Stacy Soappman
Episode 114

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 friends. Welcome to another episode of the Story & Experience podcast. Now, this guest today, I have searched high and low and through mountains and other states, and finally have cornered them into the moment where we can actually have this conversation. They're a good friend of mine. I'm really delighted to have them as a guest today. If you're brand new to the podcast, there is 100 questions. We will go through them, not all of them. They progressively become more vulnerable and more open the closer you get to 100, and our guests will choose between numbers 11 and 100 where they want to go. And I will ask the first 10.

So let me begin straight away. I'm going to ask you if you could tell us your name and does anybody ever mispronounce it or misspell it?

Stacy Soappman: My name is Stacey Soappman. Generally people can pronounce it, but nobody can spell my last name, which was a big learning curve. I went from Stacy Wilson, which is one of the most vanilla names you can have to Soappman, and I've just now automatically learned to spell my last name whenever I'm having to give it to somebody.

Japhet De Oliveira: It's good. It's good. It's like Mississippi. I understand. Stacy, what do you do for work?

Stacy Soappman: Oh, that's a loaded question. I am trained as a physical therapist. All of my degrees are in some realm educational realm of physical therapy. I currently practice a little bit, but my main day job is education. So I teach physical therapy. I went on to do a doctorate of science, which is a clinical PhD, and then I did a fellowship. So less than 1% of PTs have all of those degrees, which then allows me to teach.

My specialty is orthopedics. So I teach all over the country, teach internationally, and then my day job is actually one of my favorites. I help young therapists strive to do better. I help them, I empower them to still love physical therapy 20 years later. So PT school teaches you enough not to kill somebody and we get a good base level education, but then they just throw you out there, like what do I do with all this education? And that's where I come in. So I do a lot of mentoring of younger therapists to help them take what they learned in school and then apply it to the real world so they don't burn out on us.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic. And you enjoy teaching a lot?

Stacy Soappman: I love teaching. It's my happy place. It's where I shine, where I come alive.

Japhet De Oliveira: And when you go international, I've got to ask, I mean, this is not even on the questions here, but when you go international, do you teach in English or do you teach in other languages or do you translate those?

Stacy Soappman: I only speak English and some Spanish, but the good thing is anatomy is all Latin-based. And so the anatomy part is actually not so bad. That really doesn't change much, especially if it's in Europe and things like that. But I always have a translator, which was a huge learning curve. I'm a very fast talker.

Japhet De Oliveira: Are you really?

Stacy Soappman: Really. I know it's shocking. To slow myself down for a translator was a very good exercise in patience for me.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic. Thank you. Stacy. Hey, this morning when you got up, what was your first drink of the day? Did you have coffee? A liquid green smoothie, tea, water?

Stacy Soappman: I'm a mom, so I'm just happy when I get something to drink before I get everybody out the door with breakfasts and lunches. I do try to drink water first, and I love the taste of coffee, so even if it's decaf, because generally I don't need more energy to start my day, but I'll even drink decaf in the morning.

Japhet De Oliveira: I would be very surprised knowing you, Stacy, if you needed more energy. Hey Stacy, where were you born?

Stacy Soappman: I was born in Virginia, but I grew up in Washington, DC.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. And when you were a young kid in Washington, DC, what did you imagine you would've grew up to be?

Stacy Soappman: Ooh, I was going to be an astronaut.

Japhet De Oliveira: Really?

Stacy Soappman: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: You would've been great.

Stacy Soappman: Which is probably a good thing I got moved into medicine because I get motion sick on the merry-go-round, so I don't know if a spaceship would've been in my wheelhouse, but yeah, I was going to be an astronaut.

Japhet De Oliveira: I take my comment back. All right, personality. If people were to describe you as an introvert or an extrovert, would you agree with them? And what do you believe you are?

Stacy Soappman: Oh man. I think everyone would say I'm an extrovert. And then when I tell them I don't know, they completely disagree with me. I think I ride the line very well because I can extrovert with the best of them. I can get up front and teach. When I teach, it's eight hours at a time. So I am upfront and on for eight hours and I think that would exhaust most people.

But I also like to extrovert with my people. I don't like going into new big social situations where you have to make small talk with strangers. I can do it, but that is not my wheelhouse, which makes me think, ooh, maybe I have a twinge of introversionism. I think is a bit of a word, but I mean, for the most part, if I had to pick one, I'd be an extrovert.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, I think you lean over that place. That's fair enough. All right. All right. Hey, are you an early riser or a late night owl? Oh, what are you drinking?

Stacy Soappman: Oh, decaf coffee.

Japhet De Oliveira: Decaf coffee. I like the mug. You've got to describe the mug to everybody who's listening.

Stacy Soappman: I bought it at a farmer's market out here in Seattle. It is this local pottery guy and it has got a little spinny thing on the handle to keep yourself busy. And it's just got this beautiful pearlescent green, purple blue at the top.

Japhet De Oliveira: It's awesome.

Stacy Soappman: Thank you.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, so back to the drink.

Stacy Soappman: The morning question.

Japhet De Oliveira: Are you early riser or late night owl?

Stacy Soappman: Early riser, early. I mean, 8:00 PM comes and I wish I could stay up later. It's frustrating. People ask to go out and I'm like, ooh, it's dark. It's 6:00 PM I probably shouldn't leave the house now. I'm a morning person.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. And by morning, what do you mean?

Stacy Soappman: I naturally wake up between five and six every morning. I do my best work between five and 10 in the morning. That would be my ideal work time.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. Hey, that's fantastic. Now, when you woke up this morning, first thought that went through your mind was?

Stacy Soappman: Flip flops.

Japhet De Oliveira: Flip flops, go on.

Stacy Soappman: I'm ready for summer and wanted to wear flip flops to go on my paddleboard, which wasn't happening today.

Japhet De Oliveira: We are in January, right?

Stacy Soappman: Correct. I like to dream big, so.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. That's good. All right. That's brilliant. Hey, here's a leadership question. It's the last one, and then I'm going to hand over to you. You get to pick numbers off this. Are you a backseat driver?

Stacy Soappman: Literally as a passenger in the car sometimes, but as a leader, no, because my goal is to surround myself with people who are extremely competent at their jobs. So they don't need to be micromanaged. I don't know how to do your job. I trust that you know how to do your job and I would've hired you for a reason to do that job. So I try not to be actually.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's good. All right. The floor is open, Stacy. Where do you want to go?

Stacy Soappman: Open? Okay, so ground rules. What happens if I, can I go backwards or can you only go forwards?

Japhet De Oliveira: No, you can go up and down, absolutely.

Stacy Soappman: Perfect. Because what if I get to 75 and I'm like, whoa, don't like these anymore. Needed to back up. Okay. Let's start with number 13.

Japhet De Oliveira: 13. Walk us through the ideal end of your day.

Stacy Soappman: Oh.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Stacy Soappman: That would be earlier dinner, since I'm not a night person, so everybody's home. My whole family got home. Everybody's done with their homework, with their work for the day. We all had dinner together and then I convinced everyone to go for a bike ride or a walk and it's warm and it's sunny and the birds are singing. Yeah, that'd be my ideal end of the day.

Japhet De Oliveira: We're all moving. I know. That's great.

Stacy Soappman: I live in Seattle, so that's not happening right now. It's dark before five.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, that was 13. Where next?

Stacy Soappman: 22.

Japhet De Oliveira: 22. If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?

Stacy Soappman: Hawaii, on a paddleboard with my flip flops on.

Japhet De Oliveira: I like it. I like it. All right. That was 22.

Stacy Soappman: I'm picking one from each section of the numbers.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right.

Stacy Soappman: 36.

Japhet De Oliveira: 36. All right. Tell us about one thing you hope never changes.

Stacy Soappman: Ooh, I don't know. I am not scared of change because I think sometimes people are always like, oh, are you sad because I've got teenagers now. Don't you miss them when they were little? No, not at all. I loved them when they were little and I love them now and I look forward to what the next phase of life brings. I mean, we've lived all over the country. Each place has had its good and its bad parts. So I think I'd actually be bored if there wasn't change in my life.

But one thing that would never change, I would not have people, we've had a lot of close friends and family pass over the last 12 to 18 months. I would like to keep my friend circle exactly as it is. I love the group, the close group of friends that we have.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's a good wish to have. I like that. All right, that was 36. So where next?

Stacy Soappman: 43.

Japhet De Oliveira: 43. Oh, tell us about the best gift that you've ever received.

Stacy Soappman: Bidet with a heated toilet seat.

Japhet De Oliveira: Sorry, say that again.

Stacy Soappman: A bidet with a heated toilet seat. I don't like being cold received. I don't like sitting on cold things.

Japhet De Oliveira: You received that?

Stacy Soappman: From my husband. He knows me. Best gift ever.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay, I'm back. I'm back. That's great. I would never guess that.

Stacy Soappman: If you come over, I'll let you use it. It's really great.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, let's go to the next number then, 43.

Stacy Soappman: 57.

Japhet De Oliveira: 57. All right. If you had to endorse a brand, what brand would it be and why?

Stacy Soappman: Oh man, that's a hard one. Is this really open-ended from everything from food to clothing?

Japhet De Oliveira: Levi's, anything? Yeah.

Stacy Soappman: Oh my gosh. I'm going to need a second. Hold on. I've been really careful because I do speak publicly and internationally not to always give-

Japhet De Oliveira: Endorse a brand?

Stacy Soappman: Endorse a brand, yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: This is good. It stretches you.

Stacy Soappman: It really does stretch me. So I am going to go with any, I am not going to pick a specific one. Any company that endorses fair work practices, which usually for me that's clothing. I do like to buy clothes. And so I hate the fact that those companies, they're more money. But I'm all about sustainability and fair work practices. So I want people to be able to support themselves. Cheap fashion, cheap clothing, cheap food, probably not what I'm going to endorse because I want it to have a better impact on the planet and the people that are producing that.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great. Love that. All right. Where next?

Stacy Soappman: What was that? 57?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Stacy Soappman: Okay. 61.

Japhet De Oliveira: 61. All right. Tell us about a time in your life that required incredible courage.

Stacy Soappman: I get lost really easily. I mean, what do you mean really? I still put the GPS on to go to school and we've lived here three years because I dance in my head, I just don't pay attention. I am just kind of living in my own world. So the first time I went to Italy to teach, it was very last minute. I had to go on by myself. I was going to take my husband, who is definitely the detailed one in our life. It's what allows me to live in my own head. I'm like, oh, he's got it covered.

So I had to go to Italy. I had never been to Rome, don't really speak Italian at all. Had to find my driver, get to my hotel, get to the location I was teaching at. Then I was like, well, I'm here, might as well enjoy it. So I tacked on an extra two days for sightseeing and I was so proud of myself that I was able to join a walking tour group, but I found them and I didn't get lost. And so I sightseed all over Rome for two days by myself. In addition to navigating the public transportation, I mean, every morning I did have the hotel circle, the hotel on the map. So follow sales. I just handed it to a cab driver, please get me back here.

But yeah, no, that was a big thing for me to travel into everyone. And this was, I mean, I'm not that old, but cell phones, international plans were not so easy. I could only connect on Wi-Fi in a building if I could understand how to do that. Not really technically advanced. So there was a high likelihood that I was going to get very lost and not find my way back.

Japhet De Oliveira: Well done for doing that.

Stacy Soappman: Thank you.

Japhet De Oliveira: So have you done that since then? More than once?

Stacy Soappman: Oh yes. Well now, my phone can do everything I need it to do.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. Fair enough.

Stacy Soappman: That was before Google Translate, all of those things. But yeah, no, I've done it since.

Japhet De Oliveira: I was going to say before Google, wow, that's putting you in a different era. That was 61. So where next?

Stacy Soappman: 75.

Japhet De Oliveira: 75. Do you remember the very first thing that you bought with your own money? And if so, what was it and why, Stacy, did you buy it?

Stacy Soappman: The very first thing I bought with my own money. I've had a job since I was 14, so I'm trying to think what I would've bought back as my 14-year-old self. I probably went out, I like fun summer dresses. So my guess is I bought a fun summer dress, but the first thing I remember buying, my first big girl job as a physical therapist. I was so proud to go out and buy my first car all by myself.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, nice, nice. What car did you buy? You remember the first car?

Stacy Soappman: Nissan Ultima.

Japhet De Oliveira: Nice.

Stacy Soappman: Was my first car and I liked the color.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's a really good reason to choose a car. I'm very proud of you. I feel you succeeded.

Stacy Soappman: My dad wished I had put more thought into that. I was like, no, it's a great color. Yeah, pretty. He's like, could you come up with a spreadsheet for this? I was like, nah, I like the color. I think we're good.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. That's good. Oh, what color was it?

Stacy Soappman: It was this really pretty blue, but it wasn't navy because that's too dark. It was not a light blue, but maybe like an in the middle, silvery blue, very pretty.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, good. That was 75. Where next?

Stacy Soappman: 84.

Japhet De Oliveira: 84. Where do you go to find peace?

Stacy Soappman: Something related to water.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah?

Stacy Soappman: It could be a mountain lake, it could be the beach. That was actually the hard part about living in Colorado. There's not a lot of water. Love Colorado as a state, but I didn't have easy, quick access to water, which is where I find my ability to think, to quiet, to stop extroverting and become more responsive to what I need to hear.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, that's really good. I like that. All right, next one. Where do you want to go?

Stacy Soappman: Oh gosh. Well, maybe I'll go backwards a little bit because I'm getting close to the 90s.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, you are.

Stacy Soappman: I'll go to the 90s, but let's go back to 77.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right. 77. Oh. Share one of your most comforting experiences with us.

Stacy Soappman: Oh, I don't know if it's just one, but anytime I am surrounded by my people, laughing, it almost always involves food. I love sitting around a table and realizing three hours later you're still at the table because the conversation was so rich and so good and people are just laughing and enjoying themselves and completely being themselves. So I don't know if it's one exact moment, but anything that involves my table and good conversation and food.

Japhet De Oliveira: That sounds like a late night in Italy or in Spain.

Stacy Soappman: It does. Which I'm not a night person, so that's when I drink my caffeine so that I can stay awake past dark. I don't need it in the morning. I need it in the evening when everyone else is going to be up past nine. I should probably have some caffeine.

Japhet De Oliveira: Good for you. All right, where'd you want to go next? That was 77.

Stacy Soappman: We'll jump back to the 60s then. We'll try the 80s. So let's do 68.

Japhet De Oliveira: 68. All right. If you could learn one new professional skill, what would it be?

Stacy Soappman: Oh, well, I could go two ways. I would learn another language so I would become proficient in another language so I could actually teach in a different language.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great.

Stacy Soappman: But I also think surfing could help me because in my next life maybe I'll be a physical therapist who rehabilitates surfers and paddleboarders. I don't know. Trying to figure out how to work that into a career goal one day.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. All right, that's good. So what language would it be? That's a bonus question.

Stacy Soappman: Oh, well I want to eat my way through Italy one day. So Italian would make sense, but from a global universal perspective, probably Spanish. It just is more user-friendly is more settings.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. No, I hear you. All right, where next? That was 68.

Stacy Soappman: 86.

Japhet De Oliveira: 86. All right, let's go there. Who was influential in shaping you to be who you are now and why?

Stacy Soappman: I have a lot of great mentors in different realms of my life. I have spiritual mentors. I have life mentors and I have professional mentors from a professional standpoint, there's one who kind of encompasses a lot of those all rolled into one. So I met my mentor about probably 18 years ago. I was very young, green, wide-eyed. I knew I wanted to know more. I was at that terrible point in my career where I knew what I didn't know and I wanted to know more, but I didn't know how to get there. It was just this big, I don't know where to go with this desire to know more. And I took a class from him and I think he spent most of the class just shaking his head like, oh gosh, I don't know if this girl's ever going to get it.

And then I just kept showing. I was like, I love this. This is what I'm looking for. And I kept showing up. I was just tenacious. I was like, I don't know, I think I'm smart, but I'm definitely not the brilliant level smart. And so I study hard and I just kept showing up. And after the maybe third time, I showed up and I came with my whole list of questions and he was probably trying to run away from me, like oh, this girl again, I think he realized I was there to stay. He wasn't going to get rid of me. And so he at that point took me under his wing and I progressed through, did my doctorate of science degree, my fellowship.

And once again, I was at that point where I like school a lot and I just didn't know where to go, what to do. And he is like, I think it's time you started teaching it. You're there, you're ready. I didn't think I was. He sat in the back of my first three classes that I taught because I was so worried, what if I flounder? What if I can't answer the questions that they ask me and things like that. So he gave me the technical skills that I needed, but he gave me the confidence, the gentle, quiet nudge that even if I'm not there, you can still do this.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic. Now does he know this today?

Stacy Soappman: He does. He still can't get rid of me, 18, 20 years later. I teach with him now. It's always a privilege to be able to, he's in his 70s now, so it's always a privilege to be able to get him out and lecture with me, but I still talk to him quite frequently.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic. Oh, I love that. Okay, good. What next?

Stacy Soappman: Okay. Was that in the 80s or the 60s? I don't even know what we were on. Let's try 94. Let's be brave.

Japhet De Oliveira: 94? Okay, here we go. If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be? One thing?

Stacy Soappman: I think we, I'll say a we, but it's I. I live a very, this is going to sound conceited, privileged first world life. There's birthdays, holidays, people are like, what do you want? I don't know. I can't go out and buy everything I want, but for the most part, we don't need anything. And sometimes I think it would be so great to eliminate that need for everybody. Could we get rid of world hunger? Could we let every kid have a parent? Could we bring everything up to equal status quo?

And then I wonder, is that what they want? I mean, in some cases, yes, I know money can buy happiness up to a certain point, but the more time I spend overseas, different countries, just even different within my own profession, different countries within my own profession, I wonder if they had what we had here, would they be happier? And I don't know if the answer is yes.

And so I struggle with, if I could change one thing, I mean I would want everyone to not be in need of basic needs. But beyond that, if their basic needs are met and they're happy, would I go in and give everybody a million dollars? I don't know if that would change, if that would make them happier. It might change the world. Would it change the world in a positive way?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. But I like the idea, the idea is really valid and it's really good. The idea that we actually could bring everybody into a place of happiness.

Stacy Soappman: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. That's really good. For sure. All right, that was 94.

Stacy Soappman: Yeah. Let's go back to something easy. Let's try 56.

Japhet De Oliveira: 56. okay. All right. Sharing activity that makes you lose track of time, huh? You do this and you're like, no idea. You shouldn't be driving.

Stacy Soappman: No, I do lose track of time driving, but anytime I'm with my people, it could be even just sitting on a plane. But for the most part, we're usually either eating or outside doing something. So we're on a bike ride. We're on a hike. We're having leisurely coffee for two hours, catching up on life and I'm like, oh gosh, we have to go. It's been two hours. So anytime I'm with my people I lose track of time.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. I like that too. Good. All right.

Stacy Soappman: I really am an introvert, remember?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Yeah. I can clearly tell.

Stacy Soappman: Clearly.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, where next?

Stacy Soappman: 74.

Japhet De Oliveira: 74. Ooh. What gives you hope, Stacy?

Stacy Soappman: I spend a lot of time at my kids' high school. I volunteer. I teach a class or two. Occasionally I'll go in and sub for some science classes. I do hot lunch. I do all the medical stuff if somebody gets hurt. And I am so impressed with these high schoolers. We always hear these things about high schoolers. They're falling apart. They don't know what they're doing. These kids? They have good heads on their shoulders. They care about each other. They care about the world.

We're in a very unique situation where their school is very diverse, huge international population. And we have a lot of families from Russia, from Ukraine, from parts of the world that are just in political unrest, and watching how these high schoolers are able to unconditionally accept love, welcome, even when your two countries may be warring. The ability of these kids to realize it's not the person in front of me. It is the nothing will change if we don't start with the change. So their ability to accept and love gives me hope.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's really good. That is really good. Maybe we give the next generation a bit of a hard time maybe. And maybe we need to give them a little bit more room. This is good.

Stacy Soappman: I think we do. They've got it way more together than we give them credit for.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes, yes.

Stacy Soappman: Now I also hang out with a lot of 15-year-old boys and sometimes, no, they don't have it together, but the day-to-day mundane I can push aside when I'm like, oh.

Japhet De Oliveira: A little bit of room.

Stacy Soappman: You love that kid and you cheered on that kid who would've been made fun of anywhere else. Okay, I'll take the fact that you didn't bring a pencil to class.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay, that's good. All right, that was 74. Where next?

Stacy Soappman: 42.

Japhet De Oliveira: 42. Okay. What's over here? 42.

Stacy Soappman: We went too far backwards, sorry.

Japhet De Oliveira: No, no. Tell us the story behind the background photo on your cell phone.

Stacy Soappman: Oh, it is, my daughter is probably 13 months old, my son... it's an old one, but it just summarizes our life so perfectly. My daughter's 13 months old. My son is probably, well, he would've been around 20-some months old. They're pretty close in age. They're less than two years apart and she's grabbing onto my hair. He is licking the side of my face. We're in dress clothes because we're at a wedding and my husband is trying to pull my daughter off of me just laughing hysterically, and we were just a hot mess in those days. And I did not sugarcoat our life with my social media photos. I got licked and pulled on a lot. I mean, they're 13 and 15 now, so not so much. But I just feel like it's the general consensus of our life.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. That's awesome. That's fantastic. Hey, we have time. Can you believe it for just two more? So what are your last two numbers?

Stacy Soappman: We're going to do 88 and 98.

Japhet De Oliveira: 88 and 98, all right. 88. Tell us about how your life has been different than you imagined it?

Stacy Soappman: Ooh. I was never that girl who when I was little dreamed of a big wedding and dreamed of marriage. I mean, I was going to get married, but it was never the grandiose three kids, white picket fence kind of thing. After an astronaut, I was going to be an orthopedic surgeon and I was going to do surgery and I was going to work and I was not going to stay home with my kids and I was going to probably never leave the East Coast. And so none of those things are true.

I am not an orthopedic surgeon. I do work in orthopedics, but I'm not a surgeon. I would stay home with my kids on and off. I only work so that I can do the volunteer work. And I live as far from the East Coast in the continental US as I could, and I love it. I always have a plan. I feel like you need something to work towards, but it's okay if that plan doesn't come to fruition. I really don't mind change. Change is exciting. I wouldn't have any of the things I have now if I had stuck to my plan.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's interesting, isn't it? And when you look back in your life, do you ever think, I wish I'd changed this particular course in your life?

Stacy Soappman: No.

Japhet De Oliveira: No?

Stacy Soappman: No. And moving forward, I mean I have professional personal goals, but I don't know. I mean, I also really trust in a divine power to lead and guide. So I'm okay if my plans don't happen because I just have to trust that on a bigger purpose level there's something better in store for me, which is why I think I don't mind change because we have always gone where we felt we needed to be. And if I am following that leading, it doesn't matter if it was my plan or not.

Japhet De Oliveira: I like that. All right, we are down to the last number. You said 98. Is that still your last choice?

Stacy Soappman: Yes, I'll be brave.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. What is one great thing that you are capable of achieving, Stacy?

Stacy Soappman: People. I think people are my superpower. I think given the correct circumstances, I could mobilize an army if I needed to.

Japhet De Oliveira: I believe that.

Stacy Soappman: So I think capable of achieving. I think I'm very good at leading a group in a direction. I don't have any one thing in mind, but it would involve mobilizing people.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic. That's good. Stacy, it has been fantastic to talk to you, absolutely brilliant. Thank you for the time. I should have had a really great cup of coffee or tea or something. I'm so jealous of your cup. It's wonderful. But thank you so much for taking the time.

I want to encourage all the listeners to do the same thing. Sit down with a good friend, sit down with someone maybe you don't even really know that well ask questions and it changes me. It changes you. We all become better beings for it. So again, Stacy, thank you so much.

Stacy Soappman: You're welcome.

Japhet De Oliveira: Blessings to everybody else. Until we connect again, may God look after you.

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