Episode 996: Invest in Yourself - Interview with Barby Ingle the Mental Cheerleader and Health Advocate - Part 1

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining us on episode 996 of the inspired stewardship podcast.

[00:00:07] Barby Ingle: Hi, I'm Barbie Ingle and I challenge you to invest in yourself. Invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talents and your treasures to live out your calling, your purpose in life.

[00:00:25] Having the ability to be your own health advocate is key and is one way to be inspired to do all that you were supposed to do. Another way is to listen to this. The inspired steward podcast with my friend stopped me.

[00:00:42] once I shifted my focus and started paying attention and listening, God, where am I supposed to go? What am I supposed to do? This is what's in my path. How do I get over? Under, through, around this challenge? That is before me, it wasn't that I was being spited it wasn't that I did [00:01:00] something wrong. It was that I wasn't paying attention to live my best.

[00:01:05] Scott Maderer: Welcome and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling and the inspired stewardship podcast. We'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that.

[00:01:29] Can impact the world.

[00:01:32] And today's interview with Barbie Ingle. We talk with you about her history is a dance and cheer company owner to now dealing with chronic pain. Barbie also shares how this led her to becoming a health advocate and a mental cheerleader for others. Barbie also talks about how her faith and her journey through chronic pain have affected each.

[00:01:56] One reason I like to bring you great interviews. Like the one you're going to [00:02:00] hear today is because of the power in learning from others. Another great way to learn from others is through reading books. But if you're like most people today, you find it hard to find the time to sit down and read. And that's why today's podcast is brought to you by audible.

[00:02:17] Go to inspired stewardship.com/audible to sign up and you can get a 30 day free trial. There's over 180. Thousand titles to choose from. And instead of reading, you can listen your way to learn from some of the greatest minds out there. That's inspired stewardship.com/audible to get your free trial and listen to great books the same way you're listening to this podcast.

[00:02:45] Barbie Ingle is a best-selling Arthur reality personality and lives with multiple rare and chronic diseases. Barbie is a chronic pain educator, patient advocate and president of the international pain foundation. [00:03:00] She is also a motivational speaker and bestselling author on pain topics. Her blog reality shows and media appearances are used as a platform.

[00:03:10] They help her become an E patient advocate and she presents at healthcare conferences, speaking, publicly sharing her story, educating and advocating for patients across the globe. Welcome to the show. Barbie, thank you so much

[00:03:24] Barby Ingle: for having me, Scott. I'm excited to

[00:03:26] Scott Maderer: be. I am excited to have you here and talk a little bit about some of your journey and some of what you do now as an advocate for others around health and the chronic disorders and this sort of thing.

[00:03:42] And before we go there, though, I want go back in time a little bit. Can you talk a little bit about your journey from dance and cheer and kind of having your own company in that, and then you went on to Washington state and then how that transition happened and your own [00:04:00] journey through through the chronic pain battle and these sorts of things.

[00:04:04] Barby Ingle: Absolutely. So I found quite a journey through my life. And when I was four years old, I knew I was going to be a cheerleader. The rest of my life. Although my dad told me I had to be realistic and kept reminding me that I couldn't just be a cheerleader. I had to be more than that. But that I knew was my purpose from God.

[00:04:21] It was the talent that he gave me. And I went onto through college cheerleading and dancing and doing gymnastics and graduated from college, started my own cheer and dance training company. Invested everything that I had into this, I thought it was my life purpose. So I put everything into doing it the best that I could.

[00:04:43] And then a year after college and starting my own company, I was hired by Washington state university, as you said, and spent eight years there and I got to coach at two rose bowls and assemble. I was living my life to the fullest. I was taking life for granted. [00:05:00] And I'm having my own cheer and dance training company.

[00:05:02] I taught all over the west coast of the United States, as well as Canada. And I did cheer competitions and hosted them, gave out scholarships and really took life for granted. I was putting in hard work, but I wasn't living in the light and I wasn't living for Jesus. And I didn't recognize or realize that I thought I had enough religion for myself.

[00:05:29] And spirituality for myself. And then God started dropping pebbles in my path. And the more I ignored it, the bigger they got until like giant Boulder was lands in front of me. And had learned that I had to keep being a doer, but I was doing things that were living, I wasn't doing.

[00:05:52] Cheating or doing any bad things. I just wasn't living my life for the purpose that we're here on earth and that [00:06:00] was developing a chronic condition or rare disease known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy. And that accident that triggered that for me, really changed my life and showed me that I wasn't living my best life that I was taking life for granted.

[00:06:17] And I was able to use all these talents that God gave me. And I wasn't choosing to use them in a way that showed his glory and his greatness and how he gave us these talents and put us here on earth. So my whole life, my whole focus and everything changed back in 2002 and September 26th, 2002, to be exact.

[00:06:39] And and so that's where. I went on this journey. I thought it was doing all the right things. And then that Boulder just changed everything.

[00:06:50] Scott Maderer: And the Boulder was the diagnosis or no, the diagnosis, the suffering, the pain,

[00:06:58] Barby Ingle: the not having [00:07:00] answers and having to believe trust and put all of my hope in God and to stop and listen.

[00:07:07] To learn the tools like patients that I was taking for granted in this world. And it literally shifted my entire life focus, everything that I thought was right. And what I was living for and working towards, I was thinking I'm working hard. It doesn't always have to be hard. It doesn't it can be easy sometimes in.

[00:07:32] Once I shifted my focus and started paying attention and listening God, where am I supposed to go? What am I supposed to do? This is what's in my path. How do I get over? Under, through, around this challenge? That is before me, it wasn't that I was being spited it wasn't that I did something wrong. It was that I wasn't paying attention to live my best life for Jesus.

[00:07:55] And really that's where [00:08:00] it took off.

[00:08:01] Scott Maderer: Th the funny thing is in that as I, cause I've had some challenging situations, I think most people that are older than the age of about two and half and the funny thing is I I've had very religious people tell me you just need more faith that this, like right now, all I've got left is faith.

[00:08:18] What do you mean? How can I have any war? That's all I got.

[00:08:22] Barby Ingle: There's a difference between having faith and living in it and knowing you're going to be okay. I, at first, when I first got sick, I was losing all the things around me in my life. And I would be like, how am I going to feed myself? There was always food. How am I going to close myself? I always had clothes.

[00:08:41] I always had shelter. It was always there. God was providing and. Those were staples in life that you just have to have faith, that those things will be there because he knows that we need them. And then what can we do beyond that?

[00:08:58] Scott Maderer: So we [00:09:00] touched on it a little bit. You obviously, you were living what you thought was your life purpose.

[00:09:07] And now you're taking on the position of being more of a health advocate and teaching others in this arena and dealing with chronic pain. And what do people do in these sorts of situations? So how did that pivot happen? How did that change happen? I dive a little bit more into that.

[00:09:25] Barby Ingle: Yeah. So it happened over a three-year period from. September, 2002 until really the end of 2006, I was going through trying to figure out who I am, what am I supposed to be doing in life? How do I talk to doctors? How do I get through the next challenge? How do I get? Not only how do I talk, but how do I listen?

[00:09:51] That all was part of that journey. And I was able to. Develop my advocacy skills first for myself on the plane, they [00:10:00] say, put your oxygen on and then help other people. I had to stop and learn that I had to take care of myself. And part of living for Jesus was. Taking care of myself first and then helping other people.

[00:10:13] And that's kinda how I got involved every year. Our family growing up would do a family project and on Thanksgiving day we would decide what the project was going to be. So it could be going to the senior citizen. Facility and spending time with elderly people that don't have a lot of family around or going to a homeless shelter or cleaning up trash on the road.

[00:10:33] So it always changed every year. And in 2006 the family, actually, my brother and my dad said Let's do something to help people that are going through the same challenges that Barbie has been facing. And my dad said, if we're going to do that, we got to do it right and start a nonprofit. So we ended up starting a nonprofit and do this full-time now.

[00:10:51] But at the time it was going to be just another project. And last for a season instead of four. Living our [00:11:00] purpose on our, on earth and helping other people. And so it led up in that three to four year period to finding my own voice and overcoming challenges that I was facing and then saying, Hey, other people are going through this too.

[00:11:15] And recognizing that, and then saying, I can do something I'm here on earth for a reason. I still am a cheerleader. Maybe not physically, but mentally. And I can take the talents that God's given me and use them to live a better time on earth to help other people live a better time honored and to connect and network because what matters the most is human connection.

[00:11:38] And through that process, that's what I learned, saw in and began to practice.

[00:11:42] Scott Maderer: So throughout this journey both before and after the Boulder, as you put it how did your faith affects where you were at and how you were feeling and then as well, how has your faith been affected [00:12:00] by this kind of journey that you've.

[00:12:02] Barby Ingle: Absolutely. So prior to the Boulder, I was married. My husband that I married did not believe in God, but I thought I had enough God for both of us. And after I was too sick to do all the things that I was doing in the marriage. He said this isn't for me. And and it's showed me that I can't have faith for somebody else.

[00:12:27] I can't give them my faith. People have to come to that choice on their own. It's a choice. And. I had to foster and care for my faith and my hope. And so after the Boulder is when I got to start doing that. And many people that have something changed their whole life in the blink of an eye will turn away from God.

[00:12:51] And I saw other people doing that for me. I turned more to him and use that quiet time. And the hardest times [00:13:00] to say God, where am I supposed to be? What am I supposed to be doing? How am I supposed to make it through? And it brought me closer to God and gave me that faith that I needed and the hope, and it showed me.

[00:13:11] When they say your cup is half full or half empty, your optimist or pessimist. My cup I learned is never empty. The part that I can always see, the parts that other people can't always see is hope. And that comes through my. And I saw that sometimes I need more hope in. Sometimes I need less hope, but no matter what else is in my cup, there's always hope in my cup.

[00:13:37] And that is what has gotten me through and shown me and strengthened my faith and shown me that. This is my choice. I choose Jesus. I choose to be the best human I can be in and take care of the talents and gifts that I was given so that I can live in his glory.

[00:13:57] Scott Maderer: So I would be [00:14:00] remiss if I didn't ask this given your work in advocating for folks to take control of their own health and their own healthcare, what are some of the resources or tips or principles that you can share with people?

[00:14:14] Maybe. Maybe they're going through a little bit of this journey and they've got a disease or something else, and they're not sure what's going on. And they're scared. What are some of the tools that we should avail ourselves up to help take control of some

[00:14:26] Barby Ingle: of that? Some of the things that you can do is first created.

[00:14:34] Meaning figure out what you need around you and make sure it's there. So physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, social, get those tools and resources into your life. One that we don't think about often, but it's really important is drink more water and water is cleansing. And you can think of like holy water to bless yourself, but also water to ingest because [00:15:00] that water helps us like a river clean out the negative and the bad from our lives physically and emotionally.

[00:15:07] Drink more water, ask questions, ask for help. And learn to set the expectation with the people in your life, as soon as you can. And it's going to be a little bit of a different timeline for each of us, but setting an expectation to know for yourself and for others helps you get organized, which helps you live a better life.

[00:15:29] It also helps the people around you have the ability to help you to their fullest and. So th those are the types of things that you can do. They're free, they're cheap, you know what? We'll water. If you want to get like expensive, healthy water, I guess you could, but really you just need to cleanse yourself to inside and out to set the expectations with the people around you and create your Oasis by having the tools in your life that you need, whether it's through [00:16:00] charity, through friendships, through.

[00:16:02] Cutting out the negative in your life or moving towards things that are more positive physically and emotionally for you to live your best life. Those are like five tips that there you go, you can do all of those. And I'm not gonna say it's easy, but nothing's life. There's no guarantee that life will be easy.

[00:16:21] What it is.

[00:16:22] Scott Maderer: You can follow Barbie angle on Twitter as Barbie Ingle. That's spelled I N G L E R finder on her website@barbieingle.com. She's also on LinkedIn at Barbie Ingle or on Facebook as Barbie angle. Of course I'll have links to all of that over the show notes as well. Barbie, is there anything else you'd like to share with the LR?

[00:16:47] Barby Ingle: I just had said this, but there is hope because we have help please reach out and seek out what you need in your life so that you can live your best.

[00:16:58] Scott Maderer: Thanks so much [00:17:00] for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast, as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoy this episode. Please do us a favor. Go over to inspired stewardship.com/itunes rate.

[00:17:26] All one word iTunes rate. It'll take you through how to leave a rating and review and how to make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so that you can get every episode as it comes out in your feed. Until next time, invest your time, your talent and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.