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

Ruth Hirshberg, MSW — Grounding with Ruth
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Inspired Questions is a podcast for women who are tired of performing, people-pleasing, and pretending they’re fine — and who are finally ready to reclaim their voice, soften their nervous system, and live with more authenticity and self-worth. Hosted by Ruth Hirshberg, MSW, self-worth and breathwork coach, each episode blends grounded conversations, honest storytelling, breathwork and meditation, and practical tools for navigating burnout, pressure, perfectionism, and the belief that you’re “not enough.” You’ll hear from women who’ve stopped shrinking and started showing up with presence. You’ll learn how to regulate your nervous system, rewrite old stories, set boundaries without guilt, and reconnect with your real self — not the version you’ve been performing. Whether it’s a guided meditation, an honest solo episode, or a conversation with a leader, therapist, or coach, Inspired Questions is your reminder that you’re not broken — you’re human, and you deserve to feel like enough. New episodes weekly.Connect with Ruth at groundingwithruth.com or @groundingwithruth. RSSVERIFY

  1. The Four Phases, As a Practice Not Just a Story

    4h ago

    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.

    9 min
  2. The Story Behind My Framework: My Four Phases, My Life

    Jun 25

    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.

    18 min
  3. Everything Has Its Time: A Grounded Meditation on Being Enough

    Jun 18

    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

    7 min
  4. The Cost of Doing It All with Dot Rock

    Jun 11

    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.

    1h 4m
  5. Finding a Therapist: What Nobody Tells You

    Jun 4

    Finding a Therapist: What Nobody Tells You

    Have you been thinking about therapy but aren't sure where to start? Or maybe you tried it once, it didn't feel right, and you've been putting it off ever since? In this episode, I'm answering the questions I get asked most often about finding a therapist — from how to know if you even need one, to what to ask on a consultation call, to what to do if the first person you try isn't the right fit. I'm sharing what I know professionally as a registered social worker who has provided therapy for years, and what I know personally as someone who has reached out for support herself. Because I know what it's like to sit in the hard stuff alone. And I don't wish that for anyone. In this episode we cover: • How to know if therapy is right for you • What kind of therapist to look for • How to know if it's a good fit • What to do if the first therapist isn't right • Questions to ask on a consultation call • Common myths about therapy You don't have to figure everything out alone. You just have to take that first courageous step. Ways to stay connected: Website - groundingwithruth.com Counselling - Psychology Today Profile Free Guide - No Broken, Buried Instagram - Grounding with Ruth

    13 min
  6. Tired in a Way Sleep Can't Fix: Burnout and Finding Your Way Back with Mel Grime

    May 28

    Tired in a Way Sleep Can't Fix: Burnout and Finding Your Way Back with Mel Grime

    Have you ever done all the "right" things — eating well, holding it together, showing up for everyone and everything — and still felt like something wasn't right? That's where this conversation starts. In this episode I'm talking with Mel Grime, a burnout coach, registered holistic nutritionist, and yoga teacher who helps women step out of survival mode and back into themselves. Mel knows this territory personally. In 2017 she hit a point where her body was no longer letting her push through and keep going the way she always had. We talk about what burnout actually looks like from the inside, why so many women don't recognise it until their body forces them to pay attention, and what it can look like to find your way back. Not by doing more, but by slowing down and learning to listen. We also talk about people pleasing, self-trust, strong independent woman conditioning, and the pressure so many of us feel to keep holding it all together. I loved this conversation and I think a lot of women are going to see themselves in parts of it. Connect with Mel: Website: melaniegrimerhn.com Instagram: @melaniegrimerhn Free resource from Ruth: If something in this episode resonated and you're wondering where to start, Not Broken, Buried is for you. It's a free video, guide, and grounding meditation built around one simple idea: you are not broken, you are buried. There is a difference. Get it here Connect with Ruth: Website: groundingwithruth.com Instagram, Facebook: @GroundingwithRuth

    1h 12m
  7. A Meditation for Finding Your Ground Again

    May 21

    A Meditation for Finding Your Ground Again

    This is a guided meditation for the moments after hard things — when you're not quite back to yourself yet but you're trying. In this episode, Ruth guides you through a simple practice to help your nervous system settle, using breath, body awareness, and grounding techniques you can return to any time things feel like too much. If your chest has been tight, your mind has been racing, or you've hit those moments where you simply cannot face one more thing — this one is for you. An activated nervous system is not a failing. This meditation is one way to find your way back. In this episode you'll experience: A breath practice to signal safety to your nervous system, an orienting exercise to bring you back to the present moment, a grounding practice through body awareness, and a gentle reminder that returning to yourself is always available to you. Connect with Ruth: Website: groundingwithruth.com Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn: search Grounding with Ruth or book a Clarity Call with Ruth: BOOK NOW

    11 min
  8. Coming Back Before I'm Ready

    May 14

    Coming Back Before I'm Ready

    After almost a month away, I’m back — and in this episode I’m talking honestly about where I’ve been. Over the past few weeks, Keith and I have been navigating a flooded basement that turned into a major reconstruction project, weeks without heat and running water, and the anticipatory grief of learning that our cat Gus has cancer. But this episode isn’t really about the logistics of a hard month. It’s about what came up underneath it all. I talk about the old beliefs that resurfaced immediately, the nervous system responses that got loud fast, and the difference between knowing the work intellectually and trying to live it in real time when life genuinely falls apart. I also talk about: asking for helpboundariesthe guilt of stepping backthe pressure to keep performing okaynessand the strange tension of having a public-facing business built around authenticity while trying not to turn grief into content. The work doesn’t make us immune. But it can change our relationship to what comes up. I’m not at a hundred percent. But I’m here. You can learn more about me and my work at groundingwithruth.com.

    14 min
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About

Inspired Questions is a podcast for women who are tired of performing, people-pleasing, and pretending they’re fine — and who are finally ready to reclaim their voice, soften their nervous system, and live with more authenticity and self-worth. Hosted by Ruth Hirshberg, MSW, self-worth and breathwork coach, each episode blends grounded conversations, honest storytelling, breathwork and meditation, and practical tools for navigating burnout, pressure, perfectionism, and the belief that you’re “not enough.” You’ll hear from women who’ve stopped shrinking and started showing up with presence. You’ll learn how to regulate your nervous system, rewrite old stories, set boundaries without guilt, and reconnect with your real self — not the version you’ve been performing. Whether it’s a guided meditation, an honest solo episode, or a conversation with a leader, therapist, or coach, Inspired Questions is your reminder that you’re not broken — you’re human, and you deserve to feel like enough. New episodes weekly.Connect with Ruth at groundingwithruth.com or @groundingwithruth. RSSVERIFY

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