The Doctor Said, “Spank Him.” Piper Said No.

00:00 Sometimes you hear something that makes you stop and think, no, that can't be right. For Piper, it was a doctor telling her that her son just needed a spanking. In that moment, she knew she had to find another way. What she did next changed everything. She went back to school, started over, and discovered tools that helped her son thrive and eventually helped hundreds of other families too. This is a story about trusting your gut, choosing hope, and finding strength that you didn't know you had. 00:29 sun light on the floor, the neurologist looked at him and goes, you know, I think he just needs a good spanking. 00:40 That's really helpful. Yeah. That was the life shift. That was the catalyst for me saying, no, that is not helpful. I'm not spanking a child who simply just cannot control his bodily movements. I'm going to go back to school and relearn everything I thought I knew about health and wellness to try and help this kid because after eight prescriptions, 10 doctors, nothing was working. I had to make the shift. I'm Maciel Hooley. 01:09 And this is the Life Shift, candid conversations about the pivotal moments that have changed lives forever. 01:27 Hello everyone, welcome to the LifeShift Podcast. I am here with Piper. Hello Piper. Hello Matt, how are you? I'm okay. I'm gonna say that. I'm not gonna say good, because I was conditioned to do that growing up, but today was a little stressful, but that's okay. I'm allowed to have those days and finally in my 40s I allow myself to just acknowledge it and move through it. And how are you? I am well and I totally agree with you. We all have those days, but today has actually been a great day for me. 01:56 I love it. And now we're capping it off with this conversation, which the Life Shift podcast is like something I couldn't have imagined being this age and healing in ways that I didn't know I still needed to heal. And it's really just taught me the power of story on a much deeper level than I ever imagined. it's just a joy to have these conversations, even the hard conversations, because when I was eight, 02:26 My dad had to sit me down with probably the hardest conversation of my life to tell me that my mom had been killed in a motorcycle accident. And at that moment, I mean, was, my parents were divorced. My dad lived in Georgia. I lived with my mom full time in Massachusetts. I was visiting my father and it was like summer break. And at that moment, like everything that I knew about my everyday life was no longer possible. I was going to have to. 02:55 leave the house that I was comfortable in. I was going to have to move to a new state with a parent that I didn't see very often, who was also wildly grieving without showing it. And I saw the people around me that it was like very apparent that they didn't know what they were doing grieving wise. And so they were like, Matt needs to be happy. He needs to grow up happy. And I was like, OK, my responsibility to show that everyone show everyone that I am OK. So I just pushed down the grief. 03:25 took me 20 plus years to feel like I had fully processed my mom's death. So it's really messy. But while I was in that messy couple of decades, I always wondered, do other people have these line in the sand moments? Yes, they do. Many of them. I was like, wow, now I can have this conversation with so many people. And it's crazy to me how different everyone's stories are, yet. 03:54 the emotions and the feelings and the resilience and all these things are so common across all of these stories. So that's a little bit about the Lifeship Podcast, but I'm just so looking forward to your conversation, which has elements of things that are really hard, but also probably elements of resilience and power. For sure. We're going to have a good time talking about all of this today. I'm really excited to have this conversation with you. 04:22 Well, I am looking forward to it as well. And before we get into your specific story, maybe you can tell us who Piper is in 2025. Like, how do you identify? How do you show up in the world these days? Yeah. So I actually, it's amazing that we wait until our forties to start this healing journey. It's crazy to me, but I have absolutely spent the last couple of years really working hard on my own life and my own trauma and getting me to this space. So I am a uh 04:51 what I consider mom in transition, meaning I have two adult children now, my youngest just turned 18, being able to release them out into the world as real human adults is quite a bit challenging. And there's so many changes that you have to make going from mom of kids to mom of adults. I am a business owner with a heart for helping others and really just seeing the 05:20 hurt and sadness and hopelessness in other parents, similar to what I had experienced. And so I'm a business owner with heart, willing to hold hands, big dreams to grow my business and work with more people throughout the world. I'm a wife, I'm a dog lover, and I am absolutely 1 million percent different than the person I was five or 10 years ago. Really? 05:45 Well, and the way you describe your journey, not the mom part and not the parent part, but the way you describe how your experience brought you to this purpose-filled mission or goal feels very similar to me. It feels like that kind of brought me to the life shift years and years and years later, but very fulfilling and probably is such a fuel for you, as exhausting as a lot of that must be. 06:15 I bet it's also this fuel in you or this fire in you. It absolutely is a fuel and a fire for me. Yeah, that's beautiful. Well, I am looking forward to hearing how that story unfolds. So I'd love for you to kind of paint the picture of your life leading up to this life shift moment. And you can go back as far as you need to to give some color to that before version that was 1,000 million percent different. Yeah. And you know, I really go back to so much of 06:44 my very early childhood here because I feel like so much of the trauma that I experienced really influenced how I show up now in my life and what shaped me as a person. So I have said this to other people and they were like, how do you so casually talk about this, you know, leading up to whatever we're discussing. know, I was molested and tortured by a family member when I was three. So between the ages of three and seven, 07:10 never told anybody, like my mom did not find out that I went through this situation until I was 22 and about to get married. And I, she was like, I'm going to invite this person to our wedding, your wedding. And I was like, you absolutely are not like this is what happened. So it definitely shaped me into this nervous, anxious, fearful person, very untrusting of other people because you know, someone that I really love and trusted did these unspeakable things to me. And I 07:37 spent so much of my life not trusting them. But I was also a hard worker. didn't- Probably because of that. Yeah, yeah. I really was. I felt like, I think I, and I still feel like I always had and have something to prove to somebody, that may be out there in the world. know, good student, very quiet. I didn't want people looking at me. I didn't want to draw attention to myself, but always that driven person, that go-getter. 08:06 started running silly little businesses when I was in fourth grade selling blow pops for a quarter. And I started doing these little businesses when I was little, making money, which is odd for me because I didn't want people looking at me, but I loved to perform. So I would sell tickets to my parents and our family members, hey, come watch me do this, whatever ridiculous dance it was at the time. I went to high school. I... 08:29 was the captain of my high school gymnastics team, just hard work, you know, proving, hey, I can do this, I can do hard things, I can do these things. But I had always dreamed of being a fashion designer. I wanted to have these amazing fashions that were gonna go down the runway. And I was making my own clothes in high school, I was designing and sending in entries to whatever fashion contest of the moment there was. And I just had big dreams to... 08:57 be a fashion designer. So of course, when I went to college, I got my degree in fashion design and I worked in the fashion industry as a designer, a buyer, a marketer and a fit model. And mind you, I am a small woman. So fit model was really for the fit of the clothes. It wasn't because I looked like a good hanger, because I do not look like a good hanger. But I worked in the fashion industry and I decided how much I hated it. I hated it. It was awful. I was 09:26 not my dream come true. just wasn't. It just because you hyped it up so much in your head probably and then you saw the realities of it. Absolutely. You I thought that it was this glamorous, you know, I'm going to sit in my studio and design and it's going to be glamorous. And it absolutely wasn't. mean, when you are designing for, you know, a denim manufacturer, it's like you have corporate companies that are like. 09:53 This is what we want, this is how it needs to look. And so there was no imagination to it. There was no creative spark to it. And it just, I was like, this is not what I imagined at all. Yeah, it's so interesting. And I'm so sorry that you went through that as a child. And even more sorry that you didn't have a safe or didn't feel comfortable enough to share that with others. And I always think of myself in that age when my mom died, like I didn't have that either. 10:22 Do you feel like holding that in for so long created this wanted to be successful kind of person? I think on some level it did, but I think on another level it was like, I didn't want to share that information. I was embarrassed. I was, it felt shameful. And so, you know, I think carrying something like that kind of shame with you, like most of your life really has an impact. And yes, it may make you, you know, 10:50 more driven or something like that. you know, I feel like there was so much shame behind it at the time. Yeah, that's so challenging because there should be zero shame on your behalf because none of that was your fault and totally 100 % of it was the other person's fault. I just always think of these little kids who can't share it because they feel that way. And for me, like I just became a perfectionist because of fear of abandonment. 11:20 like in my situation. And a lot of that was because I didn't feel like anyone was ready to hear how sad I was or how broken I was. I just had to look like I was happy and fine and surviving that. So I know all of my achievements up until maybe 40 were based in like, oh, I need to be good at all of this or my dad's going to leave. He would never have left. But I didn't get to express it. Yeah. And I think for me, part of that is 11:50 If I could just do it myself, that was my safe space. I didn't have to rely on anyone else. I didn't have to trust anyone else. If I could do it and be powerful and successful in it myself, I didn't have to rely on anybody else and I didn't have to trust them. Yeah, which, I mean, to me, kind of sounds like a kid version not trusting being able to share that story because of the shame that you would have got, kind of parallels. I don't mean to put this on you either, just kind of thinking. 12:18 because I didn't think about these things for so long in my life to reflect on, oh, that's probably why I did that. And it's fairly interesting to think of. But yeah, I don't think you're the only person to dream of this career to be the next, even though he wasn't even born yet, maybe Christian Siriano or something like that. You wanted to be that kind of designer, and you ended up just kind of on the conveyor belt of what a 12:48 career looks like in kind of any industry. I think lots of people glamorize those things and then you're like, oh, is this it? Yeah, absolutely. And that's what it was. And all of your training was in there, right? So that was like, your whole identity was wrapped up into this, true? It was. It was really wrapped up. was all of these things I was doing and I was just going to go out and prove to the world that I was going to be this amazing fashion designer. And it was like somebody, you 13:17 putting a pin in a balloon, was like, you know, slowly somebody let that air out. was like, this is just not what I imagined and it wasn't for me. And that company, surprisingly enough, went out of business and they, well, they didn't go out of business. They outsourced to China. I wasn't moving to China. So I really started to look at what my other friends and colleagues were doing. And, you know, there was, I had some friends working in nonprofit and I called them up and said, you know, I think I want to do something helping other people. 13:47 And so I actually spent five years working for the local American Red Cross doing public relations and marketing and event planning. along that way, I got pregnant and I had two kids while I worked for the Red Cross, but that sent me down a totally different trajectory. Yeah. Well, I think becoming a mother just in general will shift someone's life completely. 14:15 So how did you find that to be different for you? It completely shifted my entire life to be the person that I am today. So my oldest son was, I don't want to say complicated because he wasn't complicated, but we had complications from the beginning. Like, he was, I'm small, he was stuck under my ribs. I had to have a C-section to have him, like three people remove him to get him out. 14:41 He had low blood sugar when he was born and they gave him sugar water. He had to be under the Billy Ribbon lights. I mean, it was just all of these kinds of things where he had reflux, he had, was allergic to dairy. It was like not what you expect when you have a baby and you are like, I'm gonna have this sweet little baby. And it's gonna be, Yeah, was like, um everything that could go wrong. 15:08 went wrong or there was, you know, somebody threw a wrench in the, in the process. Yeah. And then you, I mean, but I would imagine, okay, I'm not going to imagine. Did you assume any kind of like, I think there's a lot of people that might go, Oh, what did I do? Or did, was there any of that element where because of the shame that you hit as a child, was there anything that you're like, oh not right away, but you know, we started to see these symptoms with him kind of 15:38 sneak in. So, you he's two or three and his behavior was just Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. One second he was great and the next second it was like, who is this beast and what is happening? And so I started to question and I would go to the pediatrician and she's like, it's just boys, that's normal behavior. Or, you know, he would bite somebody. It's just boys, it's normal behavior. That's so helpful. Thank you, doctor. Yeah. What should I do here? And then about the time he was four, he started doing this like rapid. 16:07 I blinking. What is, what is going on? So I took him to the doctor and it's just allergies, give him some Zyrtec. And so we spent a little time with Zyrtec, which made his behaviors 9,000 times worse. Um, yeah, it was, it was a fun time. mean, great kid, but we just, it's like, it was this, we figure something out and then something else would happen. we're what, what's going on here? 16:32 And so about the time he was six, we had gone on this amazing fun family trip to Disneyland. So he was six, my other son was four, it was like the perfect time to go to Disneyland. We had a blast, like we ate donuts and drank chocolate milk and we had so much fun. But we got home and the next day he was jerking his neck and clapping his hands and blinking rapidly and he could not control his bodily movements. And we were terrified as parents. were Googling. 17:00 We were making videos, we were calling the pediatrician getting in as soon as we possibly could. And we were really just beside ourselves about what is happening? What is this behavior going on? And so suddenly, now I can look back and know that it wasn't sudden because I can see that all of these little things he had experienced through life are what led up to this moment where I'm like, it's like your pot's getting ready to boil over and you can't see it and you're chopping onions and you're feeding the dog and you turn around and the pot's like. 17:30 This is what it was for us. It was like all of these little things that were just kind of making that pot boil up until there was an explosion. Yeah. Well, it's also, think, in the same vein when you're progressing in life, that same thing happens to us too, where we're like, we don't notice our changes until we look back and we're like, oh, wow, everything's different. So I can, I think there's a lot of ways to relate to that. But especially when you have a child, 17:57 I would imagine you see them every day. some of the things you just like, like, oh, they've always been doing that, or maybe they haven't. And it's very common there. So you, I don't know how you, did you panic? I would have panicked. We panicked. Okay. We were full panic mode. mean, my husband was Googling and watching YouTube videos and we were like, what is going on? Right. Which is that a good thing? Do we feel like that's a good thing now looking back? To have Google? 18:26 to have all those? It is and it isn't. You know, I see so many parents that I'm working with now that go down the Google rabbit hole and it's like, Dr. Google is their answer. But when they come to me, I realize now that so much information that we're pulling off the internet, Google, AI, whatever the case may be at this point is maybe not correct or incomplete or not correct for that individual person when we start to really look how it applies. And so 18:55 I think that it can also feed that panic even more because then you're looking at all the bad news and the gloom and doom and you're like, ah my gosh, there's no hope. Yeah, very often when you doctor Google it, it's not the best case scenario that they start with. So you're just immediately down a spiral. And that's kind of why I ask, because I think it's the first thing that everyone does when something's wrong. And as good as it is to have information at your fingertips, it can also, like you said, 19:26 fuel that panic and oh, and that's not healthy for you as a person and a mother and trying to take care of someone else. It's not great that it could hurt you in that way as well. Like, what do we do now? Yeah, so we went to the doctor. The doctor said, oh, it's just an ear infection. We're going to give you some antibiotics. But if nothing changes, come back in a week. So of course, like we an ear infection? Just an ear infection, Matt. Come on. It's just an ear infection. 19:55 Is this all the same doctor that you went to? it is not. We had moved, we had been to several different doctors, but I will say the child had had chronic ear infections. We had done tons of antibiotics. He had had ear tubes put in. It was a whole thing. So was like, okay, it's just an ear infection. But when the symptoms of him jerking and shaking and clapping didn't subside, we, of course, were even more terrified. So we went back and he's like, 20:23 You know what, we're gonna call this a neurological tick disorder and I'm thinking, oh my God, what is a neurological tick disorder? What is happening? He goes, don't worry about it, it's not a reason to worry, it's not a reason to panic, just ignore it and hopefully he'll grow out of it. But if he doesn't, then come back and we'll give you some medications to try and tamp the symptoms down. But in the meantime, we're gonna send you to the neurologist. So of course, we go home and start Googling. Oh my, what is a? 20:52 tick disorder and it's like, oh, it's the precursor to Tourette's and Tourette's is genetic and we're like, dear Lord, how did this child get Tourette's? None of us have Tourette's. What is going on? And our neurologist was even less than helpful because basically no MRI, no blood work, no nothing. Basically, laid on the floor, my son laid on the floor. The neurologist looked at him and goes, you know, I think he just needs a good spanking. 21:23 That's really helpful. Yeah. That was the life shift. Yeah. That was the catalyst for me saying, no, that is not helpful. I'm not spanking a child who simply just cannot control his bodily movements. Like, that isn't happening. Were you that calm when you responded? um I just kind of like looked at him and I was like, uh, okay, well, okay. 21:50 And then he's like, make a follow-up appointment for six months. And so we walked out of there and I said, nope, I'm going to go back to school and relearn everything I thought I knew about health and wellness to try and help this kid because after eight prescriptions, 10 doctors, nothing was working. I had to make the shift. yeah. And that's a very uh interesting response from a medical doctor to... 22:19 say something like that. it's, that's really overwhelming to me that someone would even have the gall to say that. It's not the 1970s when that was a thing. Like you just spank a kid and that cures everything. And then we learned that that's not maybe the best way. And now he's saying this. I don't know how you didn't just call him all sorts of names to his face. 22:48 Well, I thought about it and that sometimes is my MO, but I think I was so shocked in the moment that that was the solution that I couldn't wrap my mind around until I got home and I was like, what in the heck? Like, no, it's not gonna happen. But do you think it was more after the shock wore off, more of an inspiration or more of like a defeated feeling that like the people we should be relying on for help in these 23:18 issues should be helping. I feel like for me, it was absolutely an inspiration because I knew like in my mama's soul, I knew like something else was going on and that was not a constructive piece of advice at all. I was like, well, that's not happening. And I'll just say he does not have a medical license anymore. Not my fault, but if he doesn't do that not surprised. Me neither. 23:47 Yeah, no, I ask that because I don't know, I think these are the systems and the institutions that at least growing up we were conditioned that these are the answer lies with them. It is and I will say that I think for those of us who, know, 70s, 80s, 90s, like, 24:09 That is how we were raised. Like your doctor had the answers. You went to the doctor, they had the answers. You got the pill, you got the shot. They were the ones that you trusted the most. They were the ones who were gonna make you better and they had the answers. And I think that it was really eye-opening for me in this process to see that they didn't all have the answers and many of them weren't willing to dig deeper, investigate, hold my hand. 24:37 to help us find the answers. It was like, eh, just ignore it. Do you think any of that is related to fear of any kind of malpractice lawsuit where some of these doctors were just pushing you off because they don't want or they're just lazy? Or do you think there was anything related to that? Because I know that some people have experienced where the doctor just doesn't want to try something a little outside of the box because they're afraid they're going to get their hand slapped or a lawsuit or something like that. 25:08 You know, I have said all along that like we can't fault them for what they have been taught in some areas. And so really the conventional approach... Okay. I'll do it for you. I'll give you that. Thank you. So, you know, a lot of them, what they're taught in medical school is this idea that... 25:29 Tick disorders are purely neurological. They're just neurological. And when we look at how conventional medicine is designed, so it's very reductionist, meaning like you have your podiatrist and you have your gastro-neurologist and you have your neurologist. They never communicate with each other. They don't talk to each other. It's not like your neurologist and your gastro are like, oh, here's the reasons that this person's having this anxiety. know, their gut's a mess and they're having, you know, all of these issues. And so when we look in it from that reductionist theory that we have all these specialists, neurologists, 25:59 aren't taught about like what's going on in the gut, what's going on with the immune system really, they're really looking at what's simply going on in the nervous system in the brain. And so we also know that what is taught in medical school usually takes 30 years to actual or what is studied now takes about 30 years to be taught in medical school. So, you know, these new studies that we're seeing in the last 20 years on ticks and Tourette's aren't really being taught in medical school yet because 26:27 Somebody has to vet it. Someone has to make sure that, you know, it's reliable data. Someone has to write the textbook. So we're so behind in the medical education in certain areas because it just wasn't previously looked at this way. Fair. Well, you are much kinder considering all of the crap that you had to deal with. I think that that's just unacceptable. And it's nice of you to give them that little nudge. 26:57 Yeah, I think there are, but on the other side, I think there are doctors out there that are very well connected with new research and thinking about these things and really thinking in a holistic way and will reach out to other more specific doctor, you know, like others in their certain practices to kind of figure those out. So there are some out there that I think that doing it. There's tons of them out there and more every day. And I have a good, great support system of colleagues who are out there doing it, you know, 27:27 the holistic functional way. But I think like just from that old school mentality when we started out, it was a different place. All right. Well, I went right to the litigious piece. So you know me, true American. but so so you got you have your your fashion degree. You've had years of industry experience there. Then you worked in a nonprofit. And now you're like, no, I'm going to figure out this health and wellness thing so I can help my son. 27:56 So did you jump two feet in, whole body in? I jumped two feet in and I stayed in for several years. you know, I really started looking at the functional medicine approach to health and looking at all of these different ways that we could look at the body and look at the health and look at how everything is connected. So I started out getting a certification from functional diagnostic nutrition. 28:23 And it was really another big shift for me. And it was this catalyst for, my gosh, this is so eye-opening that I want to keep learning. And this is where I decided that I was going to go earn my PhD in holistic medicine and holistic nutrition. you know, I had looked at, well, can I go to medical school? Do I want to be an MD? And in the back of my head, I really decided that wasn't the place for me because 28:51 That approach had failed us and I knew that it was time to try something different. So I really went the holistic medicine approach, but looking at it from the scientific perspective. So it was a PhD for me. Yeah. No, mean, that's big too. I mean, how old were you, if you don't mind me asking at the time? Ooh, 37, 35-ish as I started working on it. Yeah, I mean, that's big lift as someone that's not 20. 29:20 I feel like so many of us that went to college around college, quote unquote college age, it's just part of the process of growing up. Whereas now this is like intentional approach. And so did you find it difficult to get back in that or because it was so interesting to you, it was more of like, give me more, give me more. It was for me, give me more, give me more. And I'll tell you, I had two little kids at the time, but it was give me more, give me more because I... 29:49 It was so much information that I hadn't known before, but it was things that I could start applying with my son, you know, to make shifts and make changes and like really start to connect the dots. Was it scary to make that first like, oh, I learned this, let's try it? Or was that like, let's just try everything and see what works? I am an experimenter at heart. I am a scientist at heart. And you know, to be honest, I didn't know that when I was a kid that I was a scientist at heart. And I can look back now and think, I can see some connection. 30:17 But it wasn't until I really got into this on the other side that I was like, oh, I am a scientist at heart. Let's try this. Let's experiment. So like, you know, for example, I said to one of our doctors, you know, what about diet? You does diet matter? I read on the internet, no, Oh no. Diet doesn't matter. He can eat whatever he wants to eat. Diet just does not matter. That just sounds wrong. I'm like, let's try this. And so we started doing gluten-free, dairy-free, low sugar. 30:46 And yes, that was one of the very impactful things for him. There were many, but one of the impactful things. And so now, even now, he's 20 years old. I asked him the other day, like, what do you think is one of the most triggering things for you? And he was like, oh, for me, sugar and gluten and dairy. Yeah. So he can tell you, diet matters. Yeah. No, I had a friend who has, I guess, if that's the terminology, has Tourette's. she was like, I'm, this is... 31:15 I don't want to live with these ticks. It's fine, but I don't want to live with it. And so she did like some biohacking and got her certain, she checked her DNA and then figured out what supplements she needs and did all these things. And now she has none unless she's in a really, really stressful situation. And you're like, wow, that sounds so quote unquote simple, but very difficult because we're humans and it's hard to break a pattern and change things. But it sounds like you were like, 31:46 We're gonna not fix your son because there's nothing to fix, but rather help him live a better life without some of these ticks and whatnot, true? Yeah, absolutely. know, it was really about, you know, we couldn't go to a movie without him. You know, he would clear his throat. So it was difficult to like go to a movie or we'd go to dinner and people would stare at him. And it was like... 32:11 how can we help this kid live a better life, whether we can get rid of symptoms, all of them, or they're more manageable, whatever the case may be. But when I started out, it was simply to help my son. I wanted to figure out how to help my son. And it wasn't until we got to the other side, where we are now, that I was like, oh, I can help other people through this process. Yeah. So as you're starting to... 32:37 We'll get to that in second. I was curious, just like as you're starting to build up this knowledge base, all this information's in your head, you're trying stuff, it's working with your son, what are you seeing in yourself that's changing? Because you say you're quite different than before. What do you feel is most significant there? Yeah, you know, so many things started to change for me. One, I would say it gave me a greater belief in myself and my ability and capacity to do things. 33:06 hard things for that matter. So, you know, it's not easy. So, you know, gave me a better belief in myself, but I started making changes too because I didn't want him to have to have these changes alone. So like, I took out gluten from my diet. I tested my genetics and, know, because he had seen so much progress as we started to work through it, I'm like, well, I'm going to work with myself at the same time. I had had lifelong anxiety. I mean, lifelong where I just thought, 33:34 It's part of who I was. I had gone to the health clinic in college and said, oh, I'm just having these issues. And they were like, oh, you have anxiety. Let me give you some drugs. And of course, that didn't help. And I just chalked it up to this is who I am. I'm anxious. I don't want people looking at me. I'm afraid people are going to kidnap me. That was just my personality. When I made these changes for myself, it was absolutely life changing. Really? Yeah. Knowing the anxiety is gone and the stress of like, 34:03 people looking at me and feeling like people are gonna kidnap me, like all of this paranoia and anxiety and things that I had experienced my whole life, which I could probably then turn around and blame on all this trauma, really had so much of a basis in the nutrition and the diet and everything that I was doing, environment that I was doing on a daily basis. Is it weird to meet a new version of yourself? It's so awesome to meet a new version of yourself, I think, because... 34:31 I think humans are always changing and we can change for the worse or we can change for the better. And I just think it's so cool to like, one, watch yourself evolve, but two, watch other people evolve as well. Do you notice it in the moment or are you someone that needs like time passes and then you look back like we were talking about and go, oh, dang. I think it's a little bit of both, but maybe leaning more towards I'm going to look back and be like, oh, dang, because I'm one of those people who doesn't celebrate my wins very well. 35:01 Like, don't be like, woohoo, I did it. It's like, okay, what's next? Got it, next, gotta do the next thing. Yeah, that's, I mean, it's hard. I think I'm more of the latter as well. think I'm trying now at 44 to celebrate all the little things, like small milestones, big ones, achievements, screw ups, know, like things like that. I think now I'm kind of in that space, but I'm not really like... 35:31 I don't notice when things have changed until I'm like way down the road. So I'm not like in the moment, but I'm not also doing what you were doing, which was actually making intentional changes on a regular basis. Yeah. And you know, I feel like I tell clients all the time because we're this instant gratification society, right? Like we want it now. We want it yesterday, but 35:57 It's really critical to realize that all of those small wins end up these big wins at the end. And you have to be able to look back at those small wins and be like, oh, I did this and I did this and I did this. And oh my gosh, that's why I feel so much better today. Or that's why this is so much different today. Yeah. And I also think that for people that are used to doing really well, 36:21 I think it's hard to look at the big goal without remembering that you have to take all the tiny steps. And I think there's a lot of people out there that are like, I wish I could do this. And on the surface, you can, but you don't because you're like, oh my God, it's so far away. I can't even imagine getting there. How am I going to get there? But if we do the little small things and break it down into incremental changes, over time, we're suddenly on that mountain. 36:50 but it is really hard to see these big dreams and go, I can do that. Yeah, I think it is. I, know, some people just get so overwhelmed with a thought that they look at the whole package instead of like, ooh, if I just start here. Are you a, do you do that now? I'm better about it, I will say. Maybe not in every instance, but I'm definitely better about looking at like, okay, how can I make this little tweak or little change? What's a big goal that right now you're intentionally making little changes to do? 37:19 Yeah, you know, my big goal right now is really to help more people with their tics and Tourette's than I am doing right now. It's really to expand that because I see all of these families, these parents in these Facebook groups, you know, on the internet, Googling, and they're looking for solutions. And at some point, I can really see that they do more trauma bonding. So they're talking to other parents that are like, oh, my kid has this, my kid has that. But they're never coming up with solutions. And I'm like, 37:49 Hi, we can help you. can do these things. science. Yeah, we have science that can help us with that now. Do you have a number on that? A number of people more than you have now or a certain percentage that might help you feel successful? Just helping you try to celebrate the wins. Do you have like, I want to help 50 % more by this date? I would love to help 50 % more. So at this point, we have helped hundreds, like over the 500 mark all over the world with their tics and turrets. 38:17 But yeah, mean, I would love to do 5,000. I would love to do 10,000. We're putting in the show notes. We're going to come back and hold you to it. Let's do it. deadline? OK. I love it. Yeah, no, think it's sometimes we're just like, I want to help more. And so that's why I was like, is there a number in your head? Do you have a tracker? Not that that's the final destination, but it is a marker for some of us that don't celebrate ourselves as much as we should. 38:45 Absolutely. by you meeting that goal, it just means you've helped that many more people, which fills your cup, I'm assuming. Does it drain your cup as well? It can be. It can be draining because I went from one kid with a tic disorder to hundreds of kids with a tic disorder. And, you know, I have parents who are like me. And so because they're like me, they're easy, easily manageable. But we have parents that, you know, get 39:13 easily overwhelmed, they have a hard time making the adjustments. And so that can be a little bit stressful because they come to you with your overwhelm and I'm, you know, more of an empath. So I can feed off of that. But I say there's two types of parents. There's a rip the bandaid off parent like me that's like, we're just gonna do it and we're gonna make these changes. And then you have the parent that's like, I got to peel it off real slow. And we're gonna do this real slow. And that's okay. And you have to consider your kid in that are they rip the bandaid off or are they like, oh my gosh, go slow? 39:43 But yeah, it can be a little bit draining. It's incredibly rewarding, but it's also draining at the same time. Yeah. I was thinking of this journey that you put yourself on, one, to enrich your life, but also to enrich your son's life. At what point in that journey were you like, maybe I can help other people? Was there an impetus for, let me venture into that? Because it's one thing if you're learning it all, you 40:13 fix, not fix, help yourself, but also to enrich your son's life. So was there a moment? So the moment actually didn't come from me. The moment actually came from a friend and we were talking and she was really talking about how much my son had changed and all of the things we had done. And she said, why aren't you helping other people do this? And I was like, I don't know. She was like, you should help other people do this. So then I started to really investigate. 40:43 how many other people are out there dealing with this? So then I started getting in all those Facebook groups and looking at all this stuff. And I was astounded at how many people are struggling with this. And we're all being told the same thing. Ignore it, just run out of it. Maybe we'll give you some meds. Oh yeah. Very, very much still. That's just the common solution is you get diagnosed by the pediatrician. The pediatrician sends you to the neurologist. The neurologist just looks at your kid. It's just observational and says, oh, just ignore it, though. We're out of it or we'll give you some meds. 41:13 But the research on the meds is really disheartening because you have parents who go in there with this hope that they're like, oh, we're gonna get these meds and it's gonna just take care of everything and it's gonna go back to normal. And then you go home and it's like, wah, wah, wah, not happening because the meds, it's, know, Cincinnati Children's Hospital tells us the meds for ticks do not cure ticks. Most of them are prescribed off label. 41:39 Most of them do not reduce symptoms more than 50%. So your symptoms are still going to be obvious to others. But the best part is that one of the major side effects for people can be uncontrollable body movements. Why are we giving meds with uncontrollable body movement side effects to people with uncontrollable body movements? It makes no sense. Yeah. Yeah. That's really challenging. Or you give them Zyrtec and they get 1,000 times worse. 42:08 Exactly. Yeah, that's terrible. Was your son's story and your quote unquote success with his journey and the way that he's able to live his life now, was that part of the story or part of your organization so that people was it like a proof of concept? Was it a something that would help other people relate to you in that way other than being like another doctor that they've gone to? 42:35 You know, it absolutely was a relatable thing and I think it still very much is relatable. You know, I made a Facebook post today that was like, my son turned 20 last week. This is where we were. This is where we are now. And I think it makes it so much more relatable, but that moms can come to me and feel like they have hope and some comfort because I've been through it. But the cool thing is, is, you know, most of the people on my team that work for me, their kids have been through the program now. And so they can really speak to the fact that 43:06 doing these things and making these changes makes such a difference in these kids' lives. Yeah, I think there's something about, again, power of story that helps people trust more. And this is not to say anything, but I think the general public looks at functional medicine or holistic things still with a little bit of, it's woo-woo, or it's, you know, like it's... 43:35 It's kind of like outside the norm, even though it shouldn't be and it really isn't. But at the same time, I think that that's why power of story is so important. And now you have the education to back that up. So that's kind of where that that question came from. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, I tell people all the time, you know, people hear the word holistic and they think that I'm going to sage them and my crystals on them. And it's a whole thing. And I'm like. 44:03 Let me explain it to you in this way. We are using science, so we're looking at actual data coming from your child's body to connect all of their body systems. You know, we learn in biology in eighth grade that, you know, you have a nervous system and an immune system and a digestive system, but you never are spoken to about how they're connected. And so for us, it's like we're looking at holistic, we're looking at that whole connection. How are all these systems working together? And I'm not going to rub my crystals on you and say, 44:32 If that's what you wanted, I'm really sorry. Well, yeah, and it's kind of like a misnomer in a way, or though actually what people believe holistic means, it's not real. They're not like because of the mainstream news and information like that. It's kind of for sure not releasing what you're actually doing for their brains, I guess. I don't know where where that sentence came from, but it certainly was all around the all around the mountain here. 45:02 Yeah, no, I think that what you're doing is so... 45:08 important because I can imagine how many parents, single parents, married parents, that are so, they're losing their identity as well because they're trying to help their child through whatever's impacting their lives. it's like you're helping two tiers of people. You're helping the child. 45:33 but now you're also changing the lives of the parents. Is that kind of how you see your work or? You are so right on and it's such a valid point that we get in the thick of this as parents and we, you lose your identity because you become the care, you're the caregiver. You're the one in charge of like making the changes and researching and figuring it all out. And there's a graduate study that looks at parents whose kids are diagnosed with a chronic illness. 46:04 And basically what it says is that 50 % of parents studied felt a sense of grief and loss when their child was diagnosed. And for me, the hard part is nobody passed away, nobody died, we didn't lose anything, we still have to make the lunches and go to school and go to soccer practice and figure out how to navigate the chronic illness on top of all of the other things that we're doing. So it really is a valid concept that these parents lose their identity and what we're doing is helping everybody to get back on track. 46:33 And then I guess the grief would be similar to when people are like, well, now they can't do the things that I pictured in my mind's eye when they were born and their life is going to look different than that picture. But I don't think anyone's picture when a kid is born actually turns out to be true for any parent. No, absolutely not. And you know, my son, that is part of it because I was like, wow, he's never going to drive and he's never going to and he's 20 and he's 47:01 Driving and he's got a car and he just became the youngest firefighter on the university crew. That's awesome He's doing big things and so But we had to make all of the changes and the shifts along the way to get him to where he is now Yeah, and I mean now you're transitioning into this We'll just use the common term of empty nester in a way, right? And so that that's a different identity. Are you handling that? Well, I'm excited. Okay, I really am because 47:30 I feel like there's so much adventure still to be had. I'm young and healthy and if my kids are available for adventure and I want to take them with me, I can. But at this point, I can take my husband and my dog and do what I want. Because with my business, I can work from anywhere. Yeah, that's nice. And what made you write the book? So I wrote the book because I wanted parents to have a completely different perspective on ticks and torrents. 47:58 And I wanted it to be something that was easy for them to consume because I could have given them a textbook, but they're already overwhelmed. They don't have time to sit down and read 700 pages of scientific data when I can say, I'm a mom. This is my experience. This is what we're doing now. We're helping all of you get your kids back on track. Yeah. So was that before or after you started your company? I wrote the book after I started my company. OK. So you just saw that. 48:27 there was uh even more of a need for that. I mean, it's research, right? I feel like it's good target audience research with your. It absolutely was. With your organization. I'm always curious with these conversations. I have the same kind of question. And I'm wondering, like, this version of you, which just seems like you are filling your cup as often as you can with things that light you up. If you could talk to. 48:55 the piper that walked out after that neurologist said that all your son needed was a good spanking. Is there anything you would want to tell to her who was shell shocked as walking out that office door? Say, girl, there is hope out there. You can do it. It's not going to be an easy road. It's going to be stressful. Sometimes you are going to cry. Sometimes you are going to hide in your closet. But at the end of the road, you are going to be a brand new person and you're oh 49:24 Sun is going to be thriving and you can go out there and kick butt and do all of these things because you can do hard things. Yeah. And it sounds like when you mentioned when you walked out, you've left inspired. So it feels like that Piper would listen to you. Do you think so? I definitely think that Piper would listen to me because, you know, and I think the inspiration came from a place of hopelessness. Really, it was like, what do we do now? Like, there's no hope. OK, when there's no hope, I'm going to 49:54 figured it out for myself, just do it myself. Because you did as a kid too, everything that you were doing was to prove that you could do it yourself or to make you feel better because you could do it by yourself and didn't have to rely on other people. So I think you have that ingrained quality of like, I can figure this out. And you did, you crushed it. And now you're just helping so many people. And the ripple effect that that has too is immense. 50:22 Well, and yeah, and I think that's part of it is true. And, know, one of the reasons that I read the book so it can start people on a journey, but I'm also so passionate about teaching other practitioners and providers out there. And I do think that my story backs that experience up now that we've had, you know, 14 years of experience is when I go to these events and I'm teaching and I'm talking to other providers and practitioners. 50:48 I was just at a convention this weekend and someone said, what do you do? And I told them and she was like, I didn't know you could do anything about tickets and Tourette's. I was like, so this is where this misconception comes from. And it's really about educating the masses and the more providers we have that do what I do, the better off everyone's going to be. building bridges. Building bridges between the medical communities that are so siloed in a lot of cases, I think. 51:15 I think it's beautiful. You're changing the world, you know, and it's kind of sounds really big, but also at the same time, you're doing it person by person, right? And family by family. So thank you for what you're doing for the world because it's clearly very important. Thank you. I really appreciate that. So thank you. So I'm sure there are people listening that have someone in their life that might need your services or might need to read your book or might just want to reach out to you and bother you with, not bother you. 51:45 to tell you their story and how your story resonated with them. So what's the best way to get in your orbit? How do people find Piper and see what you offer to the world? Yes, so you can find me on the internet. I'm at regenerating.health, not .com, it's .health, so just regenerating.health. I'm also regenerating health on Facebook and Instagram. We have a YouTube channel called Tick Disorder Secrets. 52:14 We also have a private Facebook group called Tick Disorder Secrets, a Natural Approach, which is a community of parents whose kids are struggling as well. We get in there, we share recipes and stories and tips and tricks and all sorts of things. it really is community. Yeah, it's so important when you're facing things that not everyone understands as well. 52:36 Yeah, no, I love that. We'll put all the links for easy access in the show notes. So no worries if you're listening, you didn't have to jot all that down. It will be in the show notes. Just open that part and just click it. And thank you for just coming on this journey that I call the Life Shift Podcast because it just, every little one heals a little part of me. So thank you. 52:58 Thank you, Matt. That was really a very cathartic experience. I really loved speaking to you and sharing my story. And when we started, we were like, we don't know where this is going to go. But it was awesome. I think it's really important to give voice to our stories. Both you and I did not do that growing up. 53:22 And I'm sure that for both of us, it shaped us into this version of us or some elements of why we do the things we do or whatever that may come. And so I hope that anyone listening, if you have a story inside of you, which you probably do, but if you have something that you feel shame around or you feel something that's a little overwhelming, put it to words, whether that's writing it or saying it out loud to someone you trust or because for me, 53:51 So many of the things, and you kind of alluded to this earlier when you were like your friends, were like, how do you say that so easily? When I put some of the stuff that was in my head and in my body for so long out of my mouth in words, everything felt a little bit more palatable. It didn't feel like it was my fault or I should be holding shame. And so I just challenge everyone listening, if there's something, share it in some way or get it out of your head into words. 54:19 whether that's writing or listening, would you agree? Absolutely, a million percent would agree with that because even if, for me, like, even if I go outside and I just speak it out into the air, into the world, you know, there's something healing in that. There's something that gets it out of your head and helps you have a different perspective. Yeah. I always am like, everything's like a big swirl mess inside my head when I'm thinking of something or stressing about something. 54:48 And then I'll write it down or put it in a social media post for the world to read my stress. And I'm like, oh, well, I guess that's not that bad. It sounds much worse swirling around in my head. So I really appreciate you wanting to let it all out. I'm sure you've said a lot of these words before, but I hope that some parts of it will help you moving down the line as well, Piper. Thank you so much for having me. And I really enjoyed sharing my story and talking to you today. Well, I appreciate that. 55:17 And you would think after 220 episodes, I would know how to end these things, but I still haven't figured that one out. So I would like to say thank you to all of you listening for all of these episodes, all these years. It has been really truly a joy, and it will continue to be. And I will be back next week with a brand new episode of the LifeShift Podcast. Thanks again, Piper. Thank you. 55:50 For more information, please visit www.thelifeshiftpodcast.com