Dr. Tiffany Moon
Appearances
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
But I talked to my husband about it and he said, babe, I'm not worried because you always handle yourself well. Like these women aren't going to ruffle your feathers. Like just be yourself. They can't put words in your mouth. They can only show what you do and say. And I think that you'll be fine. I think that you'll not embarrass yourself. I don't know if that ended up coming true.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
People who have watched season five can opine on that. But overall, I am glad that I did the show because it gave me a lot of exposure. And now I can talk about things that are really important to me, like gender equity in the workplace and helping with a lot of charity organizations that I work with here in Dallas.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Actually, one of the chapters in the book is all about Real Housewives. And one of the segments is about if the show is scripted or not. So I'll give you a little spoiler alert, but you have to read the book to find out the rest. It's not scripted, but Real Housewives in particular is very heavily produced. So you have these producers whispering in your ear, hey, don't forget to bring up this.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Don't forget to talk about this. And they egg you on to have some moments of conflict, if you will. But they never give you lines. They never say, oh, you have to say X, Y, and Z. But they basically tell you that you need to talk about something.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Yes. Yes. And you're very acutely aware that the producers want to make a moment. So if you don't end up getting in a heated exchange and you're just sitting there pow-wowing and being nice, it's not going to work. You're going to sit there for a long time. I learned very quickly when I was filming that I either needed to give the producers what they wanted or I was going to be there all day.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
because they'll do it again and again. And you can't leave until your scene is done and you're not done until you give them what they want. So sometimes I just would cave in and just be like, tell me what, oh, you want me to get in a fight? Sure, I'll get in a fight. Then can I be done? Then can I go home?
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Yes, for sure. And this turning point, it was very gradual. It's not one day I woke up and the sun was shining and the birds were chirping and I decided to practice gratitude and no, it wasn't like that. And I still struggle with it.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
But I noticed probably around six to seven years into my career post residency as an academic anesthesiologist working in a level one trauma center, that burnout was on the rise. And I used to think, oh, burnout, that's such a buzzword. It's like what people use as a cop out when they can't take it. Not me. Like I'm a soldier. I can take 24 hour trauma call. Don't need to check on me.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
I can hold my bladder. I'm fine. I always... prided myself on being a workhorse and not some like dainty flower that needed self-care time. And then we were made to take this thing called the Maslach Burnout Inventory. And it's like a quiz that you take. And it was like, do you ever feel like your work doesn't matter? Do you have a sense of depersonalization?
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Do you ever feel like you're lacking empathy? And I was going through the questions and I was like, is this what burnout is? I didn't really understand what it was. And then when I got the score of my burnout inventory, it was very high. And I was like, row, row. And looking back, I think I basically burned myself out.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
I was like redlining my engine from the age of six when I landed in America until about 36. Like I never let up on the gas. Like you said, I graduated from medical school at the age of 23. I went to the best anesthesia residency program in the country at UCSF. I finished when I was 28 years old, got married, signed on to be a faculty.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Struggled with infertility for over a year and then got pregnant with my twin daughters who were born when I was 30. Then I was doing all this academic mentoring, clinical trials. One weekend per month, I would take a 24-hour trauma call, which is Saturday 7 a.m. to Sunday at 7 a.m. And sometimes I slept some of those 24 hours and sometimes I didn't.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
And then Sunday I would rest and play with the kids and then Monday start the week over. So I was just like pedal to the metal, whatever you want to call it. And I think I burned myself out because I didn't invest in self-care time. I basically thought that self-care was a luxury and not a necessity. And I really had to learn the hard way.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Yeah, exactly. I had this sense of depersonalization and that my work didn't matter. Sometimes in the OR, I would maintain homeostasis for a patient, keep their blood pressure up, transfused blood, things like that. But I knew that ultimately their outcome wasn't going to be good. I knew that. It felt like putting a bandaid on a hole. It's not going to heal it. And it just felt insignificant.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
What am I really doing? Am I really helping this patient or helping the world? Should I focus my efforts somewhere else where I can actually make a meaningful impact on people's lives? I felt so lost.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Yes, that is very true. It is not an overnight thing or a weekly thing. Like I said, it's always a work in progress. I'm always trying to get back to my truest, most authentic self. And sometimes I catch myself doing things that prick me a little bit. Oh, why am I doing that? That doesn't feel good to me.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
So I make mistakes all the time, but yeah, it's having that true North star of knowing who you are and doing the things that you want to do and not because you're a people pleaser or everyone thinks you should or shouldn't be doing something.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
It's very difficult. Sometimes as a woman, you have to be stern in order to be taken seriously. If the patient all of a sudden in the middle of surgery is not doing well, and I need to command the attention of the room and I raise my voice, people are like, Oh, she was very stringent there or very bossy. But if a male does it. than he's seen as taking charge and getting control of the room.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
So I think there is a double standard when it comes to how men and women have to behave in the workplace. Sometimes after something terrible has just happened, I try to comfort the nurses or comfort my medical students, but I see my male colleagues just take off their gloves and leave the room.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
So you have to balance this assertiveness and ability to command the room and command respect of those who you work with but still have a softer side so that you don't get labeled with a certain word. It's difficult.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
The first step is to not take yourself so seriously because if you're serious and like, oh, I'm an anesthesiologist, I'm a surgeon, I'm a CEO, then you're not going to get on the floor and do the funny things and make sounds and pretend to be an animal.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Or in my case in 2020, when we were all stuck at home during the pandemic, that's when I started doing TikTok dances and making like quarantine fashion and like making a dress out of toilet paper or something like that. The first step is to get over yourself. You're not that big of a deal.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Everyone's just trying to have a good time and you will be much more likable and relatable if you just let down your guard and just be yourself. So for me, that was the number one thing. The second thing is to stop caring what other people think. I have a coaching business and I sometimes work with my clients on business coaching or social media coaching and marketing.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
My single girlfriends that want to go out and have girls wine night on Thursdays for three hours. I don't have time for that right now in my life. So I think in different seasons of your life, different people come in and out and that's okay.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
And they'll be like, oh no, Dr. Moon, like I can't possibly do what you do on social media and make these skits or post pictures of myself. Like I, and I'm like, why not? Why can't you? Oh, well I have patients and my grandmother, she's like very religious. I don't want her to, and it's, you have to stop. Living your life according to what other people might think or say about you.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
What a terrible way to live your life that every decision about something you want to do, you first have to be like, oh, but what will other people say or think about me? So step two is to just abandon other people's opinions. Truly. Most of the time it's people like sitting at their house, not doing a whole lot that are calling you out. Oh, who does she think she is posting on social media?
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Or, oh, now she's starting a business. Like she didn't go to school for that. She doesn't know what she's doing in that. Somebody will. always have something to say about you putting yourself out there. But like I say, you don't get to talk about me who's in the arena when you're sitting on the sidelines.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Some people want to drag you back to your old self and it's because they don't like change or they like the old you and they're uncomfortable with you changing. But as I've gotten to different levels of my life, I've had to let some friends go. not like breaking up with them or not that I don't care about them anymore.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Oh, for sure. When I started my candle business, some of my friends in medicine were like, you're already a doctor and you publish and do research. Isn't that enough for you? It's like the same people who think that ambition is bad. And I said, I want to do something outside of medicine. I want to flex my creativity and have fun. And they just didn't understand.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
I had a friend who was morbidly obese and she finally decided she was tired of being big. She started working out, eating right, hired a personal trainer. And one of her friends would call her and ask to go have tacos and margaritas on Friday night. And she's, no, I don't want to, because I have training with my trainer Saturday morning. I don't want to be tired. I don't want to eat tacos.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Some people want to drag you back to your old self and it's because they don't like change or they like the old you and they're uncomfortable with you changing. But as I've gotten to different levels of my life, I've had to let some friends go. Not like breaking up with them or not that I don't care about them anymore.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
My single girlfriends that want to go out and have girls wine night on Thursdays for three hours. I don't have time for that right now in my life. So I think in different seasons of your life, different people come in and out and that's okay.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Yeah. Have you ever gone on a guy's fishing trip or something and you go back to work on Monday in the office and your guy colleagues are like, oh, John, who was watching your kids while you were on your fishing trip? It doesn't get asked. That was just one instance. Also, when I'm on some panel or giving a keynote talk at the end, they'll be like, Oh, how do you manage to do it all?
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Dr. Moon, you're an anesthesiologist, a mother, an entrepreneur, now an author, a professional speaker. And it's, I asked my husband, cause he speaks too. He does like real estate. And I'll say, babe, when you give like panels and keynotes and stuff like that, does anyone ever ask you like how you do it all or what your tips are for work-life balance? And he's, huh? And I was like, exactly.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
That's what I thought. Yeah. So there is a double standard when it comes to professional women who work outside of the home, that there's the societal construct that they need to make sure the house is managed to and do all of their duties outside of the house. And there's a lot going on. I never pretend to do it all perfectly.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
And I'm very transparent about all the help that I have and how much juggling it takes to do everything. But again, I wouldn't have it any other way. I don't want to stay home and be a housewife. There's nothing wrong with that. I just, that's not where my personality is. I need to be working on like five different projects at one time.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
So I just wish that society would stop pitting like working moms against not working moms. and ask women how they're juggling it all.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Yeah, I love Tony. He's such a good friend of mine. I think it goes back to what I was saying before, not taking yourself so seriously, not caring what other people think. I have so much fun shooting my TikToks and Instagram reels. I really do. Sometimes I'm by myself, but usually my assistant is with me. And there are days, John, that we're like shooting TikToks and we are laughing so hard.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Like I'm trying not to pee my pants. Like we're just, it's so fun that it doesn't feel like work. And for a long time, I used to feel that way about anesthesia, but because of some political things that happened at work, it sucked some of the fun out of it. But I just wish that everyone had some moments in their everyday life where they could lean towards joy and laughter and being silly.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Sometimes we adults like just take ourselves way too seriously. Like when's the last time you were truly silly with yourself or your children or your spouse? It's fun. And it reminds us that we as adults need to play just like you said in that article that you wrote.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
That I would completely bomb and then be standing there on stage and there would be like crickets. Like you tell a joke and it doesn't land and it's just like silence when you expected some chuckling. And standup comedy is probably one of the scariest things that I've ever done.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Now I've never gone like bungee jumping or jumping out of a plane because I have a very strict rule in my life where if I have to sign a waiver before I do it, like it's not going to happen. I don't even do roller coasters. I think there is so much personal growth that comes from being made to do a standup performance.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
I think every adult should be like forced to do an improv open mic night, some point in their lives, because you learn so much about yourself and coming up with a 10 to 15 minute set where it's just you and a microphone on stage, like that takes forever. hours, 10s and 20s of hours if you want it to be good.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
And it gives me immense respect for the comedians out there who are hosting award shows and having one hour specials on Netflix. Netflix has not called me yet for a special. I'm still waiting. But immense respect for people who are gifted in that they're able to make us laugh. I think laughter is so underrated as the best medicine. It really is.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Yes. That was me 10 years ago. I was so focused on the finish line and getting there as fast as possible, but there was very little joy or creativity or laughter on the way there. And that's when I realized that something needed to change that I didn't want to live the last 40 years of my life like I had lived the first 40. And what your friend says about young people is true.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Hi, John. Nice to be here.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
They look on YouTube, TikTok, whatever, and they see Mr. Beast is giving away a Lamborghini or this influencer lives in this $10 million mansion. And I'm like, oh my God. We are teaching kids the wrong things. You ask kids what they want to be these days, like 20% of them say an influencer. Back when I was a child, that was not an option. First of all, the only two options were doctor or lawyer.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
But anyhow, it's just social media gives the perception that if you just get lucky and make a few videos, you can become a multimillionaire. And it's simply not true. Even the successful content creators say, Maybe some of them got lucky, but they've also been consistently putting out content for years and years before they became a household name and other people.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
What I noticed about the young people these days is they lack the persistence and the perseverance to become successful. They have very little. ability to handle stressors and what I call frustration tolerance. Something's not working and they just lose it. And this isn't working, mom. This, my iPad's not well, did you charge it last night?
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
The problem is that we have now given the children and adolescents everything at their fingertips in the form of a smartphone and now AI. And I'm afraid that it's making us more dumb and and more disconnected, which is the opposite of what you would think looking at the surface.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
It only gets harder. I love Angela Duckworth. Back when I was our director of resident recruitment, I was responsible for looking at the over 1000 applications we got for our 20 anesthesia residency spots. And I would always grade our applicants on their academics,
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
their extracurriculars and research and then i made this thing called grit and i would grade them on it whatever after interviewing them looking at their track record of being involved in activities over time and i would always assign everybody a grit score so maybe their academics was like a six or seven maybe they weren't a great tech test taker.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Well, I was raised with just a tiger mom. So there was not that deep sense of affection. I never heard, I love you as a child. I'm proud of you. Nothing like that.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
And I'm like, but this guy is going to show up in the OR every single day. He's not going to have excuses. He's not going to take shortcuts. So grit, I'm telling you is everything.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Those are the takeaways that I took away from the different chapters of my life. Stop the cycle of compare and despair, be open to love and unexpected places. My husband right now, we just celebrated our 13 year wedding anniversary. If you asked me when I was 25 or 20 years old, who would be my husband? This is not who I would have painted. And I think sometimes we become so rigid.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
in what we think is good on paper or best for us, that we lose sight of other opportunities. So I wrote the joy prescriptions for the readers, but secretly I wrote them for myself too.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
So I took what I consider to be the good parts of a tiger mom, which is placing a lot of emphasis on respect, education, being kind to other people, but then also showing my kids that I love them, not because of what they achieve, but because of who they are.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
I'm of the mindset that you just got to do it. There's the slower you peel it is the slower you peel it. I would just rip that bandaid off. If your relationship is not working for you, then end it instead of staying in the same dead end relationship that you know is not bringing you joy, but you're scared.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
There are certain things that are intertwined because every moment you stay in a relationship that's not working for you is another day that you are not available to be in a different relationship that does truly bring you joy. If your job is not working for you, if you don't feel that the work you do is valued and you don't like the people you work with, then get another job.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
So many people that I coach tell me they feel stuck and I am empathetic to that sentiment, but oftentimes it's us that that keeps us stuck, our mindset and our beliefs. And sometimes you just need a little push from someone you like and trust to get you moving in the right direction. Okay.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
The book was a big leap of faith. I've been working on it for over three years. I had a lot of limiting beliefs. What if it sucks? What if no one reads it? What if they read it and write a terrible review and then I see it and cry? And sometimes you have to take your own advice. I just finished talking about letting go of other people's opinions and putting yourself out there in order to grow.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
And the fact of the matter is, guess what? Like not 100% of people who meet you or read your book or buy your product will like it. That's okay. That's what life is all about. And I think building immunity to possible negativity is an important skill that we can all learn.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
I would tell her things are going to get better. Focus on what truly matters to you and quit trying so damn hard.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
I would say you can follow me with all my antics on social media at TiffanyMoonMD. My website is TiffanyMoonMD.com if you're interested in having me as a speaker. There's a forum on there to fill out. And then my book, Joy Prescriptions, is available anywhere books are sold or on joyprescriptions.com.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Thank you so much for having me.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
I think I just got fed up, John. You get into your like mid thirties and there's this joke that like, I don't have any Fs left to give probably because I gave them all out in my twenties. You just get to the point where you're like, I just want to be me. I want to be me around my family and friends and spouse and work.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
And it's like when you have to hide certain facets of yourself, you're not showing up as your whole authentic self. And it just sucks. It doesn't feel authentic. And I always felt when I was a practicing academic anesthesiologist, which I still am, that I needed to act, look, and behave a certain way for other people to take me seriously.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
When I walk into a patient's room who has cancer or who got in a bad car accident and needs to have their femur pinned, and I say, hi, I'm Dr. Moon. I'm going to be your anesthesiologist today. I thought that I needed to look and behave a certain way for people to take me seriously because I look young, I'm Asian, I'm small, and I'm a woman.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
And a lot of times I would walk into patients' rooms and they would be like, oh, are you going to be our doctor? And I'm like, I pretty much just said that I, like I introduced myself as the anesthesiologist. And then halfway through the conversation, sometimes the patient or their family member will be like, do you know when the doctor's coming in?
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
And I'm like, what are, who did you think I was this whole time? And I just really thought I needed to be serious and have a facade of professionalism. So no talking about fashion or beauty, no talking about rap music, just had to be very prim and proper at all times. And I think somewhere in my mid thirties, I was like, I'm fed up. Like I want, I just want to be myself. I want to be funny.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
I want to be able to joke around. I don't want to have this facade of seriousness all the time just so that people will take me seriously.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
That's really funny. I don't know that most people know all those things.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Oh my gosh, that's such a good question. I don't know if it was like one day a light bulb went off in my head and I thought like, wow, look at everything I have. When that little girl who was six years old was on a plane by herself coming from Beijing to JFK,
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
not knowing any English, she could not imagine that this was the life she would live, that she would be at a professor at a medical school, have people coming up to her, telling them that they're inspired by her, having this big, beautiful house that she lives in. Like I never had grandiose dreams like this.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
But the fact of the matter was, and they talk about this hedonistic treadmill, you get used to having nice things. And I don't mean that I'm not grateful. It's like you hit an achievement or a goal or an object. And then it's always what's next? What's next? It's a lot of what's next. And I've been chasing what's next basically my entire life.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
And through writing joy prescriptions is when I figured out that the joy has to be in the journey because it's not in the destination.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
It feels amazing. I can't wait for people to read it and to give me some feedback. I really hope that it resonates with people and that they relate to it because growing up as an immigrant to this country, like academic achievement was the be all end all of success to my parents, right?
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
And I think a lot of people also grew up like that, like having to do extra homework on the weekends, go to Chinese school, get a good SAT score. It's that chasing of the goal that I was always doing as a child. And even though that brought me a lot of success as it would appear inside, I felt quite empty. And like, I didn't really know who I was.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
The problem is when you measure yourself and your worth by your achievements and accolades, when those things stop coming in, you lose your identity a little bit. I didn't know who I was. So I had to figure that all out from the inside out.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
I think it's a lot of societal conditioning. I think we're led to believe as kids, like if you do a, B and C, you'll stay on the right track and you'll get to the finish line and everything will be unicorns, rainbows and puppies. And it's just not. And what I did for so long is I had my head down focused on the finish line that I didn't get to look around and stop and smell the roses.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Like I don't have memories of a robust college experience. Because I literally lived at the library and was studying so hard. Like I remember going to maybe a few frat parties and things like that. But I just I don't have these like robust memories because you have to spend time with people in order to make those memories. And I was just with my books all the time.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
And I'm just like, I don't have many regrets in life, but I wish that I would have just slowed down a little bit and enjoyed the journey a little bit instead of racing singularly towards the finish line. Because the fact of the matter is there's no prize at the end. I thought that there was going to be a prize and there wasn't.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
That's what I'm talking about. That's why, like when I was at Cornell, I didn't get to do much because I was taking 17 to 19 credits a semester. My dad didn't want me to take what's called a gap year, which is when you take a year off between college and medical school. He wanted me to go straight through.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
One of the semesters, I was taking organic chemistry and studying for the MCAT and trying to have a social life that probably failed. And so I missed out on so many opportunities experiences and connections, because I prioritize the books, and all that so that I could go around telling people that I graduated at the top of my medical school class at the age of 23.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
And it's no one cares about that anymore. Like I don't meet strangers charity events or board meetings and hi I'm Tiffany I graduated from medical school when I was 23 no one cares it didn't do anything I just got to start residency earlier than everybody you know and I just wish I would have slowed down and enjoyed the process a little bit more
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
Very good question, John. The way the Real Housewives work is that at the end of each season, they always ask the current cast members if they have any friends that would be good to join the show. And so I had been recruited several years before the year that you saw me on TV.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
And I had always said no, because I was working as a full-time academic anesthesiologist and I had twin toddlers that were potty training at home. And I just said, no, it's not for me. I had never seen the show before, but I knew what it was. And my take on the show was that it was a bunch of middle-aged women arguing and going to parties and things like that.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
And I just thought that it wasn't for me. But then around 35 ish, my husband says that I had my midlife crisis and that's when I felt a little bit lost. I was doing a little bit of soul searching and my friend came knocking again. And she said, the producers really want to talk to you. They think you'd be perfect for the show. Will you just have a conversation with them?
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
And I said, fine, I can't promise anything, but I'll talk to them. So of course, one thing led to another. And I got the call in 2021. that they wanted me to be the newest Real Housewife of Dallas. And I had all but forgotten about it since having the Zoom meeting like a month prior. And I didn't really think I would get picked. I really didn't. And then I had a lot to contemplate.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Tiffany Moon on How to Write Yourself a Prescription for Joy | EP 608
I made an Excel spreadsheet of the pros and cons of joining Real Housewives because that's basically how I make all my important decisions in life. Primary of concern was how it would impact my professional reputation because I've been working my whole life to be where I am now. I work at a medical school. I have medical students and residents who look up to me. Patients, obviously.