Today, I am so thrilled to introduce Tiffany from Oh So You Coaching! I came across her website and was immediately inspired by her courage to pursue a dream that God placed on her heart that was completely different from her degree. As soon as I read her story, I emailed her asking to set up a phone call.What was meant to be a simple 20 minute informational interview turned into us dreaming together and making plans to attend a conference next year! I think you’ll really enjoy what she has to say on the topic of anxiety. Keep on reading, and find some reflection questions at the bottom of this post.

1. Tell me about yourself and why you decided to become a Christian life coach.

Certainly! I am Dr. Tiffany Pierce, but you can simply call me Tiffany. I am a (happy) wife, (proud) mother, and lover of life in general. I’m a natural born encourager and champion, who thrives on seeing others grow and develop into their true selves. I’ve been a Pharmacist for 12 years and a Christian life coach a little over a year, specializing in stress and anxiety coaching.

Becoming a life coach was never in my plan. I had my hopes set on becoming an actress and entertainer with the sole purpose to use my platform to bring others to Christ. When I wasn’t working in the pharmacy, I was in acting school, on set/stage, or dreaming about being a successful actress. Once I had my son who is now 4, my priorities changed.

As I think back, I remember asking God to take the desire away (from acting) if it wasn’t what he wanted me to pursue any longer. After becoming a mom, I no longer had the desire to put in the hustle and hard work that was required to be in the entertainment business. I went back to work after having my son and tried to be happy with just being a pharmacist. Eventually my hours were cut at work unexpectedly, but instead of getting upset, I decided to use that time to really pour my heart out to the Lord.

I wasn’t as happy as I wanted to be, and I knew it was because I wasn’t using a very important part of my design – being creative and helping people. To make a very long story short. I prayed and sought direction, and the Lord led me to  life coaching. I wasn’t thrilled about coaching, until I discovered Christian life coaching, and then it all clicked. I was given this vision for Oh So You coaching, and I took it and ran with it.

2. Why do you think life coaching is so important? What do life coaches do? What type of value do life coaches add to people?

Life coaching has become very popular in the last few years.  I attribute the popularity of life coaching to the growth of awareness around goal setting and productivity. People have gotten serious about their life; committing to advancing in their personal and/or professional lives.

I think therapy has its place, but sometimes you need a little extra motivation to take your life to the next level. That’s where a life coach can help. I am a huge advocate for therapy, if you need specific help to overcome past hurts/trauma, etc. However coaching is completely different from counseling. Coaching focuses on the future (positive psychology) , helping individuals reach higher levels of fulfillment.  Whereas counseling focuses on the past (negative psychology).

Life coaches simply help individuals move from where they are, to where they desire to be. Similar to a sports coach, a life coach helps clients maximize their highest potential, focus on their strengths, while eliminating obstacles that keep the client from winning in their arena of life.

More specifically to my practice, I help clients gain a sense of awareness around specific habits and patterns that are keeping them stuck. Once we identify that- we move on to the vision of where we would like to go, develop a strategy of how to get there, and work around the obstacles that may get in the way. The value added to the clients life is clarity, laser focused goals, and tools to ensure success.

3. We talked about how you’d like for your focus niche to be people dealing with anxiety. Why have you chosen this concentration? 

I celebrated my one year anniversary of Oh So You coaching in September (whoop whoop- insert spirit fingers). Over the past year I have had the opportunity to coach some of the most beautiful and creative women. I started to realize that most of those women were dealing with anxiety and some levels of stress. The coaching sessions began to focus on gaining control of their anxiety, and the Lord began to tug on my heart to start telling my own story with overcoming debilitating anxiety.

I have a special place in my heart for anyone dealing with crippling anxiety. I struggled with anxiety for 9 long years. I didn’t know if I would ever have peace again, but I was determined to find a solution and take my life back. Little did I know, the very tools and strategies the Lord showed me, would later be used to snatch other women from the trenches of anxiety.

The Lord is so faithful, and now I realize why it felt like he was ignoring me. He was there all along, but He needed me to let go of my life, and trust his plan for me. The pain wasn’t in vain. It had purpose. Now I’ve made it my mission to help other leaders, creatives, and visionaries, channel and control their anxiety, in order to live their best life.

4. Why do you think so many people struggle with this area in their life?

Anxiety is a very complex issue. I do believe anxiety can be due to underlying heath conditions and genetics. However, when I speak of anxiety, I’m referring to the anxiety that isn’t due to those two conditions.

Anxiety is rooted in fear. We as humans are prone to trust issues, which also includes having trust issues with God. We worry about our lives, children, jobs, the future, finances, and the list goes on. We are overworked, stressed, unfulfilled, insecure, lonely, etc. We live in a world that screams “you are not enough,” “you are not successful unless you have this, or do this.” As a result we have started competing and trying to keep up with the Joneses. We create the tension in our own lives. And as a result, life becomes overwhelming and out of control, which breeds worry and anxiety.

At some point, it became acceptable and the norm of the culture to be “busy.” But the truth is God never designed us to be robots, but to have balanced lives that overflows with joy. We think we are responsible for our lives, not realizing that God created us and He is our Father. As a father, He is obligated to take care of us. When we lose sight of that…we create unnecessary stress.

5. What advice do you have for people who may be struggling with anxiety? Being a pharmacist, when should someone seek professional help? 

My advice is research the root cause of the anxiety.

Study yourself and become aware of what triggers your anxiety. Once you identify the trigger and stimulus, commit to doing whatever it takes to eliminate “it” from your life.

Decide what it will take to grow into a more peaceful person. Go on a sabbatical and dive into scripture, cry out to the Lord and ask Him to help you.

Cast all your cares onto Him and leave them there. Get a better understanding of what you really want. What are you really afraid of? Really take some time to sit with the anxiety and let it lead you to the real issue.

I would also recommend consistent exercise, meditation, and speaking scripture out loud. Find a scripture that speaks to the negative thoughts that contribute to the anxiety and speak them over yourself.

An individual should seek professional help whenever anxiety starts spilling over into other areas of their life (career, marriage, health, relationships, etc). When you realize you aren’t able to function normally, it’s time to seek help. You may need medication temporarily. A professional can help you find coping mechanisms to help you live a normal life.

6. Do you have any new or exciting projects coming up?

Yes, I just launched my new stress and anxiety coaching program!!! Designed to help individuals channel and control their anxiety in order to birth their dream, launch their vision, and live their best life. I am so excited about this program and the blessing it will be to my clients.

Also you can tune into soar radio every Friday morning at 6:40 am (CST) for my inspirational moments. You can download the soar radio app from your smart phone, or go to www.soarradio.com to listen in.

I also have a new video series titled, “5 ways to Combat Anxiety in 5 days.” The video series is available to all new subscribers to my blog/newsletter. You can sign up at www.ohsoyoucoaching.com.

7. How can my readers stay connected with you?

My website is www.ohsoyoucoaching.com | Instagram & Facebook: @ohsoyoucoaching

Thank you Hanha for having me. I really enjoyed it. I’m so happy to connect with you and your lovely community.

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WOW. Thank you so much for your wisdom, Tiffany! Grab the reflective questions that Tiffany wrote that will help you deal with your anxiety down below and let me know in the comments what you have found that works!