Inspired Questions: Conversations on Self-Worth, Burnout & Showing Up Authentically | Podcast en RSS.com

Inspired Questions: Conversations on Self-Worth, Burnout & Showing Up Authentically

Inspired Questions: Conversations on Self-Worth, Burnout & Showing Up Authentically

por Ruth Hirshberg, MSW — Grounding with Ruth

Why Is Feeding Ourselves So Damn Complicated? with Melanya Kushla

Why can the question “What are we having for dinner?” fill you with rage at the end of a long day? Food should be simple. We need it to live. And yet somehow it has become tangled up with health, body image, family, culture, pleasure, guilt, responsibility and a seemingly endless list of things we're told we should be doing. In this episode, I sit down with dietitian and eating behaviour specialist Melanya Kushla to talk about what it's actually like trying to feed ourselves in real life. We talk about why food decisions can feel so much harder at the end of the day, the all-or-nothing thinking so many of us carry around food, and practical ways to reduce some of the mental load. Melanya shares her “rule of three,” how creating your own menu of go-to meals can make the dreaded dinner question easier, and why frozen vegetables, canned vegetables and ordering dinner all count. This isn't a conversation about eating perfectly. It's about feeding yourself in a way that works for your body, your life and what you actually have available to you today. In This Episode Why “what's for dinner?” can feel so overwhelming Decision fatigue and why food choices get harder later in the day Creating a personal menu instead of deciding from infinite possibilities Melanya's “rule of three” for reducing mental load The food rules and “shoulds” we absorb from family, culture and diet culture All-or-nothing thinking around food and health Body image and the messages women receive about what health is supposed to look like How the content you consume can affect how you feel about your body Why frozen and canned vegetables absolutely count Simple backup meals for the nights when you have nothing left Making food choices based on what you need, how you feel and what's actually available Why feeding yourself matters more than feeding yourself perfectly About Melanya Melanya Kushla, MS, RD, CHES is a dietitian and eating behaviour specialist who helps people living with fatigue, burnout, and chronic health challenges find ease around food again — no meal plans, no perfection required. She's the founder of Taste & Thrive, a virtual practice built on the idea that sustainable change comes from working with your body and your real life, not against them. Her approach draws on over a decade leading one of the largest teaching kitchen programs in the U.S., where she learned firsthand that lasting change happens through small, doable steps — not willpower. Connect with Melanya: Website: https://tasteandthrive.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tasteandthrive/ Connect with Ruth Website: https://groundingwithruth.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/groundingwithruth/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groundingwithruth/ If this episode made you think, laugh, feel seen or gave you something useful to take into your own life, follow Inspired Questions and leave a review on your favourite podcast platform. Reviews help more women find the show — and I genuinely love hearing what stayed with you.

Every Story is Worth Writing with Sarah Hepburn

Episode Description: In this episode, Ruth sits down with Sarah Hepburn, founder of Turning Pages Studio, to talk about burnout, habits, and the vulnerable work of putting your story on paper. Sarah shares her path from corporate burnout to interior design to ghostwriting, and how something as simple as a morning routine, a journal, or a walk can be the thing that keeps you from falling apart. They get into why fear isn't always the enemy of a good decision, what it's like to hold space for other people's stories without absorbing them as your own, and the question Sarah now asks herself in the middle of hard, emotional seasons of parenting: what do I want to remember about this time? Key Topics: Sarah's path from corporate burnout to interior design to ghostwriting and story work The daily habits that help Sarah stay grounded — routine, journaling, walking Choosing not to go back to work after maternity leave, and how fear played a role in that decision Why comparison lies to us about what other women are actually managing The vulnerability of writing your story down, even if you never share it How Sarah creates space to hold other people's stories without carrying them as her own Navigating the emotional transition of kids growing up and leaving home Why everybody's story — even the quiet, everyday parts — is worth writing Connect with Sarah: Turning Pages Studio A Midlife Moment (Substack) Instagram Walking Forward: Using the Power of Habit to Navigate the Chaos of Life Connect with Ruth: groundingwithruth.com Instagram Clarity Call with Ruth

Why a Day of Release and Renewal Is the Best Gift You Can Give Yourself

This is a special one. I'm joined by my good friend and soon-to-be co-host, Jodie Heffren of Rooted Woodland, to announce something we've been building for over a year: Let Go and Let In, A Journey of Release and Renewal, happening October 24th in the Blue Mountains. We talk about what it actually feels like to let something go, how this day came together between us, and why we built it as a full arc, release and receive, rather than stopping at just letting go. Jodie brings her nursing background and I bring my years as a social worker, and together we've built a day designed to hold you through discomfort and send you home nourished, not emptied out. If you've been feeling stuck, overdue for a day that's just for you, or simply craving time in nature with other women who understand, this conversation is for you. Waitlist is open now. Waitlist members get first access to early bird pricing starting August 10th, before it opens to everyone else on August 12th. Space is intentionally limited to 12 women. Join the waitlist HERE Connect with Ruth: Instagram: @groundingwithruth Website: groundingwithruth.com Connect with Jodie: Instagram: @rootedwoodland Website: rootedwoodland.com Subscribe to Inspired Questions: New episodes drop weekly. Subscribe on your favourite podcast platform so you never miss a conversation. Leave a Review: If this episode resonated with you, I'd be so grateful if you'd leave a review. It helps other women find these conversations when they need them most.

Scary Things, Big and Small

Fear feels the same in your body whether you're admitting you're not okay to one person or standing on a stage in front of hundreds. In this solo episode, Ruth breaks down what fear actually feels like physically, why it's so hard to manage, and walks through the full spectrum of scary things, from the small (saying you're not okay) to the big (speaking publicly, hosting events). She shares real, practical ways to move through fear without waiting for it to disappear first. If you've ever needed permission to say the scary thing out loud, this episode is for you. Connect with Ruth: Website: groundingwithruth.com Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn: search Grounding with Ruth Clarity Call with Ruth: BOOK HERE Subscribe to Inspired Questions: New episodes drop weekly. Subscribe on your favourite podcast platform so you never miss a conversation. Leave a Review: If this episode resonated with you, I'd be so grateful if you'd leave a review. It helps other women find these conversations when they need them most.

Take the Mask Off: A Guided Meditation

This is a guided meditation for the mask we wear even when no one else is watching. We usually talk about masks in relation to other people, but sometimes the hardest place to take it off is when we're completely alone. In this episode, Ruth guides you through breathwork and affirmations to practise meeting yourself without pretense, even for a few minutes. If you've ever felt unfamiliar with your own company, or scared of what's underneath the mask, this one is for you. You don't have to have it figured out to be worthy of your own patience. In this episode you'll experience: A grounding breath practice, an honest look at why being alone with ourselves can feel scary, and a set of affirmations to help you meet yourself exactly as you are. Connect with Ruth: Website: groundingwithruth.com Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn: search Grounding with Ruth Clarity Call with Ruth: BOOK HERE Subscribe to Inspired Questions: New episodes drop weekly. Subscribe on your favourite podcast platform so you never miss a conversation. Apple Podcasts Spotify Or wherever you listen Leave a Review: If this episode resonated with you, I'd be so grateful if you'd leave a review. It helps other women find these conversations when they need them most. Music credit: Music by Viacheslav Starostin from Pixabay

Take the Mask Off: April Ratchford on Autism, Burnout, and Coming Home to Yourself

In this episode I sit down with April Ratchford, occupational therapist and host of Adulting with Autism, a podcast reaching millions of downloads worldwide. April got into OT to become her son's advocate, discovered her own autism along the way, and has spent years since helping neurodivergent adults navigate the parts of adulthood nobody prepared them for. We talk about autistic burnout severe enough to land April on a ventilator, the exhausting reality of masking for women and men alike, why real self-care rarely looks like a bubble bath, and how perimenopause is finally uncovering diagnoses in women who've been masking their whole lives without knowing it. April's biggest lesson: you can't pour from an empty cup. Take care of you first. You don't owe anyone anything, and it's okay to just be you. Connect with April and Adulting with Autism: Website: adultingwithautism.com Instagram: @adulting_autism All her links: linktr.ee/adultingwithautism You can also hear me on April's show — we talked about burnout, people-pleasing, and the beliefs underneath both. LISTEN HERE Connect with Ruth Hirshberg: Website: groundingwithruth.com Instagram/Facebook: @groundingwithruth This summer, I'm giving away a free one-on-one session every Friday. Follow along on Instagram to find out how to enter.

The Four Phases, As a Practice Not Just a Story

After last week's episode telling the story behind the Grounded Life Framework, this week I wanted to offer something different, not the story, but the actual experience. This is a guided meditation that walks you through all four phases, Clear the Ground (Regulate), Find the Roots (Uncover), Tend the Roots (Embody), Let It Grow (Sustain), using the metaphor of a garden. Wherever you're starting from today, exhausted, carrying an old belief, holding something tightly in your body, this is a few minutes to actually practice moving through it, rather than just hearing about it. If this resonates, I'm running a summer offer through August 31st. Book a Grounded with Ruth session, then add Your Grounded Meditation separately and use code SUMMER at checkout to get it included at no extra cost. You can find me at groundingwithruth.com, and on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn at Grounding with Ruth.

The Story Behind My Framework: My Four Phases, My Life

In this solo episode, I'm doing something a little different, sitting with just myself and sharing the real story behind the Grounded Life Framework, the four phases that now sit underneath everything I offer through Grounding with Ruth. I talk about who I was as a teenager and the years that followed, the swing from self-destruction to people-pleasing, and how both versions of me were equally disconnected from my own body and feelings. I walk through Regulate, Uncover, Embody, and Sustain, not as a tidy theory, but as years of lived, ongoing work, including the parts that are still hard some days. If this resonated with you, I'm running a summer offer through August 31st. Book your Grounded with Ruth session first, then head to order Your Grounded Meditation separately and use code SUMMER at checkout to get it included at no extra cost. You can find me at groundingwithruth.com, and on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Mentioned in this episode: If you want the full story behind my own burnout, I get honest and vulnerable about it in The Moment I Stopped Caring: What Burnout Took from Me — and What I Got Back. That one digs into the exact moment everything caught up with me, and what it actually looked like from the inside. I also reference a brutal stretch we went through with our house, where I could finally see all the work paying off in real time. The full story is in Coming Back Before I'm Ready, if you want the whole picture.

Everything Has Its Time: A Grounded Meditation on Being Enough

This week's episode is a little different. Instead of a conversation, I'm taking you somewhere. A garden. A peony that hasn't opened yet. A lilac in full bloom. And a reminder that neither one is ahead of the other. This meditation is for you if you're pushing and pushing and still feel like it's not enough. If you're watching everyone else seem to move forward while you feel stuck. If just getting through the day is all you have right now. Wherever you are — in full bloom, tightly budded, or just trying to stay rooted — this is for you. Come sit with me for a few minutes. What you'll find in this episode: A guided garden visualization A reflection on what it actually means to be enough A grounding breath practice to close Free resource: groundingwithruth.com/not-broken-buried Work with me: groundingwithruth.com/clarity-call Website: groundingwithruth.com Instagram: instagram.com/groundingwithruth Grounding with Ruth is a podcast for women navigating burnout, self-worth, and finding their way back to themselves. New episodes every Thursday. Learn more at groundingwithruth.com

The Cost of Doing It All with Dot Rock

What does it actually cost us to be the person who handles everything? In this episode, I'm talking with Dot Rock — HR strategist, CFO, pilot, single mom, and host of The Power of Oxygen First podcast. Dot shares the story of nearly crashing a plane while running on empty, the lessons she learned about asking for help after major surgery, and why she no longer believes in overwhelm. We talk about hyper-responsibility, burnout, self-care, and what happens when we stop waiting for permission to do the things that bring us alive. We talk about: • Where the pattern of hyper-responsibility comes from • What burnout can look like when it isn't dramatic exhaustion • Why asking for help is often harder than doing it all yourself • The morning practices that help Dot stay grounded • Why Dot no longer believes in overwhelm • The power of doing the thing your heart is calling you toward Connect with Dot: Website: dotrockconsulting.com Podcast: The Power of Oxygen First Connect with me: Website: groundingwithruth.com Instagram, Facebook & LinkedIn: Grounding with Ruth Free resource: Not Broken, Buried — a free guide and grounding meditation for women who are tired of pushing harder and want to start uncovering who they already are beneath the layers. If this episode resonated with you, please follow the show, leave a review, and share it with a woman in your life who might need to hear it.

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