86. Restarting Your Relationship with Mark Novitsky, MD

Dec 8

Why do we always think we have to wait until New Year’s to set a resolution or change something big in our lives? We don’t! We can start right now. Dr. Mark Novitsky and I are talking about how to restart any area of your life by setting small, achievable goals.

Restart and Create New Opportunities By:

Figuring out what areas of your life you want to restart
Brainstorm what specifically you want to restart
Write down how you will do that
Create small, achievable goals
Do it! Don’t wait for the perfect time, there isn’t one!

Listen to Episode 86 Here

Or listen on your favorite podcast app: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android

About Mark Novitsky, MD

Dr. Mark Novitsky is a Board Certified Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Board Certified Adult Psychiatrist. Dr. Mark believes that effective work with children involves working closely with parents, schools, and other medical/mental health providers - to achieve a joint goal of optimizing a child’s well-being.

His extensive clinical experience includes, but is not limited to:

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Mood Disorders
Depressive disorder
Bipolar disorder
Anxiety Disorders and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Childhood trauma/Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Substance Use Disorders

Dr. Mark is an adjunct faculty for Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University’s Department of Psychiatry. He was previously the Corporate Medical Director for one of Philadelphia’s largest non-profit Child Mental Health Organizations. He is a graduate of The Beck Initiative, a joint collaboration between The Aaron T. Beck Center at The University of Pennsylvania and CBH/DBHIDS, for Cognitive Therapy and Research.

For the last several years, he has had the privilege of working at Washington DC’s premier psychiatry office, Potomac Psychiatry, as a child and adolescent psychiatrist, adult psychiatrist, and a forensic expert witness providing court testimony in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia region. Potomac Psychiatry has been featured as the Faces of Washington, in The Washingtonian Magazine.

Dr. Mark grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs, received his undergraduate degree from Wake Forest University, and attended both medical school and psychiatry residency at Temple University School of Medicine (now Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University). He served as Chief Resident in his third year of residency at Temple. He completed Child and Adolescent fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University, where he served as Chief Fellow.

During his fellowship, Dr. Mark was awarded a research grant. He has several publications in peer-reviewed journals and has presented his research at the annual meetings of both the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP). In 2013, his Adherence in Pediatric Psychopharmacology-A Multi-dimensional Perspective and Approach was a docent selection of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Dr. Mark has taught hundreds of medical students and residents, and most recently was the lead Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist in a non-profit public outreach campaign to Philadelphia schools through Michael’s Giving HAND (Micahel P. Donatucci Foundation, Inc ), teaching school administration, teachers, counselors, and parents about how to identify and address Depression, Anxiety, Substance abuse, and Bullying.

When he’s not working, Dr. Mark enjoys spending time with his family, walking around Longwood Gardens, checking out live music, and being outdoors with his Labradoodle.

It’s Not Too Late!

It’s not too late to restart and rethink any area of your life that doesn’t feel good! Dr. Mark says that we don’t have to wait for the perfect opportunity to have a restart. We can create our own opportunities to improve our lives.

One of the key aspects of restarting is to think of it as a new opportunity. What’s worked before? What hasn’t worked? Reevaluate and create your restart realistically in ways that work for you.

We think it’s really important to consistently check in with your partner. This applies outside of the restart planning, too! Getting a sense of where each other is in life and what their priorities are is such an essential part of building a healthy relationship.

Relationship Restarts

I personally love doing these restarts with Dr. Mark. We can bounce ideas off with each other, ask opinions on what the other thinks we should prioritize, and have a partner to keep each other motivated.

Your partner can also help you see how you can restart something by thinking in a new way. Restarts have to work for you, but sometimes you need to think totally outside your normal line of thinking.

Dr. Mark and I are figuring out all the areas of our lives we want to restart. Once we’ve done this, we brainstorm what we can restart and improve and how to do that. Remember, smaller goals are often better and lead to long-term happiness!

Homework for Women Physicians

What areas of your life are you looking forward to restarting? What kind of changes do you want to make? Let me know in the comments below!

In This Episode

How to view your restart as a new opportunity [1:30]
The importance of regularly checking in with your relationships [10:30]
How to plan a restart with your partner [12:00]
What happens when you look at restarting as thinking of something in a different way [18:15]
Why you should figure out all your areas to restart and work on small goals for each of them [24:00]

Quotes

“You don’t have to wait until New Year’s, that’s so cliche. The restart can happen now.” [5:11]

“Resetting by being willing to have the difficult conversations, by being willing to hold the boundaries so we can feel content because we’re thinking we are holding the boundaries. Also, maybe leave some space to be spontaneous.” [14:48]

“You can love what you do and own it, not have to change it, and still be there for your family.” [25:35]