Put yourself first. We are bombarded with marketing messages; we're told we're not doing enough, we're not being enough, we're not pretty enough, thin enough, left enough, right enough. Pick a thing. When it's this loud out there, it's hard to remember the smallest voice in the room, which is you and your intuition.

Dr. Tiffany Smith is a trailblazing functional psychiatric nurse practitioner and founder of Aroma Functional Nutrition. She found her calling by helping her combat veteran husband recover from debilitating pain, PTSD, and other conditions. She witnessed the debilitating effects of the Western medicine approach and turned to functional medicine and nutrition to create a holistic approach to healing.

Dr. Tiffany loves empowerment. As a self-proclaimed DIYer, she likes to take control. She became a nurse and eventually went back to school to do a Master's in Education, where she found herself working in a crisis unit for 55+ adults, and asked herself, why is there a revolving door in mental health?

"Sometimes I just talk to people and be open, and in that conversation they're able to release and those symptoms can dissipate," says Dr. Tiffany. "And in our [health] system, it's like, oh, you're sad. … You've been saying for two weeks you can't sleep, you have a loss of appetite. You're not remembering having an issue. Oh, you qualify for a major depressive disorder, not the human aspect that again, life is just beating you down and you were screaming for help."

Dr. Tiffany created her own practice to give that support and add wellness back into the business side of medicine and health.

"So with treatment, let's start with first life navigation and where you are and what's really pressing on you," says Dr. Tiffany, who says the next steps can include physical and physiological.

Dr. Tiffany says when life has you by the throat, do what you can to step out of the situation. Find moments for you – even if it's just a few extra minutes in the bathroom to take a breath.

"Make sure you are on your schedule. Make sure you have that time for you. Identify those things that make you happy that bring you relief," says Dr. Tiffany. "You're going to be able to remove a lot of the barriers that are inhibiting you from hearing yourself, and because you need to hear yourself to figure out how to get out the heck of the stuff, you're in, right? And all that noise prevents you from doing that."

Be fair to yourself. It's ok to say no. Look for opportunities to take the burden off of you.

"Pay attention to what you're putting on yourself, how you got there, and then start to be very, very protective with yourself and what you bring on, what you say, who you're around," says Dr. Tiffany. "You first. Because if you aren't, well, if you aren't doing okay, how does that affect everything else? So you first."

You have to pause and pause frequently. If you're very stressed, you have to pause a lot. Dr. Tiffany says most people don't come to see a psychiatrist at the beginning of their symptoms; they come at the end when they're at their breaking point.

"You remember you and who you are. Tell yourself the things you love about you. Surround yourself with people who tell you how awesome sauce you are, and believe them. Accept them. Take their word."

Connect with Dr. Tiffany Smith: https://www.wellness.vegas

Other GoG episodes you might want to check out:

How Your Nervous System Shapes Your Money Habits [https://sarahwalton.com/nervous-system-regulation]

Overcome Societal Expectations of 'You're Not Enough' [https://sarahwalton.com/societal-expectations-for-women/]

You can check out our podcast interviews on YouTube, too! http://bit.ly/YouTubeSWalton

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