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Meet Ruth Pearce
I am bold & authentic, an artful listener, quietly brave, decisive and disarmingly plain-spoken.
I live in Durham North Carolina, which is the perfect spot for a person like me. Eclectic, irreverent, curious and evolving, the city has accelerated my growth and fine tuned my mission.
I live in Durham North Carolina, which is the perfect spot for a person like me. Eclectic, irreverent, curious and evolving, the city has accelerated my growth and fine tuned my mission.
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My Own Story of Collapse (a.k.a. Burnout)
I was not the first person to realize I was burned out and collapsing, even as I thought I was "firing on all cylinders".
The first person was probably my husband, although he described me as absent. I was.
I thought I was giving my all to every aspect of my life, I wasn't.
The second to notice were my dogs. They would look at me meaningfully as if trying to let me know something important. I misread the messages as 'feed me", "walk me" and "play with me".
What they were trying to tell me was that I was no longer present. I was not who they signed up for as their owner.
The last to see the extent of my collapse were my colleagues-hundreds of them-when I stood up abruptly in a high stakes meeting, spoke out and paid the price. It was not my brain that compelled me to speak, it was my body, my spirit, my integrity.
But maybe I am wrong, maybe they already knew, because the consequences were swift. Maybe they were just waiting for a sign that I knew.
Either way, for months, bold, brave, authentic, plain-spoken, decisive, ethical Ruth had been missing. In her place a shadow had been seen around the office. The same was true at home.
In that turning point moment, at an offsite meeting, in front of tens of senior colleagues... Ruth came back; in full force-well almost.
The first person was probably my husband, although he described me as absent. I was.
I thought I was giving my all to every aspect of my life, I wasn't.
The second to notice were my dogs. They would look at me meaningfully as if trying to let me know something important. I misread the messages as 'feed me", "walk me" and "play with me".
What they were trying to tell me was that I was no longer present. I was not who they signed up for as their owner.
The last to see the extent of my collapse were my colleagues-hundreds of them-when I stood up abruptly in a high stakes meeting, spoke out and paid the price. It was not my brain that compelled me to speak, it was my body, my spirit, my integrity.
But maybe I am wrong, maybe they already knew, because the consequences were swift. Maybe they were just waiting for a sign that I knew.
Either way, for months, bold, brave, authentic, plain-spoken, decisive, ethical Ruth had been missing. In her place a shadow had been seen around the office. The same was true at home.
In that turning point moment, at an offsite meeting, in front of tens of senior colleagues... Ruth came back; in full force-well almost.
Words | live by
“Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.”
"All you need to be interesting to me is a unique story. And everyone has a unique story - even if you don't think you do!"
"All you need to be interesting to me is a unique story. And everyone has a unique story - even if you don't think you do!"
R.T. Kelly, 1930 - 2000, Ruth's Dad
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Maya Angelou, 1928 - 2014
“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless yet be determined to make them otherwise.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1896-1940
“To live in the hearts of those we leave behind is not to die”
Thomas Campbell, 1777-1844
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