Two physicians, married. Two kids with ADHD. A year of unbilled income. Then she looked at her husband and said, "I'm depressed." He said, "So am I."

That's where Dr. Ali Novitsky's stress framework started. Not in a clinic. At her kitchen table, in the middle of a crisis she hadn't seen coming.

She's a neonatologist turned obesity medicine specialist turned life coach, and what she's built since that moment — a one-to-ten stress scale, six individual stress types, four family stress patterns — is the language she now teaches her clients to use on the thing most of us feel but can't name.

I asked her to walk me through the whole framework on the podcast, including the part where she diagnosed me live on air.

What we get into:

• The 1–10 stress scale and how to find your own symptoms in each zone (takes about a week of paying attention)
• The six individual stress types — assertive, control, catastrophizing, impulsivity, validation, isolation — what each one looks like regulated, and what each one looks like under pressure
• Why control-type isn't a flaw, why catastrophizers are the people you actually want on your team, and why isolation types are the leaders nobody sees
• The four family stress patterns and how one person walking into the room can flip the whole dynamic in seconds
• The ARC framework — Awareness, Regulation, Communication, Connection — and why you don't need your whole family on board to start
• How to teach kids this language without putting them through a quiz they can't take yet

Mentioned on the show:

• Family Stress Type Quiz (free, 3 min) — thefitkidmethod.com
• Individual stress type quiz
• Ali's pilot Family Reset program, starts June 22!
• Ali on Instagram @alinovitskymd
• Ali's website alinovitskymd.com

Please note that some of these links my be affiliate links, which means I may get a commission at no extra cost to you.

Follow along on Instagram → @wealthymommd

If this episode hit, leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it's how new women find the show.

Season 2 starts here.

I closed my flagship program. I let the podcast go quiet for six months. I have no idea what I'm building next, and that's the point.

For seven years, Wealthy Mom MD was a personal finance brand. Hundreds of alumnae, a book, two conferences. And then last fall I realized I didn't want to just talk about money anymore. So I closed Money for Women Physicians, and I went quiet on the podcast to figure out what I wanted to say.

Money was the entry point, not the destination. It still matters (I still believe every woman should make a lot of money), but it's not the whole story. The whole story is how we become the best versions of ourselves. Skin. Hormones. Energy. Relationships. The body you live in. The life you've designed instead of inherited.

I feel like a freshman in college, taking all the classes, figuring out what I want to major in. Dermatology conferences. Longevity conferences (I hate that word, I'll explain). Speaking on AI for my next two engagements. Navigating year two in Tampa, co-parenting, perimenopause, all of it.

What's covered:

• Why I closed Money for Women Physicians after seven years
• Money as the entry point, not the destination
• Why I hate the word "longevity"
• What's coming: skin, hormones, AI, and the conversations I've been waiting to have

Resources:

• The Weekly Edit, my weekly email, at WealthyMomMD.com
• Email topic and guest requests: hello@wealthymommd.com

Follow along on Instagram → @wealthymommd

If this episode hit, leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It's how new women find the show.

Med school taught you how to be a doctor—not how to build a life you love. In this episode, I share the mindset shifts that transformed my money philosophy and how you can start designing a life you don't want to retire from.

www.wealthymommd.com/239