What if the very thing that makes you gifted is also what makes life feel overwhelming?

In this episode of Notes to My Nervous System, Erin Vandermore sits down with therapist Gordon Smith to explore what it means to live in a gifted nervous system — especially after burnout, crisis, or long-term emotional overwhelm.

Giftedness is often misunderstood as simply high intelligence. As Gordon explains, it is a neurodivergent nervous system that processes the world more intensely — emotionally, cognitively, and sensorially. For many gifted adults, this heightened sensitivity can make life feel louder, heavier, and harder to navigate, particularly in systems that weren’t built for how deeply they experience the world.

Together, Erin and Gordon explore:

• Why gifted people often feel “too much” or misunderstood

• How chronic overwhelm and self-doubt can develop over time

• Why traditional school and work environments often fail gifted nervous systems

• How creativity, imagination, and improv can support regulation and recovery

Gordon shares how storytelling and creative expression can help the nervous system feel safer, expand capacity, and rebuild meaning after stress or trauma — without forcing performance or perfection.

This episode is for anyone who has ever felt different, emotionally intense, overwhelmed by their own mind, or exhausted from trying to fit into systems that don’t quite fit them.

Notes to My Nervous System is hosted by Erin Vandermore, a therapist, mom, and creator of the Mind Circuit app. Erin helps people understand their nervous systems with compassion, science, and real-life tools that support emotional regulation, safety, and self-trust.

Mind Circuit is a mental wellness app designed to help you regulate stress and calm your nervous system using evidence-based practices.

Download Mind Circuit:

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.app.ageOfUncertainty&hl=en

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mindcircuit/id6478664305

Website: https://mindcircuit.app

Gordon Smith is a therapist who specializes in working with gifted adults and using improv and creative practices in healing. His work focuses on helping gifted individuals feel safe in their full expression and teaching the nervous system that it no longer needs to contract, perform, or mask to survive. Gordon creates critique-free environments where creativity becomes a pathway to regulation, meaning-making, and nervous-system healing.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gordonsmithashevillehttps://www.facebook.com/GordonSmithLpc/

Two moms regulating in real time so you don't have to do it alone. Struggling with perimenopause symptoms? Can't sleep? Feeling the pressure of January expectations? You're not alone.

In this episode of Regulated-ish, two moms share their unfiltered experiences with:

✨ Perimenopause sleep problems and hormone solutions

✨ Managing January burnout and unrealistic resolutions✨ Women's health advocacy and asking for help

✨ Nervous system regulation for overwhelmed moms

✨ Finding intentional calm in parenting chaos

What You'll Learn:

• Real perimenopause solutions (including estrogen supplements that actually work)

• Why January pressure is unrealistic and how to reset expectations

• Practical nervous system regulation techniques for busy moms

• Permission to put yourself on the "middle burner" instead of the back burner

This isn't therapy or a how-to show—it's two real humans noticing what's showing up and trying to be kinder to ourselves. If you're tired of perfectly staged mom content and want authentic conversation about women's health, mental health, and motherhood, this is your space. This conversation speaks to women navigating stress, advocacy for their own health, and the invisible nervous-system load so many carry quietly.

🌐 Website: mindcircuit.org📸 Instagram: @mindcircuitapp👤 Facebook: @mindcircuitapp

Support the Show:If this episode helped you understand your wiring a little better, please follow the show and leave a 5-star review. It helps us reach more people looking for their own "Aha!" moments.

© 2025 Mind Circuit Inc. All right reserved.

Looking for a low-pressure place to land mid-week?

Join the Regulated-ish Facebook group — real conversations, no fixing.

https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1EpnjUSz1E/?mibextid=wwXIfr

#WomensHealth #MomLife #SleepProblems #MentalHealth #NervousSystem #Motherhood #SelfCare #HormoneHealth #PodcastForMoms #regulatedish #notestomynervoussystem #mindcircuit

Are you tired of feeling "too much" or blaming yourself for relationship patterns? In this powerful episode, we challenge the idea that codependency and boundary struggles are character flaws. Join Dr. Jennifer Dragonette, a psychologist specializing in relationships and the nervous system, for a conversation that reframes your deepest struggles as adaptive, protective responses.

You'll discover:

• Codependency as Protection: It often stems from an early-life belief that safety requires "make sureing"—controlling outcomes to prevent rupture. We explore how this unintentional control can undermine the other partner's competence, rupturing secure attachment.

• Boundaries as Regulation: Why setting boundaries feels so difficult. It's not a lack of willpower, but a sign your nervous system associates the boundary with risk. You'll learn how awareness of a "flooded" state is the key to pausing and setting a boundary as a "trust gesture."

• The Power of Asking: The essential shift from a guessing culture to an asking culture in relationships. Learning to ask brave questions instead of making assumptions is the foundation for building the two criteria for secure attachment: feeling known and feeling competent.

• Glimmers of Safety: How focusing on "glimmers"—moments when you feel safe and connected—helps your nervous system build internal evidence that the world is not "only danger."

If you want to move beyond shame and into safety, this episode is your gentle reframe.

⁠⁠👉 Mind Circuit⁠⁠is your pocket-sized support system for emotional balance and stress relief. With guided breathing, mood tracking, bilateral stimulation, and affirmations backed by neuroscience, it helps you calm your mind and reconnect with your body anytime you need it

⁠⁠DownloadNow⁠⁠ :Google Play → ⁠⁠https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.app.ageOfUncertainty&hl=en⁠⁠

⁠⁠Download Now⁠⁠at App Store → ⁠⁠https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mindcircuit/id6478664305⁠⁠

Follow Us: Instagram →@mindcircuitapp

YouTube → @MindCircuitApp

Website → ⁠⁠https://mindcircuit.org⁠⁠

⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠@Mindcircuit