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Zeigler Auto Group Rebekah Gregory as its latest celebrity presenter for its Zeigler University Guest Speaker Series. The acclaimed speaker, advocate, and Boston Marathon survivor kicked off the 2024 Speaker Series with her presentation titled: "Taking My Life Back," echoing the account from her book of the same name. Gregory shared the moving and inspirational speech last Friday at the Zeigler Honda Locker Room in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
During her time with TEAM ZEIGLER she discussed her journey following her survival of the Boston Marathon bombing which led to the amputation of her leg. After the incident, Gregory went on to start Rebekah's Angels, a charity dedicated to helping families with trauma therapy. So far over 700 families have been supported by the organization.
"The most beautiful parts of life come from the most broken places."
Gregory's keynote address, recounted her extraordinary journey of courage and perseverance following the life-altering events of the Boston Marathon. Despite initially attending the marathon as a spectator, Gregory and her son found themselves just feet away from the bomb blast, an experience that forever changed her and her family's life.
She recounted her path to recovery, which included a staggering 76 surgeries, speaking in detail on how this journey helped her find her purpose amidst adversity. She spoke about how her son gave her so much strength during this time despite being so young and having experienced an extraordinarily traumatic event himself. He helped shift her perspective in terms of what her amputation meant by being excited to have a "robot mom," which gave her so much courage in a time where so many people would break.
After her surgery she made it her goal to run the Boston Marathon and started learning how to walk and run at the same time. During her time training to walk she encountered a man that came up to her after she parked in a disabled space. An interaction that anyone else would have taken to be saddening and infuriating, she saw it with so much gratitude because the man had identified her as having both legs. This was something she was conscious about as she was learning to walk, studying people's gait and stride to mimic it with her new leg which she affectionately called "Carmen Sandi-Lego."
"Rebekah Gregory's story is a powerful testament to the
spirit. Her message of
resilience and living with intention deeply resonated with our team, inspiring us all to embrace obstacles as opportunities for growth."
Aaron Zeigler, CEO & President, Zeigler Auto Group
Gregory was eventually able to run the last 3.2 miles of the Marathon after training for mere months post-op and suffering an injury where her leg split open. The 3.2 miles stood for the amount of time it took her to not only walk but to be able to run again. When she passed the finish line, she fell to the ground and said to herself: "this is the day I take my life back."
Another impactful moment came that same year, where she had to face one of the men responsible for the bombing in the courtroom. She was asked to write a victim's impact statement, she was asked to go last, after 26 people, because of how powerful her statement was. Her exact words were: "I was asked to give an impact statement today, and in order to do that I would have to be someone's victim, and I'm not yours; and I'm not your brother's."
She also went on to say that although his act of hate stretched a couple hundred feet, the act of love seen in response stretched hundreds of thousands of miles; and that no one would remember them only what survivors have gone on to do despite the tragedy. She ended her state with "how's that for your victim statement!" In response, she was met with a soul-less, unfazed person, showing no remorse, looking back at her.
This was the day she remembered what her nurse Sandy told her before her amputation: "on the other side of fear, YOU will be unstoppable." Leaving the courtroom she felt unstoppable, because if she could face down a bomber in court, there was nothing she couldn't do.
"Rebekah Gregory's story is a powerful testament to the human spirit," said Aaron Zeigler, CEO & President of Zeigler Auto Group. "Her message of resilience and living with intention deeply resonated with our team, inspiring us all to embrace obstacles as opportunities for growth."
"On the other side of fear, YOU will be unstoppable.
"Rebekah Gregory was a very impactful speaker. We had amazing feedback from our team across the organization about how she was such a genuine and caring person.She has a real talent for sharing her story and taking the audience there with her and making them part of the journey! Her perspective, mindset and sense of humor make her so special! We were fortunate to have invested time with Rebekah!"
Mike Van Ryn, VP of Talent Development, Zeigler Auto Group
Gregory was also a guest this week on our upcoming Zeigler's Driving Vision Podcast with COO Sam D'Arc, Culture and Talent Development Director Ariah Daniels, and VP of Talent Development Mike Van Ryn. During the podcast interview she went on to share even more details about how her world view changed completely after the incident. She recounts feeling like she was on autopilot for the first 26 years of her life and suddenly feeling very blessed when she saw the good in people through the "angels" that rescued her at the Boston Marathon. She also went into more details about the Listen to the interview here.
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Well, that's interesting because my whole life I couldn't use my voice, but now I get paid for it.
Sam D'Arc:Welcome, everyone, to the Driving Vision Podcast brought to you by the Zigler Auto Group. And here with me, Auto Group director of talent development, Mike Van Ryn. Welcome, Mike.
Mike Van Ryn:Hey. Thanks, Sam.
Sam D'Arc:Be sure to subscribe to the podcast. Like it if you do, and leave a comment. Hey, everybody. This week, we bring you back into the Zigler Auto Group's locker room to hear Rebecca Gregory, hear her story with the Boston Marathon bombing, not only how she survived, but has thrived since that tragic day. Back with us today, obviously, always, Mike Van Ryn, director of training and development.
Sam D'Arc:Mike, welcome. Thanks, Sam. And then our own Araya Daniels. Araya, welcome back.
Ariah Daniels:Thanks, Sam.
Sam D'Arc:So it's fun. Every now and again, we get to have conversations backstage with speakers that have been impactful and meant a lot to the Zigler Auto Group. And today's guest is one such speaker with an incredible story. So we welcome with us today, Rebecca Gregory, welcome to the show.
Rebekah Gregory:Thank you so much. It's an honor to be here.
Sam D'Arc:So it's exciting to have you because your story is unique. Before we have you share, your story, and I love how you started the address to team Ziggler, which was, I was not running the marathon. I thought that was awesome. I'd love to have you share just a little bit about what was it like for you coming into team Ziggler? What was your experience with team Ziggler?
Sam D'Arc:You were in our locker room, the place where we learn and we train and we grow and we grow together. Rebecca, what was that like?
Rebekah Gregory:I don't know what I was expecting, but it went above and beyond. I mean, I I think this is definitely one of those speeches that I will remember 10 years from now. I had so much fun with team Ziegler. You guys have just such a great group, and it really shines through everyone, and it shows how close knit the the company really is. And that's something that I really truly appreciate and just every detail that went into this event, and then we had a dinner beforehand.
Rebekah Gregory:So it was really nice to be able to get to know everyone, and it just made it that much more special. So I, from the bottom of my heart, thank you guys very much for having me.
Sam D'Arc:It is interesting because every now and again, we'll have a speaker come in, and they'll be like, hey. We were asked to come speak to an automotive group. Like, we had no idea. Were we talking to a bunch of salespeople? Was it parts?
Sam D'Arc:Was it who was it? Like, what was your thoughts as you came into the locker room to speak to us? What did you think you were getting yourself into that day?
Rebekah Gregory:You know, I've been doing this for a little while now. So it used to this it was kinda crazy, all the different speeches that I would do. And Yeah. I learned that automotive groups are really fun people. So I just about that.
Rebekah Gregory:But the locker room and just everything in general, I thought was amazing. I'm just Yeah. Even the podcast, the studio room, the the speaker series wall. I mean, my picture is on the on
Sam D'Arc:It is.
Rebekah Gregory:So I had to tell my daughter about that. But, just all of the things, the details that go into everything, I was really
Sam D'Arc:impressed. So your story last week on Friday began in the Ziegler locker room by by sharing your experience at the Boston Marathon over a decade ago now. And you started it out by sharing you were not there to run, Rebecca. And we all thought that, Mike, in the run up, we were all sharing that we assumed you were a runner, but you weren't.
Rebekah Gregory:That's where it gets everyone every time. So it's fun. I say that I I have to disappoint you right off the bat because everyone brings me in as this marathoner. You know? Like, huge this thing that I trained for.
Rebekah Gregory:I'm like, no. No. I was on the sidelines eating chocolate covered pretzels wondering why point 2 miles.
Sam D'Arc:And you were there with your son watching. Were you there to support someone or to watch someone in particular? Or were you just there to have the experience?
Rebekah Gregory:Yes. So I was there to support a friend, and it was my 26th birthday weekend, my first time ever in the city of Boston. I was living in Texas at the time. And so I just thought it would be fun to come up to Boston for the weekend and bring my 5 year old son along with me. And we were all packed up and ready to go home as soon as the marathon concluded on that Monday.
Rebekah Gregory:And we just so happened to be less than 3 feet away from the first bomb that went off.
Sam D'Arc:Which as a mom is terrifying, which as a parent is terrifying, which as a human being is terrifying. And you described and shared with us those first moments in the locker room and and how you ultimately went on to survive. And one of the elements I wrote down as a note is the importance of being present. Talk to us a little bit about being present as it relates to that experience.
Rebekah Gregory:For so long in my life, I I used the term of surviving because we get so caught up in what we're supposed to do day in and day out in this that we established for ourselves early on, whether it be in our career or our family. And so we we kind of get lost in that without even realizing it. And for 26 years, that was very much my life, and especially in adulthood, I was a single mom. I thought the more success that I could bring to myself, the money I make, all of those different things, the factors, the better person I would be overall. And it wasn't until a bomb completely shattered my world that I realized I had it so wrong.
Rebekah Gregory:And for 26 years of my life, I took it all for granted, and I expected to get out of bed and put 2 feet on the ground to go about my day. And I said it typically meant hitting the button about 13 different times because I was running late and just constantly chaotic. And so, you know, being present I was never present. I don't think one moment, and that's still it's sad to say that, but it's something that we all realize and understand because our lives are so busy. Society expects us to be so busy that unless something big happens to you where you really are just knocked completely off of everything you've ever known, then you don't stop and realize anything that's happening.
Rebekah Gregory:And so I was surviving my life when I wasn't. And when I woke up in that hospital room, I didn't know what was ahead of me. I didn't know what I was gonna be able to do to to put the pieces back together. I just knew that I had a life to put back together, and that's what I was going to focus on.
Sam D'Arc:I love that note. Everybody talks about be present. We hear that throughout our lives, be present, and yet to actually do it is so tough. You talk about an hour of power that helps you kind of focus daily as a strategy to do just that. We don't need to go through the terrible experience you've had, although we're going to talk about that in a minute.
Sam D'Arc:I love what he's quote. There were so many great quotes in here, but we don't have to go through that terrible experience. Araya, you share with us daily your version of an hour power, which is exercise. Right? How does what you do every morning, Araya, in your routine help you to become present?
Sam D'Arc:And then, Mike, what's something you do to be present?
Ariah Daniels:Yeah. You know, and I'll piggyback on Rebecca's her her hour power morning that you set aside for yourself. And you talked about that on Friday about just doing what you can to take time for yourself before you have to pour into everyone else. And before we get in that in that monotonous of being busy. Right?
Ariah Daniels:Like, taking care of us first so that we can be fully present in everyone else's life. And, that's something that I practice daily. I I have for the last 4 years, I kinda had a little bit of a mindset shift and decided that I needed to do what I could to take care of myself. And one of the biggest reasons I do that is because I, when I work out, I feel like it's my way of proving myself that I can do hard things and then that I can conquer and take on whatever the week holds. Right?
Ariah Daniels:So, fitness is just an outlet in a way to, to show yourself that you can do hard things. And so I've always really appreciated that morning routine of, moving my body, getting my mind right, doing a little bit of gratitude, spending some time meditating in prayer. And that's, that's how I start every single morning. And I know on the days that if I skip it, I'm a totally different person. So that is, definitely an important important thing to me.
Sam D'Arc:What brought you to that, Araya? So Rebecca was brought there by the tragedy of the marathon. Right? And you shared that with us. So, Rebecca, after the today's podcast, we're gonna hear comments from team Ziegler.
Sam D'Arc:This idea of being present was a consistent theme throughout team Ziegler. It is so tough for us as humans to be present. What brought you to that, Araya? What why did you decide that was important?
Ariah Daniels:Yeah. You know, I can't say that I was blown up by a bomb, but I No.
Sam D'Arc:I wasn't either. None of us were except Rebecca. She's there's only one person on this call that gets that distinction.
Ariah Daniels:Yeah. You know, so I 4 years ago, I went through, I have degenerative disc disease in my spine, and I had herniated 3 different discs in my neck. And I had suffered 8 months of complete dizziness, went through therapy. 1 of my discs was impinging on my spinal cord and just causing the most, just strange, strange things that were happening to me. So going through that, I was living in such a state of anxiety and fear and, was really driven by that for a very long time and finally, like, just going through that realizing I never wanted to return back to that mindset and really just live every day as best as I could.
Ariah Daniels:I was really in a state that was not wonderful and that is something that I never want to return to. So, fitness really became such my outlet, to really channel that and be be a more positive, vibrant person.
Sam D'Arc:So So I love that, Araya, because that's doing a difficult thing. That's a challenge. And, Rebecca, you shared a great quote with us. You said shying away from challenges gives us an inaccurate measure of our strength. I wanna put that actually up on my wall behind me here because so often we wish all the ease on our kids and friends and those around us.
Sam D'Arc:And in our own lives, we seek a a measure of ease, but shying away from that, what do you mean by that gives us an inaccurate measure of our strength?
Rebekah Gregory:We don't know what we're fully capable of until we are like what Araya was talking about. If I'm talking about, I say the majority of us won't get blown up by a bomb in a marathon that every single person knows what it's like to have life blow up in their face. And that right there is is exactly why, you know, our challenges are what really show us how much courage and bravery that we have and strength that we have. If we're not knocked down a few pegs and we're on top of the world all the time, then we we don't realize how much strength you gain just from going through things and all this appreciation that you have for that. I mean, I I think that's absolutely beautiful, Araya, what you were talking about, and exercise is a huge thing for me too, because like you said, it's something that's hard.
Rebekah Gregory:You you don't want to go to the gym. You have to get into this routine where you're like, I'm gonna do this irregardless of how I feel, and I'm gonna go down and I'm gonna lift heavy things, and I'm gonna get on my Peloton when my leg is killing me because I can. And then the after effects of it is you feel great. You're energized. You have less I mean, all of these different advantages.
Rebekah Gregory:So that right there describes that quote. Well, I
Ariah Daniels:really love the tie in to what you also mentioned on Friday, and I've always believed this and love this, that our brains are built on survival. So whatever is a state of comfort for us is like our safe, you know, our our safe place and so getting out of that what is so innate into us as humans is to constantly be in a state of comfort to protect us. And we're just like, what can I what can I do daily to, like, shatter that? Like, what can I do to get myself out of that state of comfort to know that I could handle hard things? And then that just pool into every aspect of my life.
Ariah Daniels:I've just always believed that.
Rebekah Gregory:So I
Ariah Daniels:brought that piece.
Sam D'Arc:So, Rebecca, adversity is beneficial. It's a positive. Having been blown up at a marathon, like, do you ask for it? How do you implement that into your life so that you continue to have that growth? I mean, since the marathon, you've had multiple strategies.
Sam D'Arc:You've had continued adversity. Do you go out looking forward, or do you just have a mindset in the way you need it?
Rebekah Gregory:Adversity has always been a part of my life. I touched on 6 months before Boston. I got held up in a Walmart parking lot and robbed at gunpoint. I thought that was gonna be the biggest highlight. I grew up in a very abusive household, and so there's trauma has always been there.
Rebekah Gregory:And I I feel like I learned at an early age. I either do this, I either get through it, or I'm I'm just gonna sink. I'm gonna drown because I can't handle everything that life is throwing at me. But I look back at all the adversity, and I see where I am now, and I see that it's kind of, in a way, prepared me for what we're doing. We have our foundation, Rebecca's Angels, that provides trauma therapy to children and families across the country, and I could not relate to those families.
Rebekah Gregory:I couldn't be in the position that I am if I didn't go through all of these things myself. If if it it would just be an organization, but it's not it's our heart and our soul because it is still on our very worst chapters.
Sam D'Arc:How does giving back contribute to what you're doing and your growth?
Rebekah Gregory:Giving back is necessary in order for us to really become the best versions of ourselves. I truly love that. And that day could have looked a lot different for me if the wonderful people that decided to step in and help us didn't help. So I look back, and I I see my bones laying next to me on the sidewalk, and I have my body's on fire, and I'm in a pool of my own blood, and there's sales and law burns and BBs and everything that these brothers packed under these pressure cooker bombs. But I also see all of the people that were surrounding us, innocent civilians, people who had just run 26.2 miles that can barely walk, are getting us off the street into a nearby trauma hospital.
Rebekah Gregory:And so my mom told me, and then I said this to you in my speech, that it would be a huge disservice to those people if I gave up because they saved me, and it would be a disservice to not pay that forward because now we have this responsibility to do that. We we've seen an act of love that stretches so far and millions of people around the world helping us, supporting us. So we're trying to give that back in the best way we know how.
Sam D'Arc:So there's almost two sides of the scale with what you've been through. Right? There's the evil that exists in the world that's real that did this terrible thing. And there's the good that exists on the other side that saved you. In the balance of those 2, like, what do you see more of?
Sam D'Arc:And is that a choice to see one or the other? Or do do you believe in humanity? Are you frustrated with humanity?
Rebekah Gregory:I I believe that you can be both. I believe that you can be so frustrated at humanity, but still believe that there's far more good in the world than there is bad. You know, you can always focus on the good or you can always focus on the bad. It's our choice every day that we wake up. And it doesn't mean that we're not going to have that adversity, those challenges, those, you know, mindset shifts throughout the day as things happen.
Rebekah Gregory:But when we feel so excited, so revved up to to begin our day, to hug our families, to love on our friends, to go out and make the world better, to, you know, be the best that we can be in our career, to support our colleagues, all of these different things, at the end of it, you know that there is so much more good. You see it, but you have to look for the blessings and not the problems.
Mike Van Ryn:So that's just a really good glimpse into Rebecca Gregory. Right? In in your mindset, your perspective, and by the way, your sense of humor as well. So I just love that. And you said, on Friday, you said you felt unbelievable joy and gratitude for being alive.
Mike Van Ryn:And how could you share maybe some of that with our listeners? What what are things they can do to maybe shift their mindset and focus on gratitude? Because I had gratitude highlighted like a ton of times from your presentation.
Rebekah Gregory:Well, I mean, I I know that we talked about it in the morning because the morning is the first time we wake up if we're either, like, hitting our snooze button like I used to and saying, oh, I don't wanna do this. I don't have all of this stuff going on today. Or we can spend a little bit more time. Maybe it's hitting our our snooze button a little bit less or waking up just a little bit early. And I know at first, it's hard to do because our routine anytime we break it, it's gonna be up.
Rebekah Gregory:But when you do spend those extra few minutes just for yourself, doing what brings your heart joy, becoming grounded, whether you do a gratitude practice or meditate or prayer, whatever it may be, then you're more focused on what you're going to bring to the day rather than the the day taking over you. And so first thing in the morning is super important, and it's just having those things in your life that you know why you're fighting. I mean, every day, I get up and I put my prosthetic leg on because I have 2 children that I wanna teach not to live in fear of what's gonna happen to them. I want them to know that they are gonna be faced with challenges, but life can still be so beautiful. And so I remember that, and I I say that I don't want people to win.
Rebekah Gregory:I have that written across my my ear because that is my main goal. Every day that I wake up, I choose to let evil win, or I do not let it win. And no nowhere in this whole thing do I ever want evil to take over. And it won't. I'll continue fighting.
Rebekah Gregory:In fact,
Sam D'Arc:one of the great quotes, of last week was, on the other side of fear, you will be unstoppable. And we've heard we had another speaker, Damon West, that said, on the other side of adversity, we meet the better version of ourselves. And I love how the interplay of those 2. Right? On the other side of adversity, we meet the better version of ourselves.
Sam D'Arc:The better version of ourselves is as we sink fear, as we eliminate fear from our lives, we can achieve and accomplish anything. Right, Rebecca?
Rebekah Gregory:We really can. I I look back at things that have happened in the last several years. Never did I think that I would take up running. I mean, I was, like I said, on the sidelines eating chocolate covered pretzels, but I really fell in love with it. I never thought I would confront the bomber in federal court.
Rebekah Gregory:I never thought I would have a a foundation. I didn't know the first thing about running a nonprofit. I mean, there's just so many different avenues that if I would have allowed fear to stop me, I wouldn't be at this point. And that doesn't mean that fear has never stopped me because of course, there's gonna be times where we do get scared, but I do believe that on the other side of whatever we're facing, we really could be and will be unstoppable if we just allow ourselves to go for it.
Sam D'Arc:So Mike and Araya often in our training sessions across the Zigler Auto Group, we'll talk about how we all have roles in our life. We have different labels we put on ourselves. So we're employees at moments. We're family members. You know, we're a son or a daughter or a husband or wife, whatever.
Sam D'Arc:One label you refuse to accept in this scenario, and I was fascinated by this, was victim. Would you just share the story of you going to court? Because that I heard you describe that and I felt so much power in your ability to declare what you declared. Would you share that with us?
Rebekah Gregory:I I still can't believe that it happened. It's one of those moments that you'll like
Sam D'Arc:It's a movie. It's like it was written for a movie. Yeah.
Rebekah Gregory:It's really it. But I was asked to go to Boston, and at first, I had to testify in front of the remaining bomber. And I had to kind of rehash everything that had happened to me and my son and where we were. I had to circle on the screen, as a matter of fact, the scene. It was a scene of the bombing, and I had to circle where I was and where my little kid was.
Rebekah Gregory:And I had to hear his screams because it's it's caught on our recording where you can hear mommy, mommy, mommy, and you have friends screaming out. And it was just one of the most scariest, terrifying things that I've ever lived through. But I
Sam D'Arc:And heartbreaking to hear your son, yes, his voice in that moment. And you also mentioned this person, his approach to you all was very sarcastic, maybe. Is that a good way to put it?
Rebekah Gregory:That's a great way to put it. In fact, he was flipping off the camera in his prison cell while he was awaiting trial. So I felt like he had no remorse. I mean, he was leaning back in his chair, cracking jokes with his attorney, not acknowledging the jury by standing up on the 1st day of the trial. So here's this guy who has just caused this horrific amount of terror and havoc, and he he's proud of it.
Rebekah Gregory:And so I I gave my testimony, but then I was asked to go back to Boston and give what's called a victim impact statement. And I joked that I had to look up what a victim impact statement was because I've never been part of a federal trial before, and it's a statement that's made before the judge and the jury make their final decision. And so I just didn't want to give this guy any more satisfaction for what he had done, and I turned in my statement to the US eyes for the first time, and, and I looked him in the eyes for the first time. And I was explaining, to Mike after the speech, usually you can you can feel someone's compassion in just their eyes. You can see their life story on those.
Rebekah Gregory:And you see the the love and all of the different emotions, and this was completely different. His eyes were, like, whole black. I mean, evil is just evil, and there's no other word to describe it. It was looking at pure evil. And but my voice never wavered.
Rebekah Gregory:My eyes locked with his for the first time. And I said, I was asked to give a victim impact statement today, but in order to do that, I would have to be someone's victim. And I'm not yours, and I'm not your brother's. And I went on to say that one act of hate that stretched a couple of 100 feet, we've seen an act of love that stretches hundreds of thousands of miles, and no one is going to remember their names. What they're going to remember is what each and every victim's family and survivor has gone on to accomplish in spite of this tragedy.
Rebekah Gregory:And so then I I gave a little sarcastic spurt and said, how's that for your victim? And I it was it was like a chapter of my life was just like Yeah. Moving on.
Sam D'Arc:What happened in the courtroom in that moment when you said that? What
Rebekah Gregory:Oh, it was crazy. Everyone in the courtroom, nobody could do anything. Yeah. Overflow room and everybody, like, loaded in
Sam D'Arc:That's awesome.
Rebekah Gregory:And there was a US marshal that came up to me afterwards and gave me his pen. He said, no. He's like, I don't wanna speak to a lady like this. You just made that guy your friend.
Mike Van Ryn:Yes. That's
Sam D'Arc:awesome. Had you planned to say that, or did that kind of come in the moment? Where did that come from? That's such great, righteous indignation. Like, you were you with all you had every right to say that, yet nobody's probably said it quite like that.
Rebekah Gregory:That came from years of abuse. That came from a little girl who was never allowed to say anything. I could cry. I would get eaten if I shed a tear. That I just there was so much that that came from that didn't have anything to do with the bombing.
Rebekah Gregory:And when I looked at that guy and the biggest enemy, it was like I was looking at every single person that tried to to fail me in my life or tell me that I wasn't good enough or anything else, saying, you're not gonna win, and you never will. And I told them I said, you tried to take my life, but instead, you really ended up saving it because I would never live like I did again. Not because I I tried to take things for granted, not because I was a bad person or anything like that. It was just that I was so caught up in surviving that I wasn't living any any of my days.
Sam D'Arc:So my next question is gonna be tough because I don't know exactly how to ask it. Maybe, Ryan, Mike, you guys can jump in. But I'm touched deeply by what you just said. You found a voice for all the abuse, all the challenges that you'd experienced in your life up to that moment, and and you spoke that voice and you had power in that moment, not everyone will go through a marathon bombing, but there are so many people listening to us today that can do through this podcast and through this speaker series that you do, how can someone claim that voice, in the way you did without going through what you've gone through?
Rebekah Gregory:I think there's so many things that we can speak on to that. But part of the biggest is just believing that you can. For so long, I was told that I didn't have a voice, that my voice didn't matter. And so when you when you're told that all your life, then you believe that even though it was it was the furthest thing from the truth. And I was thinking about it the other day.
Rebekah Gregory:My my dad was a or my biological father was really good about telling me that how much I didn't matter and how much I couldn't use my voice ever. And I was like, oh, that's interesting because my whole life, I couldn't use my voice, but now I get paid for it.
Mike Van Ryn:Yeah. Exactly.
Rebekah Gregory:It's got, like, in your face. You know?
Sam D'Arc:That's awesome. So you took the you took the very thing that appeared to you at that moment to be your your weakness, which it wasn't. It was a lie. And you turned that into massive strength right
Rebekah Gregory:and anybody can't yeah not me It's just that belief that you can't.
Sam D'Arc:And not to degrade your not to diminish your experience, but putting it into the business world. We hear all the time in business, you can't do this. You shouldn't be able to do you're you don't have the right title. You don't have the right position. You're not in the right place.
Sam D'Arc:And we talk all the time at team Ziegler about finding that voice. Araya, you you've recently done that with with the the call you did last week.
Ariah Daniels:Yeah. You know, and I have to back up because I feel like I'd be lying if I said I wasn't getting a little bit choked up just listening to that. Rebecca, your story and just like thinking of yourself and growing up in the situation that you did and having so much of that trauma. I resonate a little bit with that and not completely at that level, but I understand exactly and I always take that and I'm just like, okay, what can I do with this to make it better? And you said something on Friday that I have to share because I quoted it and highlighted it.
Ariah Daniels:We can allow people to steal our joy or we can radiate our energy to others. And that's a choice. That is a choice of being the victim or the survivor. Right. And I, I just think that's so powerful, but I've been on such a mission lately and want to give a voice, not, not to just women, which is what Sam's alluding to, but just to everyone.
Ariah Daniels:Right? Like, we all have faced certain trials and tribulations that that has shaped us.
Sam D'Arc:So I am talking about for women, you know, as we talked about your call last week, but I think this is broad. Right? We've all been diminished. Our voices have all, had, at some point or another all been silenced. Right?
Ariah Daniels:Absolutely. Absolutely. So that just it that's so powerful. And to hear you talk about that, like, that's something that comes internal. Right?
Ariah Daniels:Like that's something that you you take and harness to to do good with. And I think that is a choice. Right? Like that's a choice for people to decide what you're gonna do, if you're gonna be the victim or if you're gonna come out and be the victor of whatever your circumstances are. So I just, I love that.
Ariah Daniels:I love that piece to that for sure.
Sam D'Arc:Mike, thoughts about that and and and claiming your voice?
Mike Van Ryn:Yeah. Actually, the word I wrote down is, Rebecca is courage. Right? It takes immense amount of courage, but once you find that, things can really change for you. And and also knowing that maybe you're going through a situation, you're not alone.
Mike Van Ryn:Yeah. Just knowing that you're not alone and there's some support out there as well. So it ties in very nicely.
Rebekah Gregory:Oh, I'm sorry. I was just gonna say despite this conversation alone, Araya felt like she could relate because he was resonating with certain things, and I don't even have to know what those things are. Mhmm. Know that, you know, some things touched. And that's that's what we can all do.
Rebekah Gregory:And it's, like, the more more vulnerable we are, and I'm not talking about just women either. I mean, men have have grown up for so long to show that no emotions can Yes. Have because that's a big no no. But it's it's crazy when you think about it because it's, like, if you don't if you don't learn to express emotion, then how when you connect with anyone. Yeah.
Rebekah Gregory:The the person that you're married to or with, your family, your friends, your your colleagues. I mean, there is not a person in this world that you cannot have a connection with if it's not emotional. So we have to break down that barrier, and we have to say, everyone has gone through something. And we all have the ability to to allow people to learn from us and us learn from them. And it's it's really beautiful when you look at it like that.
Sam D'Arc:It's beautiful and it's simple, but doggone it, it's not easy. I wish it were easy, Rebecca.
Rebekah Gregory:Hi, though. Me too.
Sam D'Arc:Being vulnerable and the emotional piece, it's not easy. So you go on to talk about how are you maybe you could talk to us a little little bit about I specifically wrote down how are you showing up? How are you being present? How are you connecting? How are you being vulnerable?
Sam D'Arc:And then you listed different components or areas of our life with family, with colleagues, with clients, with ourselves. And you put ourselves last and maybe intentionally.
Rebekah Gregory:Very intentional. That's what we do. We we look at every single thing, every person that's more important, and we say whatever we have left, which is usually nothing. We're all negative at this point. And then we we wonder why we feel like we do, why we're unfilled, why we're exhausted, why we're sad, why we're depressed, why we're all of these different things.
Rebekah Gregory:And it's because we can never show up as our best version if we're not pouring into ourselves at all. I mean, there's some if if you have okay. Let me do this. So the question is, what have you done right now today to bring yourself a toy? Oh, no.
Rebekah Gregory:Is this a question for me? I'm gonna tell you I've medicated with
Sam D'Arc:caffeine. That's about all I've done so far today.
Rebekah Gregory:And it's It's not enough,
Ariah Daniels:fam. And it's
Sam D'Arc:3 o'clock in the afternoon. No. It's a lot of caffeine. But to your point, that's probably not good. Araya, what have you done?
Ariah Daniels:I was just gonna say that's not enough self love. I don't think a bang is gonna fix your
Rebekah Gregory:issue.
Sam D'Arc:But I am gonna do yoga this afternoon. So interesting enough, when when you think about, like, being intentional and kind of your hour of power in that place, Like, I'm almost 50. It's bizarre. Like, I made fun of people 20 years ago for yoga. Like, I think it's the most ludicrous, crazy sounding thing.
Sam D'Arc:I love it. I find Zen, right? Like, you get to be.
Ariah Daniels:You and Mike are yogi. So.
Sam D'Arc:Yeah, you get to be strong. You get to be powerful. So that's my answer. Mike, what's yours?
Mike Van Ryn:Yeah. I've not accomplished that today. However, I did practice gratitude this morning, and I have written some, notes to others. Nice.
Sam D'Arc:Nice diamond drops. What was yours or I have with
Ariah Daniels:Oh, my workout for sure.
Sam D'Arc:Yeah. Yeah.
Ariah Daniels:My morning routine. Yep.
Rebekah Gregory:Alright. So now we're gonna take it a step further. What have you done minus working out? What have you done that's brought yourself joy today? Oh.
Rebekah Gregory:If it takes longer than 5 seconds to answer that, then you are in survival mode and not.
Mike Van Ryn:Oh. Oh.
Sam D'Arc:So wait. Rebecca, give us your example. What have you done?
Mike Van Ryn:That's a tough one. That's a tough one.
Sam D'Arc:Because I can't I can't think of 1. I don't think I've done anything.
Rebekah Gregory:You you might have, and you just you haven't realized it, but you've gotta be intentional about it. And that's the biggest thing. Intention intentionality is is crucial to build in the life that you love. And that's that's ultimately what you wanna do. Right?
Rebekah Gregory:You wanna love your life. Yes. You're gonna have all this kind of stuff that that happens, and it's not gonna be fair for the most part, and we're gonna have all of these things that knock us off our feet. But when you're so grounded and you know exactly who you are and know why you're living, what you're living for Wow. It's a lot easier for us to to deal with these obstacles.
Sam D'Arc:Will you give us some examples of some things that we might do for ourselves that would do that? And then I'd love to transition into the story of what you learned from that speaker all those years ago or whenever it was before you you did your big event. But what what are some things that would count as that as what you're talking about?
Rebekah Gregory:I'm they don't have to be big. No. Every so every day, my husband and I before after the hour of power, before our day kind of begins, we sit down and we we have coffee together. And that is something that I enjoy every morning. And usually, he makes it for me, which is even better because he makes great coffee.
Rebekah Gregory:But, but, you know, that's that's how we connect, and I know that we have that time in our day before everything else starts. So that's that's a simple thing and it takes, you know, 15 minutes, but I know that it fills my cup, fills this cup up, and that's something even reading a book. I read 3 chapters of my my new book today, and I'm super excited about it, So I'm not talking about these big, lavish things that we have to do. It's just as long as we do something that just makes us happy for no other reason then that makes us happy. Okay.
Ariah Daniels:I will okay. I'll back up and say a lot of what and it's funny because intentional is my word of the year. So that keeps coming up in a lot of things.
Mike Van Ryn:That's awesome.
Ariah Daniels:5 months of the year crazy. But I really I'm a big social media person. I love posting. And the more that I can share my journey, the more I communicate and connect with others who might not, you know, have someone that they feel like they can, you know talk to or whatever, I think that is definitely a cup filler for me for sure is being able to just share that and connect with others on a level like that. That's something that I've done today.
Ariah Daniels:I think
Rebekah Gregory:that's awesome.
Sam D'Arc:That's awesome. Okay. So, Rebecca, you were at a seminar with another speaker who's great at executing and doing and getting things done, and you asked him a question that led you to a journey. Tell us a little bit little bit about that. I think when we think about doing things for ourselves, this is kind of a great way to transition into that last moment.
Rebekah Gregory:You never know who you're gonna meet. That's just really gonna inspire you that day. And I was at a conference. I had flown there. It took me about 26 hours to get to this northern part of Canada that I was in.
Rebekah Gregory:I was in a wheelchair. I had my dear friend with me, and I was just completely exhausted. And to be honest, I didn't really wanna go. And I felt really bad after because I always if I'm not feeling like something, then, you know, when I go and I meet all these incredible people, then I'm like, oh, why did I ever feel like that? That's crazy.
Rebekah Gregory:But it was just physically, I was spent. And I went to my speech, and I was able to listen to this guy named Brian Keating Acker. And he traveled all over the world, and he worked with a lot of amazing animals and I was just so inspired by what he was talking about because I have a daughter who just turned 8 and she's really fascinated by animals, So I wanted to get her more involved in some some different things that, we had going on in our community and then also just the traveling aspect because our family likes to travel. We've done a couple of big trips, but we've always we kind of wanted to do more. And I'm not sure how this, I still look back and I'm like, wow.
Rebekah Gregory:That was wild. But when I asked him, I said, how do we get started this? Like, going on these travels and and doing, like, the tour guide bit and the animals, and he said, one day, I just decided that this is what I wanted to do, and so I did it. And I was like, oh my gosh. I'm just one of those moments that were like, yes.
Rebekah Gregory:That is what I wanna do. And so what that led to is me taking my long flight home, concocting this huge idea in my head that I was gonna present to my husband. And I told him that when I was able to walk again, because at the time I was still recovering from my surgery, I said I really want to travel the world. I wanna pull our kids out of school. We can do this for right now.
Rebekah Gregory:He left his company to take care of me. While I said before you go back to work, before life gets crazy again, let's take these several months and let's travel the world. And that's exactly what we did. And so, just that that line of what he said, that lunch with him was like, it it changed my life last year.
Sam D'Arc:Again, simple, but not easy. Right? Simple, but not easy. What was one of the most memorable experiences from that trip for you?
Rebekah Gregory:Well, a memorable experience is my husband getting dengue fever a week into our Bali, Indonesia trip. That was we ended up in the hospital there. That was not fun. The doctor said, he had about 48 hours where if he made it through there, we were gonna be okay. And so that was I I didn't wanna add that to the roster of of traumas, but here we are.
Sam D'Arc:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Rebekah Gregory:But there was one there was one particular moment where we were on, this beautiful hill in Switzerland, and we were looking out at the mountains, and there were these bald eagles flying over this this water, and it was so still and so quiet and it was just our family and it was I mean, I get chills talking about it because it was one of those those moments that I was just there. I was so present, I was so just I mean, everything that was going on around me, that's what I was doing, and I don't have any pictures or anything from it because I was so invested with where I was. I was I I like to say be where your feet are. Right? Because so often we're, like, into the next thing, and we're not where our feet are at that moment, and that's a memory that I will just never forget.
Rebekah Gregory:And it was so simple, but it was just beautiful. I keep saying beautiful. I like that word.
Sam D'Arc:That's a good word. That's a good word. Right. Well, we absolutely appreciate the time that you spent with us both last week and the time spent today. Mike, I know you've got some information you wanna share about Rebecca.
Mike Van Ryn:Well, Rebecca, if, people wanna find out, follow you, find out more about you, your book, your foundation, can you share us, that information?
Rebekah Gregory:Sure. So our foundation is called Rebecca's Angels Foundation. You can look us up. It's Rebecca's Angels on social media. We're most active on Facebook, and then our website is rebekasangels.org, and we can help anyone across the country.
Rebekah Gregory:We we set people up to a therapist near them, and we fund therapy for however long they need. So, it's been just an incredible thing to see all the all the families being healed. And then my social media is Rebecca m Gregory, and I make terrible leg jokes
Ariah Daniels:and try to They are so funny.
Rebekah Gregory:People know that they're not alone. Oh, yes. An ID. I have a book. Thank you, Mike.
Rebekah Gregory:You're way better at this promotion stuff. Taking my life back.
Mike Van Ryn:Awesome. Well, Rebecca Gregory, we wanna thank you. We also wanna recognize you for the person that you are, the heart that you have, taking a horrible, horrible tragedy, turning that into an opportunity to help people across the globe. We thank you for everything you've done invest in team Zigner.
Sam D'Arc:Thanks for being with us.
Rebekah Gregory:Thanks, everybody.
Speaker 5:My greatest takeaway today from Rebecca Gregory is the fact that every day we have a choice, and we can get fired in our negativity, and we can pull into ourselves, and we can get lost or overcome by our challenges, or we can pick ourselves up, dust ourselves up, start the day, do our best, you know, take on those challenges, and do everything we can to succeed that day. And my gosh, if we can take it one step further and make a positive out of our negative and make success out of our challenges, we are truly season today, and we are truly living life. On that note, based on what she's been through, every day is a gift. And every day, we have to wake up and we get to go to work, be positive, have a successful day, share something wonderful with someone. That's a gift, and we forget that.
Speaker 5:So we need to remember that one every single day.
Speaker 6:Wow. Rebecca was such an inspiration. I have a whole page full of notes, but what pops out at me is take an hour of power every morning for yourself. And also, on the other side of fear, you will be unstoppable. So I got so much out of it, a whole page full of notes, and those are the 2 things that kinda keep resonating.
Speaker 7:Hi. This is Tracy Brubaker with the recruiting team, and I just wanted to say that today, listening to Rebecca and all that she's been through and her positive attitude of looking at life and realizing that she's blessed to be the survivor that she is, it just makes you put everything in perspective to when you think you're having a bad day and how easy our lives are and just how mindset is everything. So I just really enjoyed it. I was very uplifted and inspired by her story and touched, of course, many tears in the room. And I just appreciate the fact that Ziegler does these incredible series that help us to grow and expand our thoughts and ourselves.
Speaker 7:I can't wait to read her book.
Speaker 8:Hi. This is Brian Coster from the Olin Park campus, and I'd like to take a moment and share a few takeaways from today's guest speaker, Rebecca Gregory. The first one was she's a survivor, not a victim, and that kept her humor during a horrific time in her life. Specifically, writing on her leg, it's not you, it's me. Also, showing courage in the face of adversity and turning it into a positivity.
Speaker 8:She was positive during every bit and every step of everything she went through. Going to the exact point of the terrorist bombing to create new memories with her son and new family show that she is unstoppable on the other side as she promised to herself. She said that the most beautiful parts of life come from the most broken places. She is a true example of staying positive through life's trials. It was a great story for all of us to hear today just to show us the positivity that we can bring to each other's lives.
Speaker 8:Have a great day, team Ziegler.
Sam D'Arc:A special thanks to all who contributed to this week's podcast. Until next week, how are you driving vision today?