Charlyn Manuel
Episode 160

Narrator: Welcome friends to another episode of The Story & Experience podcast. Join your host, Japhet De Oliveira, with his guest today. And discover the moments that shape us, our families, and communities.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, welcome friends to another episode of The Story & Experience podcast. I'm delighted to be here in person in Roseville with our guest today, and delighted for you to actually meet them.

So if you're brand new to the podcast, we have 100 questions. They become progressively more vulnerable and open closer to 100. And they're about stories and experiences that shape this person into the leader that they are today. So let me begin with the first 10, and then I'll hand over to you. Can I ask you your name and does anybody ever mispronounce it?

Charlyn Manuel: Oh, yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: Ha-ha.

Charlyn Manuel: That's a great starter. So my name is Charlyn. My name is often mispronounced. It's usually because of the way that it's spelled. So it's easy to get the C and the H to make the ch sound rather than the sh. If that makes-

Japhet De Oliveira: The sh sound.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: So how do they say it instead?

Charlyn Manuel: So sometimes it's Charlin, or sometimes it can be Chair, Chairlyn. So I-

Japhet De Oliveira: Truly, I would never have guessed. I would never guess. Charcoal. I would never actually, I would never guess.

Charlyn Manuel: Exactly, honestly. And then I don't have the heart to correct anybody so that my name could be Charcoal to anybody.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, dear. But you go by Char most times?

Charlyn Manuel: Yes, definitely.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right.

Charlyn Manuel: It's a little bit easier to introduce myself, as well as for everyone else to remember.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. Now, Char, what do you do for work?

Charlyn Manuel: Yes. So I am a pharmacy technician here at the Fortify Market Pharmacy that's just downstairs at our beautiful Roseville campus.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, nice, nice. And what do you do? What does that mean?

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah. So as a pharmacy technician, so I am basically filling medications and everything like that. And then assisting my awesome pharmacy team and all of our... I was debating between saying all of our patients, and then it dawned on me that I was trying to say everyone.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's nice.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's so good. That's a good job. Well, everyone.

Charlyn Manuel: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: You do. You do. You take care of a lot of people. That's fantastic.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah. I deal with so many people day in and day out. So a lot of the time, I get kind of a... Sometimes, I don't know if I'm talking to just a friend or a coworker. They all feel like family to me now.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic.

Charlyn Manuel: So yeah. Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: People love meeting you. So it's great, it's great. You do a good job of that.

Charlyn Manuel: That's great to hear.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. No. Have you been doing this long?

Charlyn Manuel: Yes. So I would say I am about maybe, am I going to say almost nine years into this industry now?

Japhet De Oliveira: Really?

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. And what drew you into it?

Charlyn Manuel: So when I was growing up, my family is very medical-based or healthcare career based. So a lot of the careers that my family went into was mostly nursing. And so for me, personally, I'm not very good around blood or anything like that.

Japhet De Oliveira: Good to know. All right.

Charlyn Manuel: So I went into pharmacy because I like to help people, but I also like to keep that boundary, if that makes sense.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes, it does. It does. I would have done the same thing. That's okay. That's okay. All right. So, Char, where were you born?

Charlyn Manuel: I was born in the Bay Area. I was born in Hayward, California, which is in the East Bay.

Japhet De Oliveira: And did you grow up there as well?

Charlyn Manuel: I did. I spent a lot of my life in the East Bay. So I was born in Hayward, and then I was mostly raised in Fremont, California. And I've just bounced my way around. The last place that I stayed before I left the Bay Area completely was in Campbell, which was South Bay.

Japhet De Oliveira: Now, when you were a child, did you imagine you would grow up in pharmacy? Or was this nursing thing really a kind of pull? Or was it something else? What did you imagine you wanted to grow up to be?

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah. As a child, I think I had really big dreams.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay, like?

Charlyn Manuel: I think I mostly wanted to do media, so either singing or acting or dancing. It's something that I had the most fun doing growing up.

Japhet De Oliveira: And do you do those three things now?

Charlyn Manuel: I mean, just kind of.

Japhet De Oliveira: Act, sing, and dance?

Charlyn Manuel: Just by myself in my bathroom. So I have a very professional career at home. But no, it's mostly pharmacy work now as an adult.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right. Just wondering. Just wondering if you were singing in the office or you know. That's good. That's good. Hey, that's fantastic.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Tell me personality, if people were to describe you, would they say, Char, that you are an introvert? Or an extrovert? And would you agree with them?

Charlyn Manuel: Oh, man. I would probably say I would be more on the extroverted side. I have a lot of introverted moments. I think that I see it mostly, but that's because when I see it, I'm by myself when I notice it.

But we actually had this little gathering for my birthday last month. And my awesome manager, Mandy, she had everyone in the room go around and say something nice about me. And something that came up a lot was that I was cheerful. I was positive and on occasion, very loud.

Japhet De Oliveira: Well, I've not seen that, but you have definitely... Patients come to see you. I am a patient there at the pharmacy.

Charlyn Manuel: Oh, yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: And you guys, you're fantastic. Yeah.

Charlyn Manuel: Oh, thank you.

Japhet De Oliveira: No, that's really good. It's really good.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, that's good. Now tell me, are you an early riser or a late night owl?

Charlyn Manuel: Oh, I'm definitely a late night owl.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. And what's the late night mean?

Charlyn Manuel: Oh. So I would-

Japhet De Oliveira: Confession time.

Charlyn Manuel: Right, yeah. So I know I'm here at this pharmacy, bright and early at 9:00 AM but none of you know I'm here. I'm up that night until maybe 11L00 or 12:00.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Charlyn Manuel: But yeah. So it's actually something that me and my husband talk about all the time. We're polar opposites. He is up at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning, and I can go as late as 12:00, 1:00, 2:00 depending on-

Japhet De Oliveira: Trains passing.

Charlyn Manuel: So sometimes I just like to hear the trains go on at 4:00 in the morning.

Japhet De Oliveira: Fair enough, fair enough. Now, when you got up this morning, first thought that went through your mind today?

Charlyn Manuel: First thought that went through my mind today was, what is my son going to wear for school?

Japhet De Oliveira: Very practical. Very practical.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah, definitely.

Japhet De Oliveira: Does he pick his own clothes now? Or?

Charlyn Manuel: I would say sometimes. I still have to be the one that looks through the weather and make sure he's picking something weather appropriate. But I have gotten good at being able to pick up two things and asking him, "Hey, what do you feel like wearing today?"

Japhet De Oliveira: But isn't always 100 degrees in Roseville?

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: I mean, I feel like.

Charlyn Manuel: That's so true. We had that little dip in the temperature the last couple of weeks and I was like, "Oh, it's time to bring out the hoodies and the jackets."

Japhet De Oliveira: No, no.

Charlyn Manuel: But no, not this week. Not at all.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, joy. Oh, joy. Hey, it's all good actually. It really, it pulls us all through the thing. Now in the morning when you get up, having gone to bed like midnight or so, what's your first drink of the day? Do you have tea, coffee, liquid green smoothie, water? What do you do?

Charlyn Manuel: I've tried to make it a habit to actually drink water as my first drink of the day. I think I have had a lot of trouble trying to stay hydrated a lot of the time, and especially I've noticed it out here once it got really hot.

In the Bay Area, it didn't really bother me too much if I was a little bit dehydrated. But out here because we're trying to maintain your hydration and stay cool throughout the day, I figured it was important to make it a habit to be the first thing I drank and the last thing I drank, and to keep it consistent throughout the day.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great. Good for you. Good for you. All right, here's a leadership question now.

Charlyn Manuel: Sure.

Japhet De Oliveira: Are you a backseat driver?

Charlyn Manuel: Am I a backseat driver? I would say so, yes. I think there are times where I do feel like I should kind of take the wheel. But I am okay with being the backseat driver, if that makes sense.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes, yes. Everybody interprets it differently, so that's fantastic to hear.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah. I think that if I can steer for an hour, if we're taking a road trip and someone wants to take over, I'm more than okay with it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right, that's good. That's good. No worries. No worries. Okay. Floor is open. Where would you like to go?

Charlyn Manuel: Sure.

Japhet De Oliveira: Which number?

Charlyn Manuel: Let's see.

Japhet De Oliveira: And we'll go there.

Charlyn Manuel: What number are we starting from again?

Japhet De Oliveira: From 11 to 100.

Charlyn Manuel: 11 to 100. Let's go with 33.

Japhet De Oliveira: 33. All right, here it is. Tell us about the best gift you've ever given someone else.

Charlyn Manuel: Oh, that's a great question. The best gift I've ever given somebody else. There's so many. I try to pride myself on being someone that's very, very thoughtful when it comes to giving gifts.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great.

Charlyn Manuel: And I think that, oh, gosh, what is the most? I would say that the best gift that I've ever given to someone was actually my son's birthday gift last year. Me and my husband and I pitched in for his first trip to Disneyland.

Japhet De Oliveira: Ooh, wow. Yes.

Charlyn Manuel: And he was very much kind of prepping for it a lot throughout the year. He had favorite movies that he liked on his Disney Plus account, and it was just amazing to see how his eyes lit up and how his attitude was.

I mean, I didn't see a frown at all that weekend, so it's just rewarding. I think any gift that I can give to my son where it makes a memory for me is the most rewarding gift.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. And the anticipation as well, building up to it.

Charlyn Manuel: Oh, yeah, because even he didn't really know what to expect. It was his first trip, and so I was trying to get him excited. I was showing him videos of rides, but it really didn't sink in for him until we got there. And it was so hard for him to leave.

Japhet De Oliveira: But he was willing to go?

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: You guys left and he said, "I should go."

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah. And he also was just kind of like, "I'm tired of walking around for four days straight, I think I'm ready to lay down."

Japhet De Oliveira: Do you think you guys will go back?

Charlyn Manuel: Hopefully. That is the plan. I don't really have plans for it this year, but we're thinking sometime next year.

Japhet De Oliveira: Nice. Nice. That's fantastic. All right, that was 33. Where next?

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah, let's do 46.

Japhet De Oliveira: 46. All right. Tell us about the best book you've ever read.

Charlyn Manuel: Oh, the best book I've ever read. So I have been reading, I actually read and reread it. It released sometime last year. It's a book of poems, but it is called She by Robert M. Drake. And it's basically a book about, it's filled with quotes and short, what's the word for it? They're poems, but they're not exactly poems, if that makes sense.

Japhet De Oliveira: Sure. Is there a particular type of poem that they are?

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah. It's more so things that you would kind of open up to. And it's not a book that you read forward to back or anything like that. It's kind of a book that you read and open up and whatever you were looking for that day, it just speaks to you on the page that you find some days.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah. So I would say that that's something that has been drawing most to me. Just because I haven't really had the time as a parent to sit down and read through any novels or anything like that. But that's just something that I would say helps a lot.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. Hey, that's beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. Good. And it is complex as a parent, right? Juggling time?

Charlyn Manuel: Oh, yes, definitely.

Japhet De Oliveira: Trying to get your things done?

Charlyn Manuel: Oh, yeah. That late night thing comes from, I mean, it comes from habit as a teenager. But it also comes from, by the time my kid's asleep, it is maybe those last two to three hours where I have to myself, where I can just-

Japhet De Oliveira: Silence.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Yes. And not that I love, I love a good noisy house, but some days it's just nice to enjoy the quiet. Definitely.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. That's good. All right, that was 46. So where next?

Charlyn Manuel: Let's move it up to 54.

Japhet De Oliveira: 54. All right. If your life were a book, what would this chapter be called? Can you unpack it for us?

Charlyn Manuel: Oh, wow. Let's see. What would this chapter be called? Oh, this would be the end of an era. The end of a decade.

Japhet De Oliveira: The end of a decade. All right.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah, we're nearing the end of it. And I would say to just unpack it, it would probably be the point in my life where I feel like I've reached the comfortability of adulthood, but there's still many moments where I still feel like childlike, if that makes sense.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, that is. That is. We should never lose that though, right?

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah. I think so.

Japhet De Oliveira: The curiosity.

Charlyn Manuel: Definitely much so after that Disneyland trip we took with Luke. Honestly, I look at that kind of wonder and I want to look at the world the same way as much as I can.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's really good. A good encouragement for all of us. All right, where next?

Charlyn Manuel: Let's see. Let's move it to 62.

Japhet De Oliveira: 62. All right. What does a sense of community mean to you, Char?

Charlyn Manuel: Oh, wow. Yeah. So a sense of community to me just means people that come together, that really try to understand each other. I think that's something important and that's something that is sometimes lacking in other communities. But I feel like if we do our best to understand each other, then I feel like the effort to make that community is more felt, if that makes sense.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Have you always had a strong community around you?

Charlyn Manuel: Oh, yeah. So as growing up, those cities that I told you earlier, Fremont actually used to be a much smaller city than it is now. It's big in tech and everything like that. And it's been built up over the last, oh, my gosh, over the last 20 years.

But I remember being able to go outside and I knew the names of all my neighbors on that same street. And I've known the same mail people and things like that. And just things like that, that kind of accumulate through my life, I feel like is something that has always brought a sense of community to me.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. Beautiful. Beautiful. All right, good. Where next?

Charlyn Manuel: Oh, okay. Let's do 74.

Japhet De Oliveira: 74. Oh, what gives you hope?

Charlyn Manuel: What gives me hope?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Charlyn Manuel: Oh, wow. That's a broad one.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, it is big.

Charlyn Manuel: Definitely.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Charlyn Manuel: What gives me hope is honestly, I would say maybe the next generation. I know my generation did what we could, but I've seen-

Japhet De Oliveira: Did you really? No, I'm kidding.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

Charlyn Manuel: I did my best and I made my contribution.

Japhet De Oliveira: It's over.

Charlyn Manuel: But I don't know. I've just seen a lot of things from my own family, the generational gap, that they're so willing to improve a lot on. They know what they want to do with their careers a lot earlier in life.

I feel like they know who they are a lot earlier in life. And I feel like that's the type of attitude to have to make a big difference. And so that's what gives me hope. And I hope that my son, any future of my kids will be a part of that as well.

Japhet De Oliveira: Beautiful. Good. All right. All right. Where next?

Charlyn Manuel: 80. I'm trying to put numbers together that I haven't put together yet. 84.

Japhet De Oliveira: 84. All right. Where do you go? And this is really good for you. Char, where do you go to find peace?

Charlyn Manuel: Where do I go to find peace? That's a very good question. I would probably say, because now I'm thinking about where I felt the most peaceful in my life. I would probably say if we're speaking just solely location, I feel the most at peace on a beach. On a beach.

But the peace, I don't think just comes from the location. I think it also comes from being surrounded by the people that I love. So if I'm there with my son and my dog and my husband, then that's where I feel just-

Japhet De Oliveira: Life is complete.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah, exactly.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. Beautiful. All right, where next?

Charlyn Manuel: Let's do 55.

Japhet De Oliveira: 55. Oh, share about something that frightens you.

Charlyn Manuel: Oh, something that frightens me. I'm frightened of a lot of things.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. Good to know.

Charlyn Manuel: We'll have to narrow it down. Okay. So something that frightens me. I think if we're just talking about in a general sense, something that frightens me is driving.

Japhet De Oliveira: Really?

Charlyn Manuel: This is something that is just generally something that I'm afraid of.

Japhet De Oliveira: Really?

Charlyn Manuel: I do it because I have to.

Japhet De Oliveira: This is very encouraging. Could you let us know when you're on the road? So you're frightened to drive?

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: But you drive every day.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: We need to avoid... No.

Charlyn Manuel: If I was just within walking distance of things, that would be great.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, okay.

Charlyn Manuel: But I think for me, every time I get behind the wheel, I have this irrational fear that everyone's just going a lot faster than I am.

Japhet De Oliveira: Are they though?

Charlyn Manuel: And so I'm the speed limit driver. If you need to cut me off, just cut me off, please.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Charlyn Manuel: But in terms of maybe a deep-seated fear I have, I would probably say that I would be most fearful of my kids not being able to be open with me. It's something that I felt not too often, but there were times where I felt like I couldn't be that with my own parents.

And so I really wanted to foster an environment where my kids feel open with me. And then hopefully that spreads to even their friends or family members, that they would be open with their families or even with me as well.

Japhet De Oliveira: How do you foster that? I mean, as a parent?

Charlyn Manuel: I'm still working on it as best as I can. He's only seven right now. Oh, my gosh. I'm so sorry. He's only eight right now.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's okay.

Charlyn Manuel: He just turned eight. I'm so sorry.

Japhet De Oliveira: No. You do know his name?

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. So I think we're winning. We're winning. All right, all right.

Charlyn Manuel: Great. He's only eight right now, but he has gotten to a point where I think when I speak to him, he really understands where the tone is sort of coming from.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good.

Charlyn Manuel: So if I need to speak to him seriously about something, he looks at me very intently and he knows that to listen during this time. I mean, we keep it silly, we keep it fun. But I just want him to be able to know the difference between, "Hey, if you need to talk about this, we can talk about this." But I never want to push or force anything on him either.

Japhet De Oliveira: Acceptance is very important to all human beings. So showing your son that you accept him is really critical, right?

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Even in difficult conversations, although he's only seven, eight.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah. I mean, those difficult conversations could even be as far as just like, "Hey, let's maybe not not hold hands in the street." Or something like that, because it's a very simple thing to forget. And sometimes as you get older, you start to feel safe within yourself, but sometimes it's a busy street and we need to hold hands. And I know you don't want to, it might embarrass you a little bit, but this is for everyone's safety.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes. No, that's good. That's good. I think that's great wisdom for all parents, right?

Charlyn Manuel: Oh, yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: To foster that and make sure that you're the anchor, the safe space.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah, definitely. Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Thank you.

Charlyn Manuel: Of course.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, where next?

Charlyn Manuel: Okay. Let's go to, I lost where I'm at now, so I'm just going to start.

Japhet De Oliveira: Sure.

Charlyn Manuel: Just start naming numbers.

Japhet De Oliveira: I mean, you're picking a number. That's great.

Charlyn Manuel: Let's do 44 actually.

Japhet De Oliveira: 44. All right. What is something that you're proud to have created?

Charlyn Manuel: Oh, what am I have proud to have created? I would say, I mean, the obvious answer would be my son.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right. When he listens to the podcast, he'll be happy to know that.

Charlyn Manuel: I'm just going to keep this-

Japhet De Oliveira: You know his age and that you created him. That's great.

Charlyn Manuel: Two most important things, and we're going to keep this in his baby box. Yeah. So I would say, yeah, obviously the person that I created would be number one for sure. I'm proud of the life that I created for myself as well.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's really good.

Charlyn Manuel: I feel really content about where I'm at in my life currently. I think that it took a long time for me to get to a job where I felt loved and cared about, and it didn't feel like a chore to come to work. So that's something that was always really important to me, especially at the beginning of my career.

Japhet De Oliveira: Well, and then you take that energy, that joy, and you pass it on to your patients.

Charlyn Manuel: Oh, thank you. Yeah, I try my best. I don't know if you knew this, but my maiden middle name is actually Joy.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, is it really?

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah. So serendipitous.

Japhet De Oliveira: There you go. There you go. Hey, that's great.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: This is great. Oh, fantastic. Char Joy. Good. All right. Where next then?

Charlyn Manuel: Okay, let's go 29.

Japhet De Oliveira: 29. All right. Share three things that make you instantly happy.

Charlyn Manuel: Oh, three things that make me instantly happy. I would have to say the first one would be sushi.

Japhet De Oliveira: Sushi. Okay. All right. All right. That's good.

Charlyn Manuel: It's my favorite food. So anyone ever wants to go out to sushi, I'm always going to say yes. I would say that. And then the second thing that makes me instantly happy is a sunny day.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Charlyn Manuel: Not hot. We're not talking 100 plus degrees.

Japhet De Oliveira: Interesting. Yeah.

Charlyn Manuel: But the perfect sunny day, I love to spend time outside. I love my peaceful place is the beach, and so I really like to just kind of sit and take in the sun rays.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, that's good.

Charlyn Manuel: And the third thing that makes me really happy instantaneously is animals, dogs to be specific.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, really?

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Charlyn Manuel: I think-

Japhet De Oliveira: Any size? Or?

Charlyn Manuel: Any of them. I know sometimes I should be scared of the bigger ones because they can be taller than me when they stand up.

Japhet De Oliveira: And they can go faster than a car.

Charlyn Manuel: Exactly. I would rather ride a dog to work if we're being honest.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. I don't know if that's allowed.

Charlyn Manuel: But that's something that also makes me instantly happy because their energy, I feel like I also get that energy from that sort of energy also. It's one of those energies I bounce off of really well.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's beautiful.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Good, good. Well, thanks for sharing that. All right, where next?

Charlyn Manuel: Okay, let's go a little bit higher. Let's go to 48.

Japhet De Oliveira: 48. All right. Let's see that. Oh, yeah. Ooh. Tell us about your best personality trait.

Charlyn Manuel: Ooh, okay. My best personality trait. Well, there's just so many too.

Japhet De Oliveira: Humility.

Charlyn Manuel: Definitely number one.

Japhet De Oliveira: I thought I'd call that out.

Charlyn Manuel: Best personality trait. I think across the board, a lot of people that I've heard, what I've heard from other people is that I am welcoming, friendly and welcoming. It's something that I have aspired to all my life.

It's something that I've done in school. Making friends with kids that I would have never met outside of the playground. And just going, "Hey, let's go play." To kind of what you see now. Any patient, whether they're new or I know them, I try to treat them with as much kindness and as much compassion as I can.

Japhet De Oliveira: So now, where did that come from? Is that, were your parents this way? Or did you cultivate this yourself?

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah, I think it's a little bit of both. I think I have this natural sort of tone and this natural sort of energy, kind of like what I was saying about a dog, that kind of exuberates for me.

But my dad is also the kind of person that will say, he's actually the reason why I know all of the neighbors is because he's the one that said hi to everyone first. And so yeah, I would probably say that. And then I have just a lot of other family that kind of matches the energy that I bring to that personality trait.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's great. That's great.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Good, good. All right. We have time for two more.

Charlyn Manuel: Two more. I got to choose these wisely.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, no. Where do you want to go?

Charlyn Manuel: Let's see. Have I gone through all of my favorite numbers yet? Oh, you know what? We haven't gone from 11 to 20, so let's go to 19.

Japhet De Oliveira: 19. All right. What is your exercise routine?

Charlyn Manuel: My exercise routine is taking 1,000 steps in the pharmacy five days a week.

Japhet De Oliveira: Only 1,000?

Charlyn Manuel: Maybe if we're feeling lazy. No, I actually, I don't go to a traditional gym anymore. I should. I used to work out in a gym maybe five times a week, and that was when I was much younger and had more energy and didn't want to stay up all night.

But I would probably say now it more so consists of taking more leisurely walks whenever I can. So I have a dog and I like to walk her when the sun isn't too aggressive that day. And then for any sort of, I like group activities, so I like to sign up for group fitness. I like doing group cycling. I like group yoga, group Pilates. I just like being with other people when I'm exercising.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great. That's fantastic. Good. Good. We're down to the final one. Where would you like to go?

Charlyn Manuel: Let's do 78.

Japhet De Oliveira: 78. All right. Tell us about what gives you, oh, my goodness. What gives you childlike joy? Yeah. Okay. All right. That's beautiful. All right, Char Joy, tell us about what gives you childlike joy.

Charlyn Manuel: Oh, my gosh. I love how that just came right back to it at the end.

Japhet De Oliveira: It's great.

Charlyn Manuel: What gives me childlike joy? I would say, I mean, it's a repetitive answer throughout the entire podcast, but it's my son. He's the one that kind of brings me back.

Japhet De Oliveira: Aw, that's brilliant.

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah. He brings me back to that sense of childlike innocence and playfulness. Sometimes when we're playing together, I feel myself going back into a 10-year-old mindset. And I don't know, it feels so pure the way that he plays. And it's a feeling I want to bottle up forever. There's no other way to explain it.

Japhet De Oliveira: No, that's good. That's really good. Char, I want to say thank you for taking the time to share your stories and experiences. And I think it's a good word for all of us, that we should think about our childhood, think about the joy that we had and kind of live into that space. Right?

Charlyn Manuel: Absolutely. Totally agree.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's actually good for everybody, no matter what age you are, right?

Charlyn Manuel: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. There's something really beautiful about it, but I want to encourage people to do the same thing. Sit down with a friend, ask them some questions. We learn, I really believe this, and we actually are changed for it. We're changed for the better for it. So, Char, thank you so much.

Charlyn Manuel: No, thank you for having me. It was so fun. It was a pleasure.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. That's great. All right. God bless everybody. We'll connect soon.

Narrator: Thank you for joining us for the Story & Experience podcast. We invite you to read, watch, and submit your story and experience at AdventistHealth.org/story. The Story & Experience podcast was brought to you by Adventist Health through the Office of Culture.