. If you don't have your health, you can't do as much as you want. So why aren't we putting a quarter into our health bank every single day? Just once. We don't have to put a million dollars into our account in one day, but we need to do something. We need to do one [00:17:00] choice.
Tricia Pingel: Am I going to eat the eggs or the oatmeal for breakfast? That's a choice. I love that.
Julie Michelson: I love that that was your breakfast choice. That wasn't my breakfast choice. No, no, no. I love that those are the two you came up with because, um, but that would take us in a whole different direction, but stop eating oatmeal for breakfast, people.
Julie Michelson: It's not healthy. They sold you a bill of goods. It's not a great way to start your day. You
Tricia Pingel: know, but I mean, you can make a choice. Every single thing that you do is a choice, right? You have a choice when you wake up to allow your day to take you down. To allow that when you walk downstairs and you, you know, grab your cup of coffee and someone comes in, like my 13 year old's moody.
Tricia Pingel: He's just moody. Like he just is. Cause he's,
Julie Michelson: cause he's a 13 year old.
Tricia Pingel: Yeah, and I have a choice. I can let snippiness ruin my day or I can just kind of laugh and be like, Hey, good morning, dude. And leave the room. Like I have a chance. And I think we forget that we feel [00:18:00] so out of control running from the bear.
Tricia Pingel: We run so fast and we're turning the corner and prepping for the next bear that we forget that things don't happen to us. They happen for us, but we have to pay attention. If we don't pay attention, it's going to take us down. The bear will eventually eat you. So it's little mindset shifts where it's just, is this worth my energy to even like have a reaction over?
Tricia Pingel: Those are things that I wish our medical society would spend more time talking to people about, because as easy as it sounds, it's one of the hardest things to do.
Julie Michelson: And I feel like even if stress is addressed in a traditional medical setting. I shouldn't use the word addressed. I think it's often brought up, um, but then that's it.
Julie Michelson: Right? Like, Oh, you need to manage your stress better when, when you feel out of control, that doesn't even sound possible.
Tricia Pingel: Yeah. And taking the time to do [00:19:00] that, right? Like, like for example, Using your phone to good use, setting a timer on your phone every hour to just breathe for a minute. I don't have time to go to counseling.
Tricia Pingel: I don't have time to do this plan. I don't have, I'm like, well, how about just a couple minutes a day of just walking outside for one minute, 60 seconds and taking a breath. And when people say, gosh, I just, I literally don't have time. I'm like, okay. You
Julie Michelson: are in the bear. There's
Tricia Pingel: a problem. There is a problem.
Tricia Pingel: Everybody has one minute, an hour.
Julie Michelson: Well, Ann, if you tell me you can't find the time, it's because you need to make the time. Well,
Tricia Pingel: do one minute less scrolling then, you know, and let's do that breathing, you know what I mean. So I mean, it's little things like that that may not in the moment, it actually breathing and going outside actually does reduce cortisol levels pretty quickly.
Tricia Pingel: But, but, um, some people are so, I guess, [00:20:00] adapted that they don't notice it in that moment.
Julie Michelson: Sure.
Tricia Pingel: Over time, it's just like that health bank. After a week of doing it, you're going to be calmer. I guarantee you. I've been kind of like testing people and say, how long does it take before you feel calmer with this exercise?
Tricia Pingel: Everyone has been within 48 hours. So most people within the same day. So there's a free tip right now. Free tip. Go to the doctor, go outside, take a few deep, full breaths and state gratitude. For just being alive.
Julie Michelson: I love how you just stacked. That was awesome. Notice listeners. She threw in a third thing in there.
Julie Michelson: I love it, but that, and that's the thing, right? Like, cause now you, I mean, we're so programmed to wear busy ness like a crown, right. Or accomplishment or, uh, and, and health is an accomplishment by the way. Um, But so if you're some like that whole [00:21:00] story, I don't have time or like bang for the buck, go you just that she gave you three things.
Julie Michelson: You could spend one minute doing three things, not even three minutes, just one minute, three things. Huge hit. I love it. And I'm going to, I'm going to up level it one more time for stacking. Do it first thing in the morning, barefoot and get the sun in your eyes and you're just starting something amazing.
Tricia Pingel: Don't check your phone before you do it. When you get up, walk outside, put your feet in the grass, get the sun, do your breath and do not check your phone. Nothing has happened. There's nothing. There's no bear that you can't handle in 60 seconds.
Julie Michelson: And you'll handle the bear so much better is the key.
Tricia Pingel: Get that phone away from your head at night.
Tricia Pingel: There are, I just did a speech. It's actually pretty funny. Um, last week I was doing a corporate event and I was giving a speech and I said, how many of you have your phone by your [00:22:00] head? A bunch of people raised their hand on women. And I said, Why do you sleep with your phone by you? And she goes, Oh, well, I need an alarm clock.
Tricia Pingel: And I said, that is my favorite answer because every single person has walked into a drugstore and can find an alarm clock for 10 or less. Right. Phone is not an alarm clock.
Julie Michelson: Even, you know, put it far away and turn it up. Like it. No,
Tricia Pingel: I don't even want it in the
Julie Michelson: room. Or like what's happening? Well, mine's off.
Julie Michelson: It's not even on like, I mean, it's airplane mode and far away. And everybody has stories about why this is not what you thought I was going to ask you today. Why are we, is it like that cortisol? Like, why are we so attached to our phones? I mean, I'm not. We are
Tricia Pingel: because we have that's a
Julie Michelson: conscious choice.
Julie Michelson: It's
Tricia Pingel: a conscious choice and it's a FOMO. It's a, I'm going to miss something if I don't do it. What happened? Where did, [00:23:00] when I, when I fell asleep behind the tree, how many bears did I miss? Did I miss something important? I mean, silly. I mean, it's, I'm older
Julie Michelson: than you, but. But I lived in a time where if you were on the phone, nobody else could get through, and you didn't know you missed the call.
Julie Michelson: And then call waiting came, right? And then answering machines came. And like, it's just, I feel like we're, yeah, it's, it's not going in a good, it takes conscious choice. to to change. I think the technology like I love that I can talk to you and you're and I can see you and you're in Arizona and I'm in Colorado and that's great.
Julie Michelson: And listeners from around the world get to listen to the conversation. So all these positives, but if we don't use these good things with intention, it's
Tricia Pingel: remember when the workday was nine to five.
Julie Michelson: What?
Tricia Pingel: I know. And you woke up, you had breakfast with your kids, and you had to clock out for lunch. You had to take lunch.
Tricia Pingel: You did. You were required. And [00:24:00] in fact, um, and I was born in the seventies and, and grew up with answering machines and if you missed a call, you missed a call and your work, you didn't get work calls at home. You got them at the office. If you wanted to talk to work people, you had to go to the office.
Tricia Pingel: Between nine and five is when that would happen. If you wanted to reach someone, you had to call them between nine and five because they, you know, they were there. And I think there's a beauty in that. And I think we can use the current technology with that same understanding, right? We shouldn't be interrupted during dinner with a work call.
Tricia Pingel: And as a concierge doctor, like I'm not trying to be hypocritical. I understand my patients may need to reach me, but. All the emails I get don't need to be checked. I can set up functions on my phone so that only certain people can interrupt me in emergency situations. But when mom was, was dying, you know, people say, well, sure.
Tricia Pingel: What if you get a call in the middle of the night? Well, we actually, what we did is we, um, set up a, um, VOIP home phone system [00:25:00] and she gave the phone number. To the hospice people. Sure. And that's it. Nobody else could call me on that. So you knew. So if that phone rang, I knew Dr. Swell, the only person it could be.
Tricia Pingel: And my cell phone was put far away and nobody else could bother me. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: And
Tricia Pingel: you know, That peace of mind, like just knowing that you can remove yourself from that. So to answer your question when you if you're someone who leaves the house and you forgot your phone and you start freaking out You have stress.
Tricia Pingel: You have renal issues. There's the answer right there If you can't go without you feel like you're missing something all the time. You're not caught up with everything I mean we get so caught up trying to be everybody else I'm trying to do so many things and be busy and be productive and look good and be perfect.
Tricia Pingel: The amount of energy that that takes is exhausting. And, um, I don't know, I don't know if you knew this, but I grew up in the modeling industry. I was a model from the time I was born and, [00:26:00] um, everything was about external appearance, right? About you need to look like you're perfect all the time. You, you may not sure.
Tricia Pingel: Yeah. Right. Yeah. And it's exhausting. And I don't think it's just models that feel that I think growing up, we all look at pictures. We, people were probably looking at me in a magazine and saying, wow. And
Julie Michelson: back then it was, it was in a magazine or on TV or a movie, right? It wasn't. It wasn't, you know, thousands of people
Tricia Pingel: all the
Julie Michelson: time.
Julie Michelson: They also
Tricia Pingel: didn't have Photoshop. So we have to be very skilled in how you turn your head and your body. But I think. We are so quick to beat up on ourselves when we compare ourselves to everybody else. And I'd like to go back to the time where we have an answering machine that we check during work.
Tricia Pingel: Spend time with our family and we show up to the football games and we're present without trying to do that to impress anybody else. [00:27:00] You know that you're the mom that always shows up to football games. I don't care what anyone else thinks. I'm going because I want to be there with my kids. And that's what I try to focus on.
Tricia Pingel: And sometimes I get interrupted on my phone and I turn it off. It's not time to interrupt me. And I think we have to start setting those boundaries for ourselves. Um, going nowhere, like otherwise there's just bears everywhere. And I don't see how we can come out of our health crisis as a nation if we don't start really paying attention to this.
Tricia Pingel: I just, I just don't see how it's possible.
Julie Michelson: So well said, like I would, I would give you a standing ovation, but that would be probably a really awkward camera angle. Um, so I won't, I want to talk about, um, because sometimes we jump in because we live in this world Right. And we're talking about adrenals and we're talking about stress and you mentioned cortisol.
Julie Michelson: Um, and then people, I feel like hopefully they understand that connection and maybe we can touch on all of it. [00:28:00] Um, you did explain, you know, how our system is designed and where it's supposed to be. It's designed for acute stressors. And so now we have multiple acute stressors. We have chronic stressors, we have all the things, right?
Julie Michelson: We have stressors that feel good. So we don't want to admit their stressors. Um, and then add the, I think we probably also have way more internal stressors than we did thousands of years ago too. Absolutely. Um, I think cortisol gets a bad rap. I think because we talk about adrenals and we talk about, you know, this, well, whether high or low, but, but I think people think cortisol is bad.
Julie Michelson: Talk to us a little bit about cortisol and it's like rolling either inflammation or even just, you know, like it, it has a job, a good job and we dysregulated it through all those stressors.
Tricia Pingel: Yeah. I mean, cortisol is amazing. Yeah. Absolutely. It's [00:29:00] incredible. If you really did see a bear and you needed to run, your body will adapt, and it will survive, and it is amazing, and because of that, it has a hand in every single system.
Tricia Pingel: It changes our heart rate, it changes our blood pressure, it changes the way we divert energy, it downregulates things that aren't important, and when you need it, it is there. And, and it's really important. Anyone who's gone through
Tricia Pingel: a major stressor and has had to, you know, where you almost feel like you're not present and you just somehow you managed to get through it, that's cortisol. The problem is we're everything is a stressor. So our body is getting very confused and we're putting in toxins. Like you were saying, internal stressors are so much higher.
Tricia Pingel: We're putting in toxins in our food, in our air, in our products, you know, we're being exposed. To so much in our environment more so than we used to. We saw cancer rates go up when we started to get, you [00:30:00] know, special coatings on nonstick pots and, you know, like the whole Teflon industry and all of the rubbers we started using in clothing and in accessories and things like that.
Tricia Pingel: All these things that were these amazing technologies that actually took our health the wrong direction. And I think when we were talking about technology, this is an amazing thing. but it's taking our health in the wrong direction because what it's doing is it's keeping us always in a cortisol loop.
Tricia Pingel: So cortisol is released when you see that bear along with other neurotransmitters. It's released from the adrenal gland. The cortisol has an impact on, and my book talks about this, each chapter talks about this, but the, it has an impact on blood sugar. So it has an impact on how we use insulin and glucose and how we break down fats and proteins for energy.
Tricia Pingel: You know, I always laugh and people say, and they're not wrong, but give me a second on this one. Uh, they say, well, you need to eat lots of protein as you get older to build muscle. I don't argue that that's you do need protein, but if you're under stress, your [00:31:00] body's not going to break it down. Well, so then eating 200 grams of protein and you're getting stomach aches and you're not losing weight.
Tricia Pingel: And you're like, well, that doesn't work.
Julie Michelson: Well, because we distress also impact digestion and our enzymes. Yeah,
Tricia Pingel: you know, it lowers your hydrochloric acid, it, it down regulates. It's the release of the enzymes from the pancreas. Um, it downrights gallbladder function. I mean, gallbladder removal is one of the number one surgeries in our country and it's just dismissed.
Tricia Pingel: We'll just donate. Well, we need our gallbladder, you know, right. It's not there by accident. It wasn't an extra spare part. Like come on. And it impacts our mood. You know, as I talked about anxiety and depression, people are put on medications for, you know, to help their neurotransmitters when there's a direct correlation of cortisol impacting that.
Tricia Pingel: If you're in the woods and you see a bear, you're not going to sleep well, especially if you saw a bear every time, right? And yet we still walk down the same path, don't we? You know, eight bears down this path and we [00:32:00] show up in the morning and we say, you know what, I'm gonna be ready for that bear again.
Tricia Pingel: And then you're, and you're walking around with your bear spray, you know, you're like, okay, I know it's coming. I'm ready. I'm ready for this. You actually do
Julie Michelson: sound like you live in Colorado, but you know what I
Tricia Pingel: mean? But, you know, We can choose to think of the bear in a different way. It could be a little cute little bear cub.
Tricia Pingel: We could choose a different path. We could divert before we know the bear is coming. We have a lot of different options and internally our body does the same thing. It diverts with medications. It diverts with stress response. It diverts if it goes for progesterone and it's not there. It'll find a different way to get there, right?
Tricia Pingel: So, I think the point is, is that cortisol is good when the body is calm, 80 percent of the time, but we're not spending 80 percent of the time in a calm state. We're spending more and more every year, more percentage in this sympathetic nervous system, this fight or flight, I've got to beat this bear. I'm just going to [00:33:00] prep for it.
Tricia Pingel: If I prep for it, I'll be fine. No. Right? Yeah. I have to actually be accepting. I mean, things happen. Things happen. And they could be devastating. I've had numerous times in my life where something's been absolutely just knocked me on my butt and devastating. And in the moment, I thought, I will never get through.
Tricia Pingel: Right. And we do, but in hindsight, it was some of the best things that ever happened to me because they my focus to take a different path. And there's a lot of different good that comes out of those stressful moments and trying to be prepared and be a perfectionist to figure out how to beat that bear is not always the answer.
Tricia Pingel: Sometimes we just have to submit.
Julie Michelson: Well, and that perfection, yeah, being a perfectionist does not serve you health wise, period.
Tricia Pingel: And how boring to be a perfectionist all the time.
Julie Michelson: Well, but they're gonna end up, you know, finding you or finding me or because Yeah, you're always, then you are always, even if you're not a type [00:34:00] A, but when, if you're an inner perfectionist, you're going to end up inflamed.
Julie Michelson: You're going to end up, you know, kind of always in a bear, looking for the bear. And so, um, or living with the bears. Yeah.
Tricia Pingel: And that doesn't sound fine. I'd rather be a little. Perfect. And have a little bit more fun, you know, a little more, you know, and make
Julie Michelson: mistakes. I mean, that's well, and I love, I know, you know, the dance dancing that I love that you are still embracing dancing and, and bringing, sharing it with people joy.
Julie Michelson: Like that's the other, I think, danger to this, you know, modern technology. You know, I just, I was complimenting that we can be on zoom in different places and then people get to hear and, and that's amazing, but the joy is. It's really essential. It's always balancing like cortisol needs [00:35:00] balancing, right?
Julie Michelson: It's supposed to, or if we have an optimized circadian rhythm, cortisol is our friend, like not even just in a stress response. It gives us energy in the morning when we wake up, right? It's anti inflammatory. So I just wanted to like, it's not cortisol is not bad. Right. It's constantly cranking it out that leads to bad things.
Julie Michelson: Um, and maybe those bad things are then you can't really make it very well. And now you have no, like it. So it's that moderation.
Tricia Pingel: It is. And you know, like cortisol, you're right. It's anti inflammatory in an acute state. In a chronic state, it's very inflammatory. It's like yin and yang. It's like people are like, Oh, cortisol.
Tricia Pingel: It's not my cortisol. Cause that's anti inflammatory. And I'm really inflamed. Well, wait a minute. I'm saying it's interesting because there is always a balance. And, you know, I think when you're talking about joy too, A lot of people say, well, great. You can just put on a smile and pretend to be joyous. No, I [00:36:00] mean, I just watched, you know, I love inside out loved that movie.
Tricia Pingel: I would just watch the second one with joy comes sadness, with, with sadness, anger, with anger comes right. Cause
Julie Michelson: you don't want to feel the feelings you don't want to feel. You're also not really experiencing joy. And, but, but also the dance and what made me think of the joy is, and even just your face when you say dance.
Julie Michelson: Like it's like, Oh, I can feel the joy. I get it. Like a just beautiful neurotransmitter cascade from your joy. You know, I think dancing brings everybody joy. I don't need people looking at me when I do it because. Nobody, although, I mean, it will create laughter. So that's, that's always good. Um, but we need some of those balancing chemicals too, to, to, that is part of, I always include joy as part of stress management, you know, [00:37:00] because it's essential and sadly also takes intention these days can like we, we, some people have.
Julie Michelson: Forgotten about it. Like they think they, they outgrew it in childhood or in early adulthood. Yeah. And so it, it breaks my heart when I ask a client, what brings you joy? And I get the, like a deer in the headlights. Look,
Tricia Pingel: I get that a lot.
Julie Michelson: Oh, I, me too. That's why that's, that's why they're meeting with us.
Julie Michelson: Right. Like that's a, it's a component of it. Um, recreating joy and reintroducing people to joy is, is, you know, just. Such a, uh, pleasure and an honor. Um, but what happened, you know, like we shouldn't, we shouldn't have to read good, like figure out, oh yeah, it's not, it's not a bonus. It's part of life. Like we're supposed to experience joy and sadness, all the things
Tricia Pingel: we're supposed to [00:38:00] everything.
Tricia Pingel: Yeah. And I went back to dance when my mom had passed of cancer and I had sat, I had left my practice and I sat with her and, and. That was really a very pivotal moment for me. It was also my lowest ever in my entire life. And it made me take assessment of what's, what's important, what's important in life right now.
Tricia Pingel: You know, here's someone who, you know, couldn't get up to go to the bathroom by yourself. She needs help with everything. The things that you, she used to do, just getting in your car and going to the grocery store that you'd say, Oh man, I have to go to the grocery store today. Well, she couldn't go to the grocery store.
Tricia Pingel: There's a lot of gratitude that comes from watching somebody lose.
Julie Michelson: Yes.
Tricia Pingel: That you take for granted. Right. Yeah. And I was down and out and I was depressed and I wasn't happy. And I did have someone asked me, well, what brings you joy? And I could not answer that question. I said nothing. My answer was absolutely nothing.
Tricia Pingel: I hadn't noticed anything. And so I started to really take assessment and said, well, what can I, how can I bring my joy back? And I said, well, what would I have done if I was two or three or four? What would I have done? What did I really [00:39:00] love to do when I was little? And I love to dance. I grew up dancing.
Tricia Pingel: My dad was a musician, so every morning I got, and my dad passed when I was 24 years old, so I had lost him. Me? Yeah, me too. And yeah, so I used to wake up every morning and go into the kitchen to get breakfast, and my dad would be strum in the guitar. And when we had parties or my parents would put gatherings together, there was always music.
Tricia Pingel: And at Christmas we sang Christmas carols and it was always. There was always music in my life. And when I really looked at it, I was like, I don't, I don't have music in my life. I don't have music in my heart. I don't have music around me anywhere. I'm not beat any beat at all. I'm literally just going through in silence.
Tricia Pingel: So I started dancing again and it was not easy because my brain had completely detached from my body. Hey, hey, Trisha, put your arm here and it would go down here. It just, it didn't understand. But what it taught me is that by using all of these different aspects of our brain, by having to learn choreography, by having to feel the music, [00:40:00] By having to, you know, get over the fact that someone might be watching me, things like that.
Tricia Pingel: All these things that we worry about all the time. I don't have to worry about them when I dance. I can't, I don't have
Julie Michelson: time. Yep. Me riding a horse.
Tricia Pingel: Like, yeah, I just let it go. And by letting all that go, I became a better dancer because I wasn't thinking about it. And now I can do, you know, eight, eight counts of choreo in an advanced class, and I may not look popping with the young kids.
Tricia Pingel: I, I know I may not look like the 15-year-old next to me, but I'm, you know, but I'm keeping up love it, and I'm having fun with it. And I think, um, finding your joy. If you're someone listening right now and you're like, man. I don't have an answer to that question. Then your number one assignment is to figure out what did you love to do.
Tricia Pingel: Did you find it? Do something creative. Or start something creative. But there's something you used to do when you were younger. We innately go to joy when we feel sadness as a kid. It's in our [00:41:00] innate nature. So what brought you joy? What was it? And figure out a way to bring it back. And just stick with it.
Tricia Pingel: Do not give up. I went every single week looking like an idiot. Next is 15 year olds. And I just was like, Oh, I'm gonna go. Did I have fun? My assessment was, did I have fun? Was that challenging? Yep. Okay, cool. I'll go again. Like I didn't think, how did I look?
Julie Michelson: Right. Yeah, well think of all of the things in life we would never do if we thought, if the preface was, you know, am I going to think I look good doing this?
Julie Michelson: You know, come on.
Tricia Pingel: I didn't take a while to record myself too. It took me a long time and when I was just thinking the same thing, I used to be like, no, no video. Yeah. And my teacher one time was like, look, if you want to get better at dance, you should start recording yourself. Like you think you're doing worse than you are.
Tricia Pingel: And when you start watching yourself, you're going to see where you need to work, what you need to work on and what you don't. And I think accurately. If we turned like our lives on [00:42:00] ourselves and really took a good solid look at what are we really proficient at and what do we need to work on and then we took those things we need to work on and we actually worked on them.
Tricia Pingel: Imagine the growth and imagine how much that would calm the bears because we're no longer trying to keep up with something that we don't understand.
Julie Michelson: We
Tricia Pingel: really take self assessment and really be honest with ourselves about what we're allowing Into our energy and our space. And just that alone can reduce adrenal stress dramatically and allow you to have a better focus on now.
Tricia Pingel: Okay. What do I need to address in other areas of my health? It's it's, it's progressive.
Julie Michelson: I love that. I love it. And now I think you already answered our wrap up question just now, but then I was like, well, then that's not fair because I didn't give you a chance. What is one step listeners can take starting today?
Julie Michelson: To improve their health and it could be
Tricia Pingel: well, I've given you a couple. So let
Julie Michelson: me know.
Tricia Pingel: I've already given you a couple. So [00:43:00] let's look at this one. So let's deal with some of the external bears. Okay, ones that you're in control, right? I always say there's three aspects to this. Number one, ask yourself, is this worth my energy?
Tricia Pingel: Secondly, Do I have any control over the outcome? And number three, make a choice. Am I going to take it on? Am I going to delegate it to someone else or am I going to let it go? And when you start asking yourself these questions, I tend to find that most of them you're able to let go. And when you let them go, that's taking a different path.
Tricia Pingel: That's not continuing to walk right into the bear every time. So just some little small choices that you can make. Um, just by asking those questions, um, and when you start to feel that, oh, I'm mad, I don't like that, I'm frustrated, I'm stressed out. Is it worth your energy? Do you have control over the outcome?
Tricia Pingel: And what are you going to do about it based on those facts?
Julie Michelson: That, that's gold. Right [00:44:00] there. That's like the mic drop. I am glad I gave you a chance to give us one more thing. I, before I let you go, I, I want you to, we talked about and touched on the book and, and, um, what, what is the name of the book
Tricia Pingel: for listeners?
Tricia Pingel: Total health turnaround. You can definitely find it on Amazon. Sometimes it's on my website, sometimes it's not, but it's always on my, it's always at Amazon. And you can find me at drpingle. com. I encourage you, please follow me if you, as long as you don't spend too much time scrolling, you can follow me, but say hello because what is social media for?
Tricia Pingel: What's the good side of it? It's connection and finding like minded people to help drive it forward. So allow me to you. move forward positively in your house. So say hello and connect. Don't be a stranger. And, um, hopefully you'll laugh and have a little fun along the way with me.
Julie Michelson: Amazing. I really genuinely, um, [00:45:00] so grateful for your time, your wisdom, your joy, your smile.
Julie Michelson: Um, thank you so much for just everything you shared with listeners. Go get the book, go find her. Um, because just, this is just scratching the surface of the, the remarkable life changing, not only the information, but approach, right? It is like you said, it's one step at a time. Um, and it applies to literally everybody, especially applies to anybody listening to this podcast.
Julie Michelson: So thank you.
Tricia Pingel: Oh, it's my pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Julie Michelson: For everyone listening. Remember you can get those show notes and transcripts by visiting inspired living Dutch show. We'll get information on the book, the websites, her Instagram, all the places to find her, maybe a dancing video. I will see you guys next week.
Julie Michelson: Is, I'm just gonna have to tell the truth. [00:46:00] I don't know. 'cause I love talking to you. I dunno what is going on, , but I'll just write down what time it is because I, I usually will tell, I'll do you know, split screen zoom is stuck. I wasn't even positive. Are we still recording now? I can't stop recording. It is fascinating.
Tricia Pingel: I did not see, it says recording, and I did not have any lag with you, where I think No, I,
Julie Michelson: it's, everything was great, except that I can't minimize Zoom. I usually just put you next to my notes, you know what I mean? And now I can't stop recording, so I, I will close, when I close it, it'll stop recording. Okay.
Tricia Pingel: Good. Are you coming to the summit next week?
Julie Michelson: I'm not.
Tricia Pingel: Oh, okay.
Julie Michelson: I know. I, um, and I know, I mean, I know. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see. I know they're saying last one, but does it just,
Tricia Pingel: I think it's last one in its current, like the [00:47:00] way it's, yeah, that's what
Julie Michelson: I'm saying. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so we are talk about stressors.
Julie Michelson: No, we're moving clinics. Um, like now. So, um, yeah, and rebranding and redoing and, um, so lots of opportunity to recreate. And our perspective is, you know, I'm excited. It's a lot, but I'm excited. Yeah. Well, awesome. Well, thank you for your time. I hope this. Thank you. It's perfect. I just was like, are you kidding?
Julie Michelson: As long as I know the recording is good. So I'm happy. Okay.
Tricia Pingel: All right, sweetie. Um, let me know when you're releasing it and I'll promote it as soon as I can. Absolutely. Thank you. Have a good day, hon. You too. Bye.
​[00:48:00]
The cortisol has an impact on blood sugar. So it has an impact on how we use insulin and glucose and how we break down fats and proteins for energy.
Tricia Pingel: And it impacts our mood. You know, as I talked about anxiety and depression, people are put on medications for, you know, to help their neurotransmitters when there's a direct correlation of cortisol impacting that.
Julie Michelson:[00:01:00] Welcome back to the inspire living with autoimmunity podcast. I'm your host, Julie Michelson. Today, I'm joined by Dr. Tricia Pingel, the adrenal whisperer, a leading naturopathic physician who specializes in stress and cortisol management. She's transformed and empowered countless women, guiding them from feeling wired and tired to a state of calm and connected.
Julie Michelson: Dr. Pingle is the best selling author of Total Health Turnaround. She's a hip hop dancer, retired fashion model, and visionary CEO, shaping the future of holistic wellness. In today's conversation, we are talking about the connection between stress and autoimmunity and the role of adrenal health and overall wellbeing.
Julie Michelson: Listen in to learn about the healing power of connection, joy, grace, and love.
Julie Michelson: Dr. Pingle, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for having me. I'm
Tricia Pingel: so
Julie Michelson: excited to
Tricia Pingel: be here.
Julie Michelson: I [00:02:00] am so excited for our conversation because I know it's going to be fantastic. Um, and I, I just, I love your journey. I love what you do. Um, and I want you to just really start out with, how did you become the Adrenal Whisperer?
Julie Michelson: You know, that's pretty cool.
Tricia Pingel: Yeah. Well, you know, I think there's so many different ways how names develop like that. But essentially, I'm just like many of your listeners. I've just powered through my entire life. You know, I was taught you're an overachiever. You just keep pushing. You just, you just keep going.
Tricia Pingel: Just keep chugging along. Just keep plugging along. And despite. The death of my parents, despite the death of my grandparents, despite going through medical school and getting married and buying homes and having children and building a practice and all of this, I literally just did exactly that I just powered through.
Tricia Pingel: And although I've always really been into the endocrine system, I've always loved hormones. I love how they can change on a [00:03:00] dime. I think that system in our body is fascinating, but it wasn't really. Until I just kind of found myself saying exactly what my patients were saying. I'm tired. I don't have any joy in life.
Tricia Pingel: I feel like I'm just running on empty. I'm, you know, exhausted. I'm sad. I'm crying. I don't know what I'm doing with my life. And I felt very lost. And I think, Um, there's so many of us that feel that way, but yet we feel like we're supposed to just keep powering through.
Julie Michelson: Right.
Tricia Pingel: So, I started just really getting vocal about the impact that stress has on our body, both internal stressors and external stressors, and how our health depends so much on being calm and being really focused.
Tricia Pingel: And, um, resting, uh, that I guess the more I talked and the more I brought up about it and talked about what I do, I became the adrenal whisperer because really the adrenals are not straightforward. It's not like, Hey, take ashwagandha and all your [00:04:00] problems will go away. You have to address what's causing the stress in the first place.
Tricia Pingel: And it's not always what you it is something that you're just not aware of. And I think Um, you really have to, you know, want to dig down to the root cause of the issue. And I, I absolutely enjoy doing that. Like it's one of my favorite things to do. So here I am.
Julie Michelson: I love it.
Tricia Pingel: And again,
Julie Michelson: so needed. Um, I don't know that, you know, a thousand years ago we needed an adrenal whisperer, but we definitely do now.
Tricia Pingel: So without a doubt. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Can we talk, talk a little bit about, you mentioned like the internal stressors and external stressors and it may sound obvious to you and me, but what are, I think external stressors are, you know, everyone probably has a fair handle on, on that maybe, um, if they think about it.
Julie Michelson: But what are some of [00:05:00] the internal stressors you're talking about?
Tricia Pingel: Well, yeah, so external stressors, I think people know the big ones, right? Right. But I don't know if people realize that scrolling on Instagram provides a stress response. Like, I don't think people understand those types of external stressors, right?
Tricia Pingel: The little beep of your cell phone, the, the, the addiction to having to scroll and, and see more and gather info and that, All that information coming at us is also an external stressor. So don't lose, don't lose trust yet. The internal stressors though could literally be anything. I mean, perimenopause is an internal stressor, having trouble detoxifying toxins, um, constipation, not removing, you know, not going to the bathroom regularly, poor nutritional habits or loss of nutrition.
Tricia Pingel: And ironically, what fascinates me is that just an external stressor, let's say the death of a parent causes a stress response. But the stress response then causes particular nutrient deficiencies, trouble absorbing [00:06:00] food, inappropriate rest, down regulates, toxin removal, cellular repair. So just one external stressor can in turn actually cause internal stressors.
Tricia Pingel: And I think what people need to be aware of is that we've adapted to this because we're amazing and they adapt. To stress to keep going to fight through but this adaptation is actually doing us a disservice because there's more time trying to run from bears in our life than we are actually resting digesting and healing and we're it's it's really becoming a problem where the external and the internal are now becoming very intertwined this isn't just hey go to therapy take care of your trauma i mean that's a part of it But you also have to look at, you know, was the mitochondria impacted by stress?
Tricia Pingel: You know, are you low in vitamin C? Are you having trouble? Is your liver backed up because the body doesn't have rest enough to remove toxins? I mean, these are all things we have to be [00:07:00] paying attention to. Unfortunately, we just do. And if we do, we can adapt back. We can adapt back to the times where we weren't as worried about it, which would be great.
Julie Michelson: Right? Wouldn't it? Wouldn't it? I want to touch on two of the things. Um, because I think it's really important. You mentioned scrolling and we, we hear this, right? Um, so stressors, which often we think of stressors as negative things, right? But stressors don't always feel bad. Someone, I'm guessing listeners are saying, well, but wait a minute, I, uh, it's relaxing for me to be scrolling.
Julie Michelson: Right. Or, um, boy, I, you know, it feels so good when I eat the bowl of ice cream. Like, how can this be a stressor if you have issues with dairy and sugar and why everybody has issues with sugar. But, you know, so can we just, [00:08:00] I want to. Here, your perspective on, you know, does, does stress always feel bad in the moment?
Tricia Pingel: No, it usually doesn't actually, but our body doesn't know the difference. All it knows is it's being stimulated. So if you think of stress, like a stimulation, I think one of the best ways to go about this is imagine you're in the woods. You're hiking along and you see a bear, right? And you have this reaction like, Oh, there's a bear, right?
Tricia Pingel: Your body, your body chemistry changes. And then you run and there's another bear and there's another bear and there's another bear. Um, ideally we're supposed to get away from the bear and rest. Then what the body starts to do, because it can't get away, is it starts to anticipate the next bear. So social media plays into that anticipation.
Tricia Pingel: It plays into that, I think there's going to be a bear, I don't want to miss this story. I know, oh, what? What happened? And you scroll again. I get more like that. And it's actually playing with your neurotransmitters, first of all, that makes you feel good. But more [00:09:00] importantly, when it comes to a health perspective, is that it's actually creating anticipatory bears.
Tricia Pingel: And I love that. Our levels of anxiety are insane. It's like 43 percent of Americans in the last year say they're, they have more stress and anxiety than they did the year before. We are riddened with anxiety. And if you really think about it, what is anxiety? It's the anticipation of that bear. Yeah, it's what's gonna happen next.
Tricia Pingel: And then you coming up with all the different things that could happen, which is getting ahead of yourself. And unfortunately social media plays into that. And, and I realize I'm on social media. I realize I get out there and I dance and I, you know, teach people about health in a fun way. And the reason I do that is I'm trying to reduce that stress, but at the same time.
Tricia Pingel: I'm not sitting on social media scrolling every day, right? So, I think there's a balance. I think it's one thing to catch up with people [00:10:00] or spend a moment, but how much are you missing during that time that you could be doing for your health? You could be out for a walk. You could be making a nutritious meal with your friends.
Tricia Pingel: You know, so there's a lot we're starting to miss and that adaptation to that bear, we're starting to not notice. Yes. Yes. Oh, you just totally read
Julie Michelson: my next question, which is, it's along the same lines. You just right out of my brain, you took it, which is because I hear this all the time. So I want, I want you to, to share with listeners.
Julie Michelson: Do you? Well, you already hit on, you know, anxiety is higher than ever. We, we, because of how we're living now, um, stress, you know, our inputs are higher than ever. I hear all the time though, but I don't feel stressed out. I don't need to go for a walk. I don't need to meditate. I don't need to whatever, whatever, fill in the blank.
Julie Michelson: I don't feel [00:11:00] stressed out. If stress is playing a role, impacting health, Do you, do you think we necessarily are feeling, obviously some of us feel stressed out when we are, but this whole, I do think there's this misconception about, um, because I don't identify as anxious or feel like I can't control whatever.
Julie Michelson: Um, so my stress is fine. I don't have my,
Tricia Pingel: everyone has stress. Yeah, it's like if you're not having a panic attack, you're not stressed, right? I ask people when they say, well, I don't have any stress. And I say, okay, are you tired? Yes. Do you sleep well? Not really. Are you noticing any hormonal changes? Oh my god, I have hot flashes all the time.
Tricia Pingel: Is your hair falling out? Oh, I hate that! A hair falling out all the time. Do you ever get bloated or do you feel like you're holding on to a lot of weight? Yeah, oh yeah, I'm like, okay. These are all signs of stress adaptation. Just because Stress can [00:12:00] present in every single system in our body. Cortisol controls is linked into every single system.
Tricia Pingel: I mean, there was something with autoimmunity that, like, 80, more than 85 percent or something of people have a stressful event before the onset of their autoimmunity, but they don't link the stress to the immune system. It just doesn't link there. I bet it's higher. So I will give people a challenge. I will take that you're not stressed if you feel freaking fantastic.
Tricia Pingel: You're on no medications, your labs are spot on, you're never bloated, you're sleeping well, you feel great, your life is full of joy. I will agree with you. You have managed the stress. I don't find there are many
Julie Michelson: people who've done that. But, but you just used a key word. Managed. That's the thing, like if you're, if you're not intentionally managing stress.
Julie Michelson: I promise you have at least one, if not many of those [00:13:00] symptoms, like we have to, again, it's the, it's kind of the input output thing, like in our modern life, because like you said, it's, it can, it's little stress. Our body doesn't know the difference between good stress. Bad stress, big stress, little stress, everything is, you say bear, I say lion, either, or actually I should say bear.
Julie Michelson: I live in Colorado. Um, I
Tricia Pingel: live in Arizona. Or mountain lion. I don't know.
Julie Michelson: I guess I need to say scorpion. Yeah. So, but you know, so if we're not creating, If we're not managing intentionally, I promise if you're a listener and you're thinking, Oh, first of all, if you feel okay, you're probably not listening to the podcast.
Julie Michelson: If you're, if you're happy with how you're feeling. Um, but it takes intention. I think.
Tricia Pingel: In every aspect. I mean, I talked about four different areas. Once you've identified. Your external [00:14:00] stressors and your internal stressors, and it takes a physician often or a health coach or somebody to do lab work to find those internal stressors because you don't know how your mitochondria are working.
Tricia Pingel: Like, I don't know, I walk in and they're like, how's your mitochondria today? You know, people are like, I don't
Julie Michelson: know. Right? We need to find those things. Across the board, and I, I agree. I'm such a Like data geek. I love the labs because we want to get better as quick as we can, right? But I promise like if you're expressing active autoimmune symptoms, your mitochondria is probably not so happy.
Julie Michelson: Right. Oh,
Tricia Pingel: yeah. You may not need the lab, but why? Yeah. Have a diagnosis that can lead you to the internal stressors, but you have to identify both and then you have to address it from four different areas. You have to address it from nutrition because if your body's under stress, it has nutrient depletions.
Tricia Pingel: Um, number two, movement, moving with intention, exactly what you're saying. Movement with intention and focus [00:15:00] and in a calm state, you cannot lose weight. in a stressed state. You cannot, uh, because the body is going to pack on the fat around the abdomen so you can run from the next anticipated bear. So there's a very important aspect to movement.
Tricia Pingel: And then there's supplement with wherever your imbalances have been found. And then there's mindset. It's making a choice to change. It's making a choice to interpret stress in a different way. And that's where I think the biggest skill comes from. And it's where our medical society is lacking because we don't teach them.
Tricia Pingel: We, we, we get, find all the things we do, all the data points. And we say, Oh, you're low in vitamin C. Here's your supplement. Take care now. See you next year. You know, instead of really saying, well, okay. Why are we like that to begin with? And how can we now change the way that we interpret, manage, address stress?
Tricia Pingel: Because the stress is not going away. I think we can all agree that I mean, I run two businesses. I have teenagers. I'm married. I have dogs. There's [00:16:00] always stuff going on in my world. And that's okay. It just kind of depends on how you look at it, how you reframe it, and what you choose to do about it. I'm choosing not to spend an hour on social media because I can choose to go outside and take a walk which is going to benefit me in the long term, right?
Tricia Pingel: Everything we do is a choice. And I think Always saying never do this or always do this doesn't help us out. We have to learn how to make a choice in the moment that favors the healthier choice. And it's literally that simple. Health is one choice. at a time. We put money in our bank account out of our paycheck every month for retirement so that we can live this amazing retirement where we can go party, earn 65, right?
Tricia Pingel: We can go party, we can have a great time. If you don't have your health, you can't do as much as you want. So why aren't we putting a quarter into our health bank every single day? Just once. We don't have to put a million dollars into our account in one day, but we need to do something. We need to do one [00:17:00] choice.
Tricia Pingel: Am I going to eat the eggs or the oatmeal for breakfast? That's a choice. I love that.
Julie Michelson: I love that that was your breakfast choice. That wasn't my breakfast choice. No, no, no. I love that those are the two you came up with because, um, but that would take us in a whole different direction, but stop eating oatmeal for breakfast, people.
Julie Michelson: It's not healthy. They sold you a bill of goods. It's not a great way to start your day. You
Tricia Pingel: know, but I mean, you can make a choice. Every single thing that you do is a choice, right? You have a choice when you wake up to allow your day to take you down. To allow that when you walk downstairs and you, you know, grab your cup of coffee and someone comes in, like my 13 year old's moody.
Tricia Pingel: He's just moody. Like he just is. Cause he's,
Julie Michelson: cause he's a 13 year old.
Tricia Pingel: Yeah, and I have a choice. I can let snippiness ruin my day or I can just kind of laugh and be like, Hey, good morning, dude. And leave the room. Like I have a chance. And I think we forget that we feel [00:18:00] so out of control running from the bear.
Tricia Pingel: We run so fast and we're turning the corner and prepping for the next bear that we forget that things don't happen to us. They happen for us, but we have to pay attention. If we don't pay attention, it's going to take us down. The bear will eventually eat you. So it's little mindset shifts where it's just, is this worth my energy to even like have a reaction over?
Tricia Pingel: Those are things that I wish our medical society would spend more time talking to people about, because as easy as it sounds, it's one of the hardest things to do.
Julie Michelson: And I feel like even if stress is addressed in a traditional medical setting. I shouldn't use the word addressed. I think it's often brought up, um, but then that's it.
Julie Michelson: Right? Like, Oh, you need to manage your stress better when, when you feel out of control, that doesn't even sound possible.
Tricia Pingel: Yeah. And taking the time to do [00:19:00] that, right? Like, like for example, Using your phone to good use, setting a timer on your phone every hour to just breathe for a minute. I don't have time to go to counseling.
Tricia Pingel: I don't have time to do this plan. I don't have, I'm like, well, how about just a couple minutes a day of just walking outside for one minute, 60 seconds and taking a breath. And when people say, gosh, I just, I literally don't have time. I'm like, okay. You
Julie Michelson: are in the bear. There's
Tricia Pingel: a problem. There is a problem.
Tricia Pingel: Everybody has one minute, an hour.
Julie Michelson: Well, Ann, if you tell me you can't find the time, it's because you need to make the time. Well,
Tricia Pingel: do one minute less scrolling then, you know, and let's do that breathing, you know what I mean. So I mean, it's little things like that that may not in the moment, it actually breathing and going outside actually does reduce cortisol levels pretty quickly.
Tricia Pingel: But, but, um, some people are so, I guess, [00:20:00] adapted that they don't notice it in that moment.
Julie Michelson: Sure.
Tricia Pingel: Over time, it's just like that health bank. After a week of doing it, you're going to be calmer. I guarantee you. I've been kind of like testing people and say, how long does it take before you feel calmer with this exercise?
Tricia Pingel: Everyone has been within 48 hours. So most people within the same day. So there's a free tip right now. Free tip. Go to the doctor, go outside, take a few deep, full breaths and state gratitude. For just being alive.
Julie Michelson: I love how you just stacked. That was awesome. Notice listeners. She threw in a third thing in there.
Julie Michelson: I love it, but that, and that's the thing, right? Like, cause now you, I mean, we're so programmed to wear busy ness like a crown, right. Or accomplishment or, uh, and, and health is an accomplishment by the way. Um, But so if you're some like that whole [00:21:00] story, I don't have time or like bang for the buck, go you just that she gave you three things.
Julie Michelson: You could spend one minute doing three things, not even three minutes, just one minute, three things. Huge hit. I love it. And I'm going to, I'm going to up level it one more time for stacking. Do it first thing in the morning, barefoot and get the sun in your eyes and you're just starting something amazing.
Tricia Pingel: Don't check your phone before you do it. When you get up, walk outside, put your feet in the grass, get the sun, do your breath and do not check your phone. Nothing has happened. There's nothing. There's no bear that you can't handle in 60 seconds.
Julie Michelson: And you'll handle the bear so much better is the key.
Tricia Pingel: Get that phone away from your head at night.
Tricia Pingel: There are, I just did a speech. It's actually pretty funny. Um, last week I was doing a corporate event and I was giving a speech and I said, how many of you have your phone by your [00:22:00] head? A bunch of people raised their hand on women. And I said, Why do you sleep with your phone by you? And she goes, Oh, well, I need an alarm clock.
Tricia Pingel: And I said, that is my favorite answer because every single person has walked into a drugstore and can find an alarm clock for 10 or less. Right. Phone is not an alarm clock.
Julie Michelson: Even, you know, put it far away and turn it up. Like it. No,
Tricia Pingel: I don't even want it in the
Julie Michelson: room. Or like what's happening? Well, mine's off.
Julie Michelson: It's not even on like, I mean, it's airplane mode and far away. And everybody has stories about why this is not what you thought I was going to ask you today. Why are we, is it like that cortisol? Like, why are we so attached to our phones? I mean, I'm not. We are
Tricia Pingel: because we have that's a
Julie Michelson: conscious choice.
Julie Michelson: It's
Tricia Pingel: a conscious choice and it's a FOMO. It's a, I'm going to miss something if I don't do it. What happened? Where did, [00:23:00] when I, when I fell asleep behind the tree, how many bears did I miss? Did I miss something important? I mean, silly. I mean, it's, I'm older
Julie Michelson: than you, but. But I lived in a time where if you were on the phone, nobody else could get through, and you didn't know you missed the call.
Julie Michelson: And then call waiting came, right? And then answering machines came. And like, it's just, I feel like we're, yeah, it's, it's not going in a good, it takes conscious choice. to to change. I think the technology like I love that I can talk to you and you're and I can see you and you're in Arizona and I'm in Colorado and that's great.
Julie Michelson: And listeners from around the world get to listen to the conversation. So all these positives, but if we don't use these good things with intention, it's
Tricia Pingel: remember when the workday was nine to five.
Julie Michelson: What?
Tricia Pingel: I know. And you woke up, you had breakfast with your kids, and you had to clock out for lunch. You had to take lunch.
Tricia Pingel: You did. You were required. And [00:24:00] in fact, um, and I was born in the seventies and, and grew up with answering machines and if you missed a call, you missed a call and your work, you didn't get work calls at home. You got them at the office. If you wanted to talk to work people, you had to go to the office.
Tricia Pingel: Between nine and five is when that would happen. If you wanted to reach someone, you had to call them between nine and five because they, you know, they were there. And I think there's a beauty in that. And I think we can use the current technology with that same understanding, right? We shouldn't be interrupted during dinner with a work call.
Tricia Pingel: And as a concierge doctor, like I'm not trying to be hypocritical. I understand my patients may need to reach me, but. All the emails I get don't need to be checked. I can set up functions on my phone so that only certain people can interrupt me in emergency situations. But when mom was, was dying, you know, people say, well, sure.
Tricia Pingel: What if you get a call in the middle of the night? Well, we actually, what we did is we, um, set up a, um, VOIP home phone system [00:25:00] and she gave the phone number. To the hospice people. Sure. And that's it. Nobody else could call me on that. So you knew. So if that phone rang, I knew Dr. Swell, the only person it could be.
Tricia Pingel: And my cell phone was put far away and nobody else could bother me. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: And
Tricia Pingel: you know, That peace of mind, like just knowing that you can remove yourself from that. So to answer your question when you if you're someone who leaves the house and you forgot your phone and you start freaking out You have stress.
Tricia Pingel: You have renal issues. There's the answer right there If you can't go without you feel like you're missing something all the time. You're not caught up with everything I mean we get so caught up trying to be everybody else I'm trying to do so many things and be busy and be productive and look good and be perfect.
Tricia Pingel: The amount of energy that that takes is exhausting. And, um, I don't know, I don't know if you knew this, but I grew up in the modeling industry. I was a model from the time I was born and, [00:26:00] um, everything was about external appearance, right? About you need to look like you're perfect all the time. You, you may not sure.
Tricia Pingel: Yeah. Right. Yeah. And it's exhausting. And I don't think it's just models that feel that I think growing up, we all look at pictures. We, people were probably looking at me in a magazine and saying, wow. And
Julie Michelson: back then it was, it was in a magazine or on TV or a movie, right? It wasn't. It wasn't, you know, thousands of people
Tricia Pingel: all the
Julie Michelson: time.
Julie Michelson: They also
Tricia Pingel: didn't have Photoshop. So we have to be very skilled in how you turn your head and your body. But I think. We are so quick to beat up on ourselves when we compare ourselves to everybody else. And I'd like to go back to the time where we have an answering machine that we check during work.
Tricia Pingel: Spend time with our family and we show up to the football games and we're present without trying to do that to impress anybody else. [00:27:00] You know that you're the mom that always shows up to football games. I don't care what anyone else thinks. I'm going because I want to be there with my kids. And that's what I try to focus on.
Tricia Pingel: And sometimes I get interrupted on my phone and I turn it off. It's not time to interrupt me. And I think we have to start setting those boundaries for ourselves. Um, going nowhere, like otherwise there's just bears everywhere. And I don't see how we can come out of our health crisis as a nation if we don't start really paying attention to this.
Tricia Pingel: I just, I just don't see how it's possible.
Julie Michelson: So well said, like I would, I would give you a standing ovation, but that would be probably a really awkward camera angle. Um, so I won't, I want to talk about, um, because sometimes we jump in because we live in this world Right. And we're talking about adrenals and we're talking about stress and you mentioned cortisol.
Julie Michelson: Um, and then people, I feel like hopefully they understand that connection and maybe we can touch on all of it. [00:28:00] Um, you did explain, you know, how our system is designed and where it's supposed to be. It's designed for acute stressors. And so now we have multiple acute stressors. We have chronic stressors, we have all the things, right?
Julie Michelson: We have stressors that feel good. So we don't want to admit their stressors. Um, and then add the, I think we probably also have way more internal stressors than we did thousands of years ago too. Absolutely. Um, I think cortisol gets a bad rap. I think because we talk about adrenals and we talk about, you know, this, well, whether high or low, but, but I think people think cortisol is bad.
Julie Michelson: Talk to us a little bit about cortisol and it's like rolling either inflammation or even just, you know, like it, it has a job, a good job and we dysregulated it through all those stressors.
Tricia Pingel: Yeah. I mean, cortisol is amazing. Yeah. Absolutely. It's [00:29:00] incredible. If you really did see a bear and you needed to run, your body will adapt, and it will survive, and it is amazing, and because of that, it has a hand in every single system.
Tricia Pingel: It changes our heart rate, it changes our blood pressure, it changes the way we divert energy, it downregulates things that aren't important, and when you need it, it is there. And, and it's really important. Anyone who's gone through
Tricia Pingel: a major stressor and has had to, you know, where you almost feel like you're not present and you just somehow you managed to get through it, that's cortisol. The problem is we're everything is a stressor. So our body is getting very confused and we're putting in toxins. Like you were saying, internal stressors are so much higher.
Tricia Pingel: We're putting in toxins in our food, in our air, in our products, you know, we're being exposed. To so much in our environment more so than we used to. We saw cancer rates go up when we started to get, you [00:30:00] know, special coatings on nonstick pots and, you know, like the whole Teflon industry and all of the rubbers we started using in clothing and in accessories and things like that.
Tricia Pingel: All these things that were these amazing technologies that actually took our health the wrong direction. And I think when we were talking about technology, this is an amazing thing. but it's taking our health in the wrong direction because what it's doing is it's keeping us always in a cortisol loop.
Tricia Pingel: So cortisol is released when you see that bear along with other neurotransmitters. It's released from the adrenal gland. The cortisol has an impact on, and my book talks about this, each chapter talks about this, but the, it has an impact on blood sugar. So it has an impact on how we use insulin and glucose and how we break down fats and proteins for energy.
Tricia Pingel: You know, I always laugh and people say, and they're not wrong, but give me a second on this one. Uh, they say, well, you need to eat lots of protein as you get older to build muscle. I don't argue that that's you do need protein, but if you're under stress, your [00:31:00] body's not going to break it down. Well, so then eating 200 grams of protein and you're getting stomach aches and you're not losing weight.
Tricia Pingel: And you're like, well, that doesn't work.
Julie Michelson: Well, because we distress also impact digestion and our enzymes. Yeah,
Tricia Pingel: you know, it lowers your hydrochloric acid, it, it down regulates. It's the release of the enzymes from the pancreas. Um, it downrights gallbladder function. I mean, gallbladder removal is one of the number one surgeries in our country and it's just dismissed.
Tricia Pingel: We'll just donate. Well, we need our gallbladder, you know, right. It's not there by accident. It wasn't an extra spare part. Like come on. And it impacts our mood. You know, as I talked about anxiety and depression, people are put on medications for, you know, to help their neurotransmitters when there's a direct correlation of cortisol impacting that.
Tricia Pingel: If you're in the woods and you see a bear, you're not going to sleep well, especially if you saw a bear every time, right? And yet we still walk down the same path, don't we? You know, eight bears down this path and we [00:32:00] show up in the morning and we say, you know what, I'm gonna be ready for that bear again.
Tricia Pingel: And then you're, and you're walking around with your bear spray, you know, you're like, okay, I know it's coming. I'm ready. I'm ready for this. You actually do
Julie Michelson: sound like you live in Colorado, but you know what I
Tricia Pingel: mean? But, you know, We can choose to think of the bear in a different way. It could be a little cute little bear cub.
Tricia Pingel: We could choose a different path. We could divert before we know the bear is coming. We have a lot of different options and internally our body does the same thing. It diverts with medications. It diverts with stress response. It diverts if it goes for progesterone and it's not there. It'll find a different way to get there, right?
Tricia Pingel: So, I think the point is, is that cortisol is good when the body is calm, 80 percent of the time, but we're not spending 80 percent of the time in a calm state. We're spending more and more every year, more percentage in this sympathetic nervous system, this fight or flight, I've got to beat this bear. I'm just going to [00:33:00] prep for it.
Tricia Pingel: If I prep for it, I'll be fine. No. Right? Yeah. I have to actually be accepting. I mean, things happen. Things happen. And they could be devastating. I've had numerous times in my life where something's been absolutely just knocked me on my butt and devastating. And in the moment, I thought, I will never get through.
Tricia Pingel: Right. And we do, but in hindsight, it was some of the best things that ever happened to me because they my focus to take a different path. And there's a lot of different good that comes out of those stressful moments and trying to be prepared and be a perfectionist to figure out how to beat that bear is not always the answer.
Tricia Pingel: Sometimes we just have to submit.
Julie Michelson: Well, and that perfection, yeah, being a perfectionist does not serve you health wise, period.
Tricia Pingel: And how boring to be a perfectionist all the time.
Julie Michelson: Well, but they're gonna end up, you know, finding you or finding me or because Yeah, you're always, then you are always, even if you're not a type [00:34:00] A, but when, if you're an inner perfectionist, you're going to end up inflamed.
Julie Michelson: You're going to end up, you know, kind of always in a bear, looking for the bear. And so, um, or living with the bears. Yeah.
Tricia Pingel: And that doesn't sound fine. I'd rather be a little. Perfect. And have a little bit more fun, you know, a little more, you know, and make
Julie Michelson: mistakes. I mean, that's well, and I love, I know, you know, the dance dancing that I love that you are still embracing dancing and, and bringing, sharing it with people joy.
Julie Michelson: Like that's the other, I think, danger to this, you know, modern technology. You know, I just, I was complimenting that we can be on zoom in different places and then people get to hear and, and that's amazing, but the joy is. It's really essential. It's always balancing like cortisol needs [00:35:00] balancing, right?
Julie Michelson: It's supposed to, or if we have an optimized circadian rhythm, cortisol is our friend, like not even just in a stress response. It gives us energy in the morning when we wake up, right? It's anti inflammatory. So I just wanted to like, it's not cortisol is not bad. Right. It's constantly cranking it out that leads to bad things.
Julie Michelson: Um, and maybe those bad things are then you can't really make it very well. And now you have no, like it. So it's that moderation.
Tricia Pingel: It is. And you know, like cortisol, you're right. It's anti inflammatory in an acute state. In a chronic state, it's very inflammatory. It's like yin and yang. It's like people are like, Oh, cortisol.
Tricia Pingel: It's not my cortisol. Cause that's anti inflammatory. And I'm really inflamed. Well, wait a minute. I'm saying it's interesting because there is always a balance. And, you know, I think when you're talking about joy too, A lot of people say, well, great. You can just put on a smile and pretend to be joyous. No, I [00:36:00] mean, I just watched, you know, I love inside out loved that movie.
Tricia Pingel: I would just watch the second one with joy comes sadness, with, with sadness, anger, with anger comes right. Cause
Julie Michelson: you don't want to feel the feelings you don't want to feel. You're also not really experiencing joy. And, but, but also the dance and what made me think of the joy is, and even just your face when you say dance.
Julie Michelson: Like it's like, Oh, I can feel the joy. I get it. Like a just beautiful neurotransmitter cascade from your joy. You know, I think dancing brings everybody joy. I don't need people looking at me when I do it because. Nobody, although, I mean, it will create laughter. So that's, that's always good. Um, but we need some of those balancing chemicals too, to, to, that is part of, I always include joy as part of stress management, you know, [00:37:00] because it's essential and sadly also takes intention these days can like we, we, some people have.
Julie Michelson: Forgotten about it. Like they think they, they outgrew it in childhood or in early adulthood. Yeah. And so it, it breaks my heart when I ask a client, what brings you joy? And I get the, like a deer in the headlights. Look,
Tricia Pingel: I get that a lot.
Julie Michelson: Oh, I, me too. That's why that's, that's why they're meeting with us.
Julie Michelson: Right. Like that's a, it's a component of it. Um, recreating joy and reintroducing people to joy is, is, you know, just. Such a, uh, pleasure and an honor. Um, but what happened, you know, like we shouldn't, we shouldn't have to read good, like figure out, oh yeah, it's not, it's not a bonus. It's part of life. Like we're supposed to experience joy and sadness, all the things
Tricia Pingel: we're supposed to [00:38:00] everything.
Tricia Pingel: Yeah. And I went back to dance when my mom had passed of cancer and I had sat, I had left my practice and I sat with her and, and. That was really a very pivotal moment for me. It was also my lowest ever in my entire life. And it made me take assessment of what's, what's important, what's important in life right now.
Tricia Pingel: You know, here's someone who, you know, couldn't get up to go to the bathroom by yourself. She needs help with everything. The things that you, she used to do, just getting in your car and going to the grocery store that you'd say, Oh man, I have to go to the grocery store today. Well, she couldn't go to the grocery store.
Tricia Pingel: There's a lot of gratitude that comes from watching somebody lose.
Julie Michelson: Yes.
Tricia Pingel: That you take for granted. Right. Yeah. And I was down and out and I was depressed and I wasn't happy. And I did have someone asked me, well, what brings you joy? And I could not answer that question. I said nothing. My answer was absolutely nothing.
Tricia Pingel: I hadn't noticed anything. And so I started to really take assessment and said, well, what can I, how can I bring my joy back? And I said, well, what would I have done if I was two or three or four? What would I have done? What did I really [00:39:00] love to do when I was little? And I love to dance. I grew up dancing.
Tricia Pingel: My dad was a musician, so every morning I got, and my dad passed when I was 24 years old, so I had lost him. Me? Yeah, me too. And yeah, so I used to wake up every morning and go into the kitchen to get breakfast, and my dad would be strum in the guitar. And when we had parties or my parents would put gatherings together, there was always music.
Tricia Pingel: And at Christmas we sang Christmas carols and it was always. There was always music in my life. And when I really looked at it, I was like, I don't, I don't have music in my life. I don't have music in my heart. I don't have music around me anywhere. I'm not beat any beat at all. I'm literally just going through in silence.
Tricia Pingel: So I started dancing again and it was not easy because my brain had completely detached from my body. Hey, hey, Trisha, put your arm here and it would go down here. It just, it didn't understand. But what it taught me is that by using all of these different aspects of our brain, by having to learn choreography, by having to feel the music, [00:40:00] By having to, you know, get over the fact that someone might be watching me, things like that.
Tricia Pingel: All these things that we worry about all the time. I don't have to worry about them when I dance. I can't, I don't have
Julie Michelson: time. Yep. Me riding a horse.
Tricia Pingel: Like, yeah, I just let it go. And by letting all that go, I became a better dancer because I wasn't thinking about it. And now I can do, you know, eight, eight counts of choreo in an advanced class, and I may not look popping with the young kids.
Tricia Pingel: I, I know I may not look like the 15-year-old next to me, but I'm, you know, but I'm keeping up love it, and I'm having fun with it. And I think, um, finding your joy. If you're someone listening right now and you're like, man. I don't have an answer to that question. Then your number one assignment is to figure out what did you love to do.
Tricia Pingel: Did you find it? Do something creative. Or start something creative. But there's something you used to do when you were younger. We innately go to joy when we feel sadness as a kid. It's in our [00:41:00] innate nature. So what brought you joy? What was it? And figure out a way to bring it back. And just stick with it.
Tricia Pingel: Do not give up. I went every single week looking like an idiot. Next is 15 year olds. And I just was like, Oh, I'm gonna go. Did I have fun? My assessment was, did I have fun? Was that challenging? Yep. Okay, cool. I'll go again. Like I didn't think, how did I look?
Julie Michelson: Right. Yeah, well think of all of the things in life we would never do if we thought, if the preface was, you know, am I going to think I look good doing this?
Julie Michelson: You know, come on.
Tricia Pingel: I didn't take a while to record myself too. It took me a long time and when I was just thinking the same thing, I used to be like, no, no video. Yeah. And my teacher one time was like, look, if you want to get better at dance, you should start recording yourself. Like you think you're doing worse than you are.
Tricia Pingel: And when you start watching yourself, you're going to see where you need to work, what you need to work on and what you don't. And I think accurately. If we turned like our lives on [00:42:00] ourselves and really took a good solid look at what are we really proficient at and what do we need to work on and then we took those things we need to work on and we actually worked on them.
Tricia Pingel: Imagine the growth and imagine how much that would calm the bears because we're no longer trying to keep up with something that we don't understand.
Julie Michelson: We
Tricia Pingel: really take self assessment and really be honest with ourselves about what we're allowing Into our energy and our space. And just that alone can reduce adrenal stress dramatically and allow you to have a better focus on now.
Tricia Pingel: Okay. What do I need to address in other areas of my health? It's it's, it's progressive.
Julie Michelson: I love that. I love it. And now I think you already answered our wrap up question just now, but then I was like, well, then that's not fair because I didn't give you a chance. What is one step listeners can take starting today?
Julie Michelson: To improve their health and it could be
Tricia Pingel: well, I've given you a couple. So let
Julie Michelson: me know.
Tricia Pingel: I've already given you a couple. So [00:43:00] let's look at this one. So let's deal with some of the external bears. Okay, ones that you're in control, right? I always say there's three aspects to this. Number one, ask yourself, is this worth my energy?
Tricia Pingel: Secondly, Do I have any control over the outcome? And number three, make a choice. Am I going to take it on? Am I going to delegate it to someone else or am I going to let it go? And when you start asking yourself these questions, I tend to find that most of them you're able to let go. And when you let them go, that's taking a different path.
Tricia Pingel: That's not continuing to walk right into the bear every time. So just some little small choices that you can make. Um, just by asking those questions, um, and when you start to feel that, oh, I'm mad, I don't like that, I'm frustrated, I'm stressed out. Is it worth your energy? Do you have control over the outcome?
Tricia Pingel: And what are you going to do about it based on those facts?
Julie Michelson: That, that's gold. Right [00:44:00] there. That's like the mic drop. I am glad I gave you a chance to give us one more thing. I, before I let you go, I, I want you to, we talked about and touched on the book and, and, um, what, what is the name of the book
Tricia Pingel: for listeners?
Tricia Pingel: Total health turnaround. You can definitely find it on Amazon. Sometimes it's on my website, sometimes it's not, but it's always on my, it's always at Amazon. And you can find me at drpingle. com. I encourage you, please follow me if you, as long as you don't spend too much time scrolling, you can follow me, but say hello because what is social media for?
Tricia Pingel: What's the good side of it? It's connection and finding like minded people to help drive it forward. So allow me to you. move forward positively in your house. So say hello and connect. Don't be a stranger. And, um, hopefully you'll laugh and have a little fun along the way with me.
Julie Michelson: Amazing. I really genuinely, um, [00:45:00] so grateful for your time, your wisdom, your joy, your smile.
Julie Michelson: Um, thank you so much for just everything you shared with listeners. Go get the book, go find her. Um, because just, this is just scratching the surface of the, the remarkable life changing, not only the information, but approach, right? It is like you said, it's one step at a time. Um, and it applies to literally everybody, especially applies to anybody listening to this podcast.
Julie Michelson: So thank you.
Tricia Pingel: Oh, it's my pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Julie Michelson: For everyone listening. Remember you can get those show notes and transcripts by visiting inspired living Dutch show. We'll get information on the book, the websites, her Instagram, all the places to find her, maybe a dancing video. I will see you guys next week.
Julie Michelson: Is, I'm just gonna have to tell the truth. [00:46:00] I don't know. 'cause I love talking to you. I dunno what is going on, , but I'll just write down what time it is because I, I usually will tell, I'll do you know, split screen zoom is stuck. I wasn't even positive. Are we still recording now? I can't stop recording. It is fascinating.
Tricia Pingel: I did not see, it says recording, and I did not have any lag with you, where I think No, I,
Julie Michelson: it's, everything was great, except that I can't minimize Zoom. I usually just put you next to my notes, you know what I mean? And now I can't stop recording, so I, I will close, when I close it, it'll stop recording. Okay.
Tricia Pingel: Good. Are you coming to the summit next week?
Julie Michelson: I'm not.
Tricia Pingel: Oh, okay.
Julie Michelson: I know. I, um, and I know, I mean, I know. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see. I know they're saying last one, but does it just,
Tricia Pingel: I think it's last one in its current, like the [00:47:00] way it's, yeah, that's what
Julie Michelson: I'm saying. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so we are talk about stressors.
Julie Michelson: No, we're moving clinics. Um, like now. So, um, yeah, and rebranding and redoing and, um, so lots of opportunity to recreate. And our perspective is, you know, I'm excited. It's a lot, but I'm excited. Yeah. Well, awesome. Well, thank you for your time. I hope this. Thank you. It's perfect. I just was like, are you kidding?
Julie Michelson: As long as I know the recording is good. So I'm happy. Okay.
Tricia Pingel: All right, sweetie. Um, let me know when you're releasing it and I'll promote it as soon as I can. Absolutely. Thank you. Have a good day, hon. You too. Bye.
​[00:48:00]
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Tricia Pingel
Dr. Pingel, the Adrenal Whisperer, is a leading naturopathic physician who specializes in stress & cortisol management. She has transformed & empowered countless women, guiding them from feeling wired and tired to a state of calm and connected. She has been featured on major TV shows and in publications like Mind Body Green and Prevention Magazine. Dr. Pingel is a bestselling author, a hip hop dancer, retired fashion model, and visionary CEO shaping the future of holistic wellness.
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