If you’ve ever felt like your worth depended on what you did for others, this episode will hit you straight in the nervous system.
I sit down with Barb Nangle, boundaries coach, podcast host, and recovery warrior for a deep conversation about how compulsive people-pleasing, codependency, and religious conditioning shaped her life… until she reclaimed it.
We talk candidly about Barb’s decades in Christian spaces, why the church gave her identity but stole her agency, and how 12-step recovery helped her heal from both addiction and approval-seeking. If you’ve been navigating burnout, over-functioning, or secretly resenting the people you’re always rescuing, this is your episode.
Boundaries. Truth-telling. Recovery. Spiritual reclamation. We’re talking SHIFT.
⏱️ In This Episode, We Talk SHIFT About:
00:01 – From addiction to awakening: Barb’s path to recovery
01:56 – What compulsive people-pleasing actually is—and why it’s not selfless
03:17 – Religious trauma, patriarchy, and losing your Self in service
06:34 – Why boundaries are the antidote to burnout
08:42 – The fawn response: when fear shows up as niceness
11:50 – How women are groomed to be over-functioners
14:26 – Church, shame, and the myth of humility
18:10 – How Barb untangled worth from performance
21:23 – 12-step recovery as a path to nervous system regulation
24:50 – The guilt of saying no—and why it’s a sign of growth
27:11 – Healing doesn’t mean you stop caring—it means you stop bleeding
29:38 – Why emotional honesty isn’t optional in leadership
33:05 – From codependent to coach: Barb’s mission now
37:44 – Cultivating healthy selfishness and relational integrity
40:00 – What to do when people don’t like your boundaries
44:17 – The difference between being needed and being whole
48:51 – Self-trust, self-worth, and the return to your truest self
💛 Connect with Barb Nangle
🎧 Listen to her podcast: Fragmented to Whole 🌐 Work with Barb: https://www.f2w.co 📲 Follow on Instagram: @higherpowercoaching
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