Solving For Joy

If you've ever found yourself surrounded by people all day, yet still feeling lonely, this conversation is for you. As physicians and caregivers, we spend so much of our lives showing up for others that meaningful friendship can quietly slip into the background. But connection isn't a luxury. It's one of the things that helps us stay resilient, grounded, and joyful. In this episode, I'm joined by...

This episode explores the powerful connection between stress, the nervous system, trauma, and skin health with board-certified dermatologist and trauma-informed physician Dr. Keira Barr. While many of us think of skin concerns as something happening on the surface, Dr. Barr invites us to consider a different perspective: what if our symptoms are not problems to fight, but messages to understand? T...

Today, we're revisiting one of my favorite episodes on Solving for Joy. This episode explores menopause, movement, running, grief, self-trust, and what it means to reconnect with yourself through joyful movement. Physician, running coach, and fellow physician coach Dr. Michelle Quirk shares how running helped her navigate burnout, loss, and major life transitions, and why movement can be an act of...

Today’s conversation is about teenage girls, social media, anxiety, perfectionism, emotional resilience, and protecting joy in a culture of burnout and comparison. What happens when girls begin losing connection to themselves younger and younger while navigating pressure, performance, comparison, and constant digital noise? In this episode, I’m joined by Jamie Shannon, certified life coach and fou...

Today’s conversation is about physician burnout, survival mode, emotional exhaustion, communication strain, leadership pressure, boundaries, career sustainability, and what it actually takes to stay connected to yourself in medicine. What happens when physicians stay in survival mode for too long and slowly begin losing connection to the parts of themselves that once felt grounded, present, and al...

Today’s conversation is about what happens when something deeply personal changes the way you see everything and quietly reshapes the way you show up in the world. I want to ask you something. Have you ever had an experience that shifted your perspective so much that you couldn’t go back to who you were before? Maybe it changed how you think about your work, your purpose, or the way you care for t...

Have you ever been asked, “What’s your why?”… and found yourself unsure how to answer? Maybe you’ve thought about purpose before. Maybe you’ve even done the work. But something about that question still feels a little abstract… or just out of reach. In this episode, I sit down with Kelsey Vaughn for a behind-the-scenes look at the Why Discovery process inspired by Simon Sinek’s Start With Why. Tog...

Hello, my friend.  If you are a physician, coach, or high achiever who has ever wondered whether it is possible to leave a career you worked your whole life for and actually land somewhere better, this episode is for you. In this conversation, I sit down with my dear friend Dr. Manuela Powell, a former cancer surgeon turned entrepreneur and founder of Doctors Pivot, who helps physicians and profes...

Hello, my friend. If you are a physician, coach, or high achiever who dreams of giving a TEDx talk or keynote and sometimes wonders whether you are truly credible enough to stand on that stage, this episode is for you. In this conversation, I sit down with speaker coach, TEDx speaker, and author Cesar Cervantes, whose book Great Speech is a must read for anyone ready to give transformative present...

Thank you for being here with me. This is a tender season in my life. I am loving my mom while also slowly letting her go. There is no clean way to talk about that. No script for how to do it well. There are moments of sitting at her bedside and feeling everything at once. Love, grief, gratitude, exhaustion. Somehow even laughter still finds its way in. If you have been in a space like this, you k...

Hello, my friend. If you are a high-achieving mom raising an autistic child and sometimes feel overwhelmed by the constant balancing act of caregiving, work, expectations, and your own nervous system, this episode is for you. Parenting in the context of autism can bring extraordinary love, insight, and connection. It can also bring moments of exhaustion, uncertainty, and the quiet pressure to keep...

Hello, my friend. If you are a physician or clinician who finds yourself charting after hours, finishing notes late at night, or catching up on documentation on weekends, this episode is for you. Charting can quietly take over your evenings. It can pull time away from your family, your creativity, and your rest. It does not have to stay that way. In this conversation, you will learn practical ways...

Hello, my friend. If you’re in academic medicine and feeling exhausted, unclear, or quietly frustrated despite working hard, this episode is for you. I’m joined by Dr. Stacey Ishman, MD, MPH , a former full professor with more than 20 years in academic medicine who now helps physicians build promotable, meaningful careers without sacrificing their lives. We talk about what happens when effort stop...

Hello, my friend. I want to talk with you about language. Not grammar or semantics, but the words we use to describe ourselves, our capacity, and our lives. The phrases we repeat so often they begin to feel like truth, even when they’re really just habits. In this episode, I share some foundational ideas from Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP, through the lens of coaching and lived experience....

Hello, my friend. This end-of-year episode is a little different. It’s just you and me, and I want to offer you a tool rather than a conversation. If you’re approaching the new year feeling tired, reflective, or unsure how to move forward without forcing yourself into another round of goals or resolutions, this episode is for you. Instead of goal-setting, I’m introducing a practice I call End-of-Y...

There’s a moment many people are living in right now where the body knows something before the mind catches up. You feel braced. Alert. A little stunned that certain conversations even need to be happening. And while you may technically feel supported in your work or community, safety still feels conditional. That’s where this episode begins. In today’s conversation, I’m joined by Dr. Anna Larson...

So let me tell you a story... A day ago, I sat across from someone who has reshaped the way many women think about running. Not as punishment. Not as performance. Simply as a gentler path back to themselves. That someone is Dr. Michelle Quirk. Michelle is a pediatrician and run coach who talks about movement in a way that softens the nervous system. She offers a kind of grounded wisdom that makes...

So let me tell you a story. A few weeks ago at the Physician Coaching Summit, I walked into a room where the energy felt… different. Warm. Bright. Alive in a way you can feel in your chest. And at the center of it was Dr. Zarya Rubin. She’s one of those people who radiates something you can’t fake — joy, yes, but also this grounded wisdom that only comes from having walked through some real fires....

If you’ve ever wondered “Who am I when I’m not my role?” or “What comes after medicine?” this is the episode you want in your ears. Today, I sit down with my dear friend Dr. Anne Pendo — internist, former chief wellness officer, certified physician coach, grandmother-with-a-tea-set, and lifelong hope giver — to talk about something we don’t talk about enough: Life… after. After the pager. After th...

What do you do when the work you love begins to hollow you out? When you’re showing up for little patients with big needs—and your own family at home—while quietly wondering how long you can keep going? If you’ve ever felt that tension between your vocation and your wellbeing, this conversation is for you. In this episode of Solving for Joy , I sit down with Dr. Kirin Palmer , pediatrician and fou...

What if depression isn’t a flaw to fix—but a signal calling you back to yourself? In this episode of Solving for Joy , I sit down with Dr. Ardeshir Mehran , psychologist, researcher, and author of You Are Not Depressed. You Are Un-Finished , for a conversation that reimagines emotional suffering as an invitation to wholeness. Dr. Mehran’s groundbreaking Emotional Rights Framework identifies seven...

But did it ever actually fit? So much of what we were taught about health, weight, and nourishment has shaped how we care for children—and ourselves. But if you’ve ever felt like those rules never quite matched the real world, this conversation is for you. In this episode of Solving for Joy , I sit down with Jill Castle , pediatric dietitian, parent coach, and author of Kids Thrive at Every Size ....

What happens when every cell in your body says, “It’s time” —but you have no idea what comes next? In this episode of Solving for Joy , host Dr. Chrissie Ott sits down with Dr. Sheri Rosenthal , founder of Wanderlust Entrepreneur and Journeys of the Spirit , for a conversation about trust, flow, and the serendipity of following what feels right. A former surgeon and residency director, Sheri didn’...

What happens when science, leadership, and joy converge? This week, I’m joined by Coach Meg Margaret Moore —co-founder of Wellcoaches , the Institute of Coaching , and the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching —for a profound and forward-looking conversation about the future of well-being, the evolution of coaching, and the art of living a life of purpose. From her early career as a biot...

When suffering shows up, what does it mean to let no pain go untransformed? This week, I’m joined by physician, coach, author, and artist Dr. Sarah Bamford Seidelmann for a whimsical and deeply human conversation about joy, creativity, and the sacred absurd. Together, we explore how boundaries sustain our gifts, what it means to make a “feasting table of our wounds,” and why even in moments of gri...