Ruth Pearson - Forward Living

Today should be interesting, I will be having my two grand fur babies for the day, first time having both of them at mine. Alfie might not be impressed having two energetic pups (well year old) collie & collie x lab.

I will certainly be kept busy but it’s also a privilege that my kids are happy to leave their babies with me whether that be the human or furry kind.

Today is likely to be slightly chaotic with plenty of funny moments involved.

What is your Saturday looking like?

I was thinking today about how easy it is to slip back into feeling like nothing is working.

Not because life is necessarily falling apart, but because when we’re overwhelmed our minds start looking for evidence that we’re stuck.

I’ve learnt over the years that clarity isn’t the absence of problems. It comes from creating enough space to breathe, enough space to think and enough space to respond instead of reacting to everything life throws at us.

That doesn’t mean I live in that space all the time. I don’t.

I still have days where I catch myself getting caught up in the noise. The difference now is that I recognise it sooner. I know how to slow things down, quieten the fog and find my way back to solid ground.

That’s why I do what I do.

Not because I’ve mastered life or because I have all the answers, but because I know what it’s like to feel lost in the fog and I know it’s possible to find your way through it.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed at the moment, maybe don’t ask yourself how to fix everything today.

Maybe just ask yourself, “What would help me breathe a little more easily right now?”

Sometimes that’s where clarity begins.

Ruth x

This morning I was looking any the two beautiful roses in my garden. 🌹

I was thinking back to a couple of weeks a go. This part of our garden was completely over grown you wouldn’t have even known there was a rose bush under there.

When I started cutting back, the rose bush gradually appeared to reveal four buds ready to bloom. 🌺

It made me think about the work I’ve done on myself and how I now help others. We all have those buds inside us ready to burst forth, but through life experiences, role expectations, and responsibilities they get covered, like the over growth covered these roses.

I’ve spent years cutting back the over growth and this is how I help other women. We trim back the bits that are hiding our true essence to reveal the beautiful rose inside you.

You hopes, your dreams, your passion, your direction. Who you are when you’re not overwhelmed by all the noise that life throws at you.

We give that part of you access to the sun, allowing it to bloom and be seen in your true beauty.

We all have a rose within us ready to be seen.

What needs trimming back in your life to allow the rose to bloom? ♥️❤️♥️♥️

What if you’re not failing?

What if you’re just overwhelmed?

One of the biggest myths we tell ourselves is that we need to have everything together before we can ask for support.

The truth?

Most of the women I speak to are incredibly capable.

They hold families together, work hard, remember everyone’s birthdays, solve everyone else’s problems and somehow keep smiling.

From the outside they look like they’re coping.

Inside, they’re exhausted.

Overwhelm isn’t a weakness. It’s what happens when life asks more of you than your current resources can give.

As a behavioural psychologist and coach, I don’t believe people are broken. I think most of us have simply spent so long surviving that we’ve forgotten what it feels like to actually breathe.

Sometimes all it takes is one conversation with someone who isn’t trying to fix you, judge you or tell you to “just think positively.”

Someone who will help you untangle the fog, understand what’s really going on, and leave with a plan that actually feels manageable.

❤️❤️ I’ve got space for two one-to-one clarity sessions over the next couple of weeks. ❤️❤️

If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed, stuck or like you’ve lost yourself somewhere beneath everyone else’s needs, send me a message. No pressure, no hard sell. Just a conversation to see whether I can help.

Because you don’t need to become someone new.

You just need enough space to find your way back to yourself.

Thank you to Maira Sheikh - Cheshire Brand Photographer for the photography xx

Does anyone else have a little work companion?

This is Alfie, AKA my shadow ❤️♥️❤️

I’d love to see pics of your little co-workers (or in Alfie’s case sleeper) 😂😂

I was just sitting having my morning cuppa and as I’m prone to do my mind was wondering, thinking about how the roles were assigned in life really impact how we see our selves and how we behave.

What if, as a single parent, we didn’t have to carry the identity of being a burden?

What if, as a teen mum, we didn’t have to believe we’d ruined our lives?

What if, as parents, we didn’t have to believe that perfection was the job description?

What if, after divorce, we weren’t “the failed marriage”?

What if, after trauma, we weren’t permanently “the damaged one”?

What if these roles were things we’d learnt to wear, rather than who we were born to be?

When we have no clear sense of we we are outside these roles, it’s easy for them to become our identity and shape how we behave and the choices we make. Often these may not align with who we are at our core and it causes internal friction and discomfort.

After doing a lot of work with different people I’m in a place where I can, mostly, make choices based on my core values and who I am, instead of what I think I should be doing according to the role I’m in at that time.

Deep I know for first thing in the morning, but you know what, that’s who I am at my core. I think and care deeply, and want to to spread kindness and help other people as much as I can.

What role is dictating your life right now, or are you able to see things from the you inside away from those roles? ❤️🩷❤️♥️

I’m travelling for a photo shoot today and woke up feeling a bit tired (not surprising it’s been a full on week). 😴

The mornings are really the make or break for the day for me. I had a choice, lean into “this is s**t feeling rough, today is going to be hard” or “I’m feeling a bit rough so I’ll take a moment to let myself wake up and focus on the good things going on because I know from experience once I’m properly awake I’ll feel much better.”

So I made my morning cuppa, took my tablets, fed the dog, noticed the way the sunlight caught the beautiful sunflowers I was sent yesterday, and took time to sit and drink my tea before getting ready.

It’s took a lot of practice to get to the point where I can do that more easily. It used to be tears, a sense of dread of how I was going to get through the day, a sense of panic of being out of control of my own body.

I know now that I can always come back to this moment in time before the day races ahead like an out of control horse. 🐎

I’ve regained hold of the reins for another day 🩷❤️🩷

How you start your day really can make or break it. Be gentle with yourself and look for the beauty around you.

How are you starting your day?