She Speaks: Women's Wisdom For Every Woman

S1-Ep 4. Find Yourself Again: Robin Browning’s Journey of Healing Through Nature and Self-Love

• Charlotte Wilson

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In this episode of She Speaks: Women’s Wisdom for Every Woman, I’m honored to welcome Robin Browning, a trauma-certified personal development coach specializing in nature therapy. Robin’s story is one of incredible strength and transformation—she’s overcome domestic abuse, abandonment, divorce, burnout, and rebuilt her life from the ground up with resilience and grace.

Robin shares how reconnecting with nature and practicing radical self-love became her anchors for climbing out of the pit of despair and healing her deepest wounds. Together, we explore actionable steps you can implement to reignite your inner spark, embrace daily affirmations, and tap into the power of your feminine energy. This episode is a heartfelt reminder that recovery isn’t a one-time event—it’s a journey. Along the way, spending time in nature, finding a sisterhood, and choosing yourself every single day can be the most healing acts of all.

If you’re ready to deepen your connection with yourself and the world around you, this conversation will leave you inspired, empowered, and supported to take the next best step - choosing yourself every day. 

Episode Highlights:
00:00 Welcome to She Speaks: Introduction and Host Overview
01:00 Meet Robin Browning: Trauma-Certified Personal Development Coach and Nature Therapy Specialist
02:56 Robin’s Journey: Overcoming Childhood Trauma and Domestic Abuse
05:34 Finding Healing in Nature: Robin’s Transformation from Broken Down and Burned Out to Thriving with Purpose
09:04 The Power of Nature Therapy: Practical Steps and Insights
21:43 Self-Love Practices: Affirmations and Mirror Work
24:36 The Connection Between Nature’s Cycles and Tuning Into Your Feminine Energy
32:31 Choosing Yourself Every Day and How to Implement 

Resources:

  • Download my free Empowered Pause Guide to help you break the cycle of burnout and rediscover your spark. Learn how to take a mindful pause before reacting, connect with your inner strength, and set boundaries that protect your energy and honor your true self.
  • Connect with Robin through her website, https://www.peaceinthepeaks.com/, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram
  • Looking for virtual community spaces and in-person gatherings to reconnect with your authentic self and sacred sisterhood? Join me here…
    • The Invitation, a virtual studio offering yoga, breathwork, and meditation classes. *Book your first class and use my teacher code “CHAR” for a full discount.
    • The Woman’s Portal, offering monthly full moon sister circles and year-round retreats
    • Early Bird access available now for the Women’s Ranch Retreat: Nourish in Nature, October 23-26, 2025 hosted on a stunning 46-acre ranch oasis in the beautiful hill country of Marble Falls, Texas. *Sign up now usi

Disclaimer:

The information shared on this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only. While we share advice and personal experiences, it’s not intended to replace professional medical, legal, or financial guidance. Please consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to your specific needs. The views shared here are those of our guests and host, and do not represent all women’s experiences. We encourage you to explore what resonates with you personally.

Char Wilson:

Welcome to She Speaks, women's wisdom for every woman. A space for us to feel seen, celebrated, connected, and inspired. Here we come together to tell our stories, share our lessons, celebrate our unique strengths, and reconnect with the sacred feminine wisdom that exists in all of us. And guides us towards a lit up life of peace, empowerment, purpose, and prosperity. I'm Shara Wilson, your host and owner of Wilson Phoenix wellness. I'm a mind, body wellness, content creator and coach helping high performing professional women transform from burned out to lit up through a holistic wellness approach. And each week on, she speaks, you're invited to join me and my guests in heartfelt conversations on holistic health and wellbeing, resilience, and living authentically. Whether you're navigating life's big changes, seeking deeper purpose, or simply craving connection and inspiration, you'll walk away with bite sized brilliance as we uncover empowering insights and practical steps to help you create a life of balance, joy, and fulfillment. And today I am joined by my new friend and guest Robin Browning. Robin is a trauma certified personal development coach specializing in nature therapy. And she brings a wealth of wisdom and insight on healing abandonment wounds and navigating life's big transitions through nature therapy. In our conversation today, we're going to dive into this component of how to connect to it. The wholeness of who you are, instead of living in separation and isolation, which a lot of us do, especially when we're going through these hardships in life, we, we retract, we withdraw. And we, we have this incorrect storyline that we have to figure it out on our own, that we don't have support and we don't have the ability to connect with the deep rootedness of love. And so today we're going to dive right into how to connect with the wholeness of who you are. Through rooting into the ecosystem of nature. And I'm really, really excited about this conversation with Robin. So get ready to learn from and be inspired by Robin. Feel your fields and take away actionable steps to help you thrive in life. Robin, welcome to the show. It is my honor and delight to have you here.

Robin Browning:

Thank you so much for having me, my friend. I'm so excited for you. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate you having me. Yes.

Char Wilson:

Thank you. And Robin and I, we, we just met like a few months ago. This is honestly our first time like seeing each other on screen, but there was this little, there was this soul sister connection there and energetic. Attraction. So I'm excited to learn more about your story on this podcast for the first. So will you tell us about it? You've overcome some significant life challenges and you keep After every challenge, the little bit that I know about you, you are the embodiment of post traumatic growth. So, tell us, tell us about that story.

Robin Browning:

Ooh, okay, well, so to begin, you know, it all begins in our childhood, you know, a lot of childhood wounding for me. I've been basically, I've been on my own since I was 13 years old. Had to navigate life very quickly at a very young age. And I went straight from 13 to age 17, I was in severe domestic abuse situation. And as much as it, he shot at me one night with a. Obviously with the gun and it missed that night. And that was the night where I knew that I had to get out of this situation, regardless of what he told me, because he told me many stories that if I ever left, he would. So you believe that at 13, 14, 15. And so you stay and you're too scared to go. Your support system is not around you. So finally, after that evening, I knew I had to get out.

Char Wilson:

You

Robin Browning:

don't ever get out on the evening of that's a very dangerous time for someone getting out. So. I started strategically planning. How am I going to get out of this? Got out of it, knowing that I, I, at that point, I looked death in the face and I wasn't afraid of dying. I went ahead and knew that whether I left, if he killed me, if he did all that, that's fine, if I stayed, he's going to kill me anyway, so I just looked death in the face and said, let's go. So I picked up my life, left, reestablished myself, got a paying, well paying job. I started getting, I got my own place. I get married at 23. And I'm married for 20 years and at 20 years, he comes into the kitchen one day and says, being a husband and father, it's just not my thing anymore. And he left and disappeared. I had five weeks cash in the bank. And how do you feed two kids? I hadn't worked for 20 years at that point. I was even homeschooling my children. So what do you do now? So I picked up again and created my own business. I was doing every job I could actually in the beginning to feed my children. Worked 90 hours a week for three years as I built my website coding business. And I had taught the kids during homeschool, how to code websites and how to develop websites. And so I took my HTML coding and my big book that was like this and said, yes, I can build your website. And I did that and, and then the business grew. And then that's what I've been doing ever since, until I transitioned into, because I felt the calling. To become a personal development coach and to help others along in their journey. I had a moment in my life where after the divorce, after I got the kids in college, everything just fell apart. I was in burnout. I was lost, couldn't figure out how to do the next direction. And so I pulled in for a year. And I went out in nature and I knew I needed to find love. I knew I needed to find me. I knew I needed to find somewhere where I connected into a hole and I could be a part of a hole and I could feel this love because I wasn't feeling it. I wasn't feeling it from people. And I couldn't trust people because, you know, after you've been through the abuse, you can't, and this is before I got certified. So. I'm still trying to put together all my childhood pieces and parts and everything that had happened in my abandonment. And so I went out in nature. And when I went out in nature, I found it. I found me. And I found my connection to this whole creation, this whole ecosystem, this whole everything. And I was a part of the whole. And I could see the beauty in front of me and realize that the beauty that I was looking at in front of me when I saw the beach and the mountains and the lakes. That beauty is in me, that I'm a part of that. I'm a part of the whole, I'm a, I'm a part of this beauty and I'm, I am love. And that's when I knew. So that's after that point, that's when I got certified and became trauma certified, obviously, because of my past wounding and understanding how to help others through theirs. And so my trauma certification was a year long certification. So that I could get into the depths of it, so that I could help others in that way and help them through their, their woundings. That is a powerful story of

Char Wilson:

resilience, resourcefulness. Like there was just no, there was no give up and quit in you.

Robin Browning:

And my kids were, were my why. My kids were my why after https: otter. ai When they, when I got them to college, then, then there is, then you're looking at you. So that's when I went, Oh, wait, what, what is this? Who am I and where I don't feel loved. I don't feel like anything. And that's when I went out in nature because kids are now living their life in college. And I'm, I'm doing well enough where it's like, I have a home now and I'm okay. But now I'm looking at me going, what, what, what? So that's when I went out in nature. Yeah.

Char Wilson:

Yeah. It's such a pivotal point. I had that point for me in 2019 when I also was abandoned by my partner, husband of 17 years. And in that void, you do have a lot of choices, you know, like I could have drank myself into a stupor. There's a lot of choices that it could have been made. And I didn't, I did not make those. I, I faced. I faced the void, I faced the darkness, and I started asking those questions. Who am I and what do I want?

Robin Browning:

I had people tell me during that time, Oh, just get on the happy pill. Just go take the antidepressants. Just, it'll get you through this little hard time you're going through. I sat there and I'm like, there's got to be a better way. There's got to be a better way to fix this. I don't want to do the pill. I don't want to do any of that. So that's, yeah. So

Char Wilson:

how, how did you find nature therapy? Like you, that's not language that you would have called it at the time. Did someone invite you to a retreat? How did you stumble into that form of healing for you?

Robin Browning:

On me, 100%. It was a, it was a calling within me that said. This is where I'm happy. This is where I can be at peace. The only thing I knew in my life at that moment, my kids are in college. They were my happy for the longest time. Now, where's your happy? It wasn't in my dating life. It wasn't in any of that at the time. Where is your happy? And I knew that when I would go biking, I'm like, okay, I feel happy when I'm biking. Okay. When I would go kayak and like, I feel happy out here. This makes me feel good. So then I started understanding more that the more I'm out of here and the more I connect with this more peaceful, I feel, Oh, okay. Well then get outside, get outside every chance you get. And there were days where, where those dark moments, those little shadow moments come. And there were days where I literally, I would start out kayaking. I'd come home, get on my bike. I'd come home, go hit some golf balls. And then I'd go on a bike, right, again, my whole day. Because I knew I needed to stay out of that dark shadow place. And I knew I was happy outside. So how can I connect? Where I can pull myself back out of that pit because it's, you know, when you're going in those, those claws are pulling you in and you're like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that. So you're, you're climbing out. So I climbed out into nature.

Char Wilson:

And in those dark chapters, like the dark night of the soul chapter, our minds are not a good place to be. No, they are the most destructive,

Robin Browning:

self loathing, dark, lonely, horrible place to be. There's nothing productive, nothing good that comes out of that pit. And when I made the decision, I remember one day in particular, Oh, the pit was calling. Oh, it was calling. It wanted me to go ride in it. And I knew how hard it was to climb out of it already. I saw the blood break down the walls. I saw my fingernails left in the walls. And I visualized if you go down in that pit again, that's what you're going to feel. And you're going to have to climb back out of that. And I made the decision that day where I went, I'm not doing it. I'm not going in the pit. I just got chills. So that was a very pivotal moment for me when I went not doing it. And I stayed out of the pit and I found a way out and I found a way to get connected and feel full and love healthy. And that was getting

Char Wilson:

outside. Yeah. Yeah. So from your life experience, if you could tell the sisters on this call What you wish every one of them knew, what would it be? You're stronger than you think. Don't believe the lies.

Robin Browning:

Don't believe the lies, the lies that you're telling yourself or the lies that other people told you. You've got it in you. You can do it. You've got to pull from everything that you have inside of you. You've got to go to that small little ember that's just barely lit. You got to blow on, you got to blow on that flame. You got to blow, blow, blow, blow, and you got to get going because only you can do it for you. No one else. It's your journey, but you can do it. If I can do it, trust me, you can do it. You can do it.

Char Wilson:

Oh, I'm, I'm feeling the things, feeling all the feels. Cause I feel like you're, you're speaking to a former version of me. Like I needed to hear that so badly. You are stronger than you think. Because when we're in that pit, everything is broken down, including me. You know, Wilson Phoenix Wellness is my company name and Phoenix is a big piece of that because it's literally everything about my life was burned to ash. And you can either stay in the pit of the ash or you can decide, like, I'm going to rise from this. I don't know how, but I'm just deciding I will not stay down here in this pit. I'm going to rise from this. I'm going to rebuild. And I'm going to learn how to trust myself again. And

Robin Browning:

you don't know how. You'll stay stuck in the pivot. You sit there trying to figure out how. You start reticulating everything in your mind and you're running through all the doubts of why you can't. One of the things that someone asked me one time, they're like, how do you have this faith and how do you have this, that you keep going and how I'm really good at jumping and knowing that somewhere, somewhere, my parachute's going to open. Now it might not open until the very end. And I've tumbled and tumbled and tumbled and tumbled, but it's going to open. I just gotta go. I have, and so I'm really good at going forward and then trusting my parachute's going to open. Not going to die on this. I'm going to take a step forward. I'm going to jump and trust I'm going to be caught on the other side.

Char Wilson:

Yeah.

Robin Browning:

And I do, I do it a lot.

Char Wilson:

Yeah. Yeah. Because that's a practice, learning to trust ourselves, to rebuild. That trust muscle, because when we've been abandoned, neglected, abused, I mean, our ability to trust others is broken, but our ability to trust ourselves is shattered. Shattered.

Robin Browning:

You don't know what to believe anymore when you're at that point. You don't. That's that little ember, that little flame, that little something. And then that's when, again, when I went outside, cause I was like, I need to know that I'm a part of a whole. And I remember for me, the biggest turning point when I connected, I was sitting in front of the full moon. And I literally thought this flashlight was, was honing and just point this whole spotlight was on me. And I could look at the moon and I went, oh, that's the moon. I'm a part of this, you're looking at me right now, I'm a part of all of this, and I finally that was that night where it's like, I connected, I went, okay, and then the pieces started coming together, I would go out on the lake and I would put my hand on the water and I could be calm, look, if I'm calm like the water, I can be calm inside of me, if I go on and lean against a tree, I can feel part of the whole, I can take Take the tree and go down into the roots and fill a part of the ecosystem. I can look at the mountains and see that I'm up here and all the problems, those trees that are so little below, those are my problems and I'm bigger than those problem. I could go to the beach and the ocean and I could let thoughts just go away with the way. I was a part of all that. That's where I healed.

Char Wilson:

So for the sisters on the call who are like, that's nice for you, Robin, I'm currently in the pit and I don't, I don't know if I can jump. What would you say to her?

Robin Browning:

If you stay in the pit, you're going nowhere. You're going to die. You're going to lose who you are. You're going to, everything is gone. That it is up to you to take one hand at a time and get out and don't Ever go bad because you know what it looks like, you know what it's like to be in the ashes and the ruin and destruction all around you and you have got to ban your flame and get up and get going because no one's going to do it for you. No one, it has to come in here, that passion for living, that passion for something is better than this. Anything is better than this and

Char Wilson:

you get out and you don't ever look back. And I didn't. Me neither. And I'm, I'm so grateful. And it doesn't make the, the recovery has been years and years and years, like this is not a process sometime. But this is not an overnight thing. So I just want to make that known to someone who's listening, who is in the middle of a separation, a divorce, you know, some kind of abuse that they're trying to figure out how to get their way out of some kind of massive life change. And they they've hit what feels like rock bottom, a breaking point when it feels like life has completely broken down. That is also the opportunity for a spiritual awakening to unfold.

Robin Browning:

100%. 100%. I can look back at it now and I'm actually thankful. The shadow moments are the scariest, dark, loneliest times. But I would have never found me. I would have never found the resilience that I did have. I would have never found the little flame that was still, still there. Still just there, had I not gone, gone through it on my own in that way. Now, obviously there are coaches, people to help with this and therapists, but it is your personal vow that you make to yourself that you say, I'm going to pick myself up today. I'm going to get out of bed today. I made it out of bed today. I brushed my teeth today. And those are huge steps when you've been into the pit and you think there's no way I can get out of this.

Char Wilson:

So tell me a little bit more about the practice you're describing to not only like find the ember, but keep the ember going. Cause like we said, this is not an overnight thing. This is a multi year journey. Tell me a little bit more about the practices kept you. Moving forward that kept you in momentum. You were talking about like self affirmations for the tiny, tiny things. Tell me more about that.

Robin Browning:

So for me, one of the things that I did and still do, I get outside every single day. I made the joke that I'm solar powered to you because I am truly, I need the sun. I need to feel the sun on days where it's gray. It doesn't matter. I can still find something that's. A tree or grass or a bird or something that can connect to me. I do that affirmations, breathing, breathing. Oh my goodness. The breathing when it comes up, take a breath, hold it, breathe it back out. Helps calm the nervous system and affirmation. Put my hand in my heart. I am loved. I am worthy. I am deserving. I am well taken care of. I said that six, seven, eight, 10, 12, 24 times a day. Okay. When I was getting myself out of the pit, I would send an alarm on my phone. Cause remember I'm still working these 70 hour, 80 hour weeks to get my kids through college. I would set an alarm on my phone and it would go off and I would put my hands on my heart, close my eyes, breathe. I am loved. I am safe. I am worthy, I am deserving, whatever came, you know, I continually affirmed. Then, when I could finally go and look myself in the eye, in the mirror, and say, I am loved, I am worthy, I am deserving. When I could finally look, not dark, not look my head around, not look at it, not know it, but feel it and really know, that's when I knew, okay. I'm good. I can pull from anything. If I got out of that, I can pull from anything now.

Char Wilson:

Yeah.

Robin Browning:

And that's what I do. Yeah.

Char Wilson:

And the confidence that comes from those micro practices, because so many of the women that I work with, they're either in the pits of burnout or they're on the precipice of it. And their confidence is shot. Yes. Because they're used to being like high performing, high functioning. I have my shit together. And when you get to this burnout spot in, in life, in love, in career, whatever, the confidence piece, it's gone. So these practices are super important. At first, they're going to feel awkward. Like sisters listening, this is not going to feel good. If you're not used to speaking to yourself with loving, kindness, compassionate words, you're just going to need to get into the practice of this feels awkward and I'm going to do it anyway, until you can work your way up to mirror work, which is, and I love this, this is what Louise Hayes has taught us for decades of look yourself in the eyes. And, and there's not one time where I've looked myself in the mirror and I speak to myself from my future self, my higher self, especially when I'm like being hard, when my mind is being really, really hard on me, hello, high performer woman, we're very hard on ourselves. And so I catch those voices and I'll start talking back to myself. I will look at myself in the mirror and say, I love you no matter what. I'm so proud of you. And there's not been one single time where I started doing that and I don't end up in tears. Yes.

Robin Browning:

Yes. I've had clients when I have, when I do mirror work with them, I had one client in particular. She flat said, I can't look at myself in the mirror. She couldn't. I worked with her for months, months to get her to finally be able to look at herself in the mirror. But she said, I can't, I don't like who I see. And it took a long time to get her to where she could finally like who she sees.

Char Wilson:

It's a journey. It is a journey. So how have your struggles helped form and shape the transformational work that you're doing now with

Robin Browning:

your clients? The biggest thing for me when I made the choice to get trauma certified in particular, and that the reason why is because so many people are in the pit. So many people, I've had clients who were suicidal and I pulled them out. I showed them that they are a part of this whole, that they aren't alone. And if I could take, it was all of my decades of abandonment and trauma and abuse, where I say, if I can pull myself out without taking a happy pill, without doing that, without turning to drugs or alcohol. Or any other form you can to and I use my story and I use all of that to tell people you're not alone. You do not have to go into the pit and life is a beautiful gift. When you're on the other side of all this, I say it all the time because life truly is a beautiful gift, and it has its ups and downs, but you know what? It's really beautiful. And that's what I

Char Wilson:

try to show others. What's coming up for me is just thinking about this connection between nature as medicine and the cycles that nature has and the cycles that we share as humans. You talk a little bit more about that, especially as women, because one of the things that I've had to unlearn and with the help of my Ayurveda teacher this year is to really have so much love and compassion for myself as I move through cycles, because we're four different women every single month. So we have to, we have to speak and treat and be with ourselves in different ways, just like nature right now we're, we're in winter and nature ebbs and flows throughout the year and it shows us different

Robin Browning:

truths. Yes. Yes. I love cycles. So one of the things that I actually love about winter, even though winter isn't my favorite, favorite season. I love that I get to hibernate. I love that. It's my moment to pull in my moment in life to pull in and to heal and to rejuvenate and prepare. I'm under the soil. It's cold on the surface, but I'm under the soil and underneath the soil, my seed is growing. It's ready. It's pairing itself for spring. And as spring comes, I can burst through this cold soil. And I love tulips. Some why I love them so much. Is they come through the snow, they bloom when it's still right at that peak of spring. And this little delicate flower that comes up. It's so vibrant and full of color as it says, I made it. I'm here. And spring is that growth. It's that time that you finally get to grow into who you are. The vibrancy. Of who you are and the colors come out in you and summer is your time where you can come in now. It's like you're now preparing because now summer I'm reaping my spring. I'm in my growth. I'm in my fullness of who I am. I'm in the fullness of what I've grown to be. And then fall come and it's time to let go. It's time to let go of what's not serving you. It's time to let go of what's not a part of your whole colors of the leaves. And when the trees let go of the leaves, it's the tree's way of saying, it's time to let it go. And it's my time in the fall when I take my clients to the fall retreats, it's like, this is your moment to let it go and know that it's just as beautiful. So I love the cycles of nature because that's who we are as women. We go in our shadow moments, we go underneath, we cocoon, we hibernate, and then when we come out, we're just bursting in color and we're bursting in everything that we are in our radiance

Char Wilson:

and our

Robin Browning:

joy. It feels so rebellious to

Char Wilson:

start to live life as women. In connection to these natural cycles and seasons of nature, because we live in such a patriarchal, defined, overly masculinized world, especially for women who are still in corporate America, where I came from. And, you know, it's just like, we're, we're taught and affirmed and valued and rewarded for working at the same pace and energy cycles as men. Which is like, they're like the sun, you know, like they have energy rises and falls day to day as women. That is not how we function at all. And even thinking about now where we're in January and there's so much messaging coming at us of new year and resolutions and set your big goals and go, go, go, and all of us are feeling this internal struggle and battle of, am I doing enough?

Robin Browning:

There's a certain point, like with all of us, I think as women, what's unfair that we do to ourselves. We feel like we have to prove. What are we, what are we having to prove to who? We feel like we have to prove ourselves, especially in the corporate world. We have to prove ourselves in the corporate world that we're smart enough, capable enough. We can make these masculine decisions. Cut and dry, no emotions to it. There's our masculine decision. That's how it's going to be. We can carry on the masculine energy. We can act like we're tough. We can go home. We can put on the mother hat and be the mother. We can do all of those things. And the pressure keeps building and keeps building because we're doing roles that we are not built to do. And then we don't listen to ourselves. We don't listen that we're about to crash. We're not handling this very well. Instead, we push even harder. How do we push even harder? How can I get this? I'm going to succeed at everything I do because why, who are you proving it to? Everybody else, external validation. You've got to put up the flag for yourself. You've got to be the one that says time out. Nope. This is my time. And it not be a selfish thing. You're doing it because you love you. You're doing it because it doesn't matter what everybody else out here thinks. You're doing it because you know what you need and you need that love and you need that care as otherwise you're going to lose who you are lost in the masculine energy. Trying to find your feminine energy again. And you can't, cause you're still trying to do the masculine, that yin yang balance. It's up to you to put a stop to it so you can get yourself back. And that's where I go back out in nature. Again, every day I'm out in nature because I'm running businesses. And somewhere over here, I do put on dresses and I am a girl. So it's like, where do you get that balance? And how do

Char Wilson:

you do that? Yeah. We call her mother nature for a reason. You know? Yeah. So, so sisters who are listening to this podcast, if you are feeling empty, dehydrated, emotionally, spiritually, go refill your cup in mother nature, rehydrate yourself with, with a sacred sisterhood of women, put yourself in places where you can start to drink from the fountain of divine femininity.

Robin Browning:

One thing we are good at when we do get together. We're really good at nurturing one another. We are that, that feminine comes out in us and we do nurture one another. We're really good about that. A lot of us though, separate ourselves from it. Don't have time for it. Not going to do it. Okay. Yeah, I'll get to it. And then you don't see your friends for six months. You know, this has to be a part of your life. You have to tell yourself that is part of how you balance out your femininity. Yes, and mother nature and healing, but also women do bring that nurturing to ourselves as groups of women Knowing that we're not alone. Yeah, I think we isolate so much and if we can just reach out and know them It's okay. It's okay. You don't have to carry all of this You don't have to put on the habit and it's okay to put down for me It was I felt like I I was the warrior in this battle and I had all these swords and I was continually taking these swords and fighting and fighting and fighting. And then finally there was just that one day where I put down the sword because I knew I didn't have the fight in me anymore. I didn't have it. And it was that point when I went, I can't keep picking up all these swords and continue the fight because there's nothing left in me. I'm exhausted. I don't have that fight left in me. And now there's those moments where it's like, Oh, I can see me. I can see I'd start doing it and start picking up and you have to stop it.

Char Wilson:

The word that's coming up for me is receptivity. I'm currently rereading this book called you are a goddess, and I would recommend it to you. Every woman who is feeling the imbalance of too much masculine energy in their life. Yes. The ability to admit I've hit my wall. Yes. I, I took on too much responsibility because I misunderstood from a masculine belief system that I have to do this all on my own. This is all on my shoulders. This is all on me and being able to. shift, oftentimes a forced shift, a forced burnout. I hope that sisters on this call, if you're getting close to there, you can reroute and not experience the breakdown that I've experienced that you've experienced because it is expensive. It is inconvenient. And, and it's, it is a uphill

Robin Browning:

battle to get back from. Your physical health truly takes a toll. When I, when my physical health, truly, when the adrenal, adrenals crashed, everything crashed, you're fainting in the middle of nowhere, you know, you know, when I found myself on a bike path by myself, fainting and not no one around, I knew, okay, I, I, I've got to take care of me, no one's going to take care of me, I have to do this.

Char Wilson:

And it's that point, it's the both and of I have to take my life and my health, my happiness into my hands. And I also need to be receptive to help, to nurture, to nourishment. Maybe that's initially just through nature, being able to receive the healing power of nature. And as you build trust and confidence and, Better discernment skills and healthier boundaries. Then you can open up to receiving from other people, but receptivity is like such a beautiful quality, a lost quality in women, because we have been trained to be givers and we're given until we're empty and dying. Yes. Yes. Been there. But giving is actually a masculine quality, receptivity, trusting, leaning back. That's our feminine. That's the feminine. Yeah. And it's so scary. It's so vulnerable and our systems are not set up for it. That's what feels really rebellious, tying this back to the cycles of nature and the cycle that we live in every single month. And the ability to in those cycles in our winter times to be able to receive support and love.

Robin Browning:

I had to, on the receiving side, really work through the practice of opening my hands. And offering it to name your deity, whatever source and saying, I am worthy of receiving. I had to really, really, really work on the receiving side because I didn't know what it meant to receive, especially being from abuse and trauma and abandonment. You're not receiving love through any of that. You're not receiving it. So how do you receive when all you've ever done? Is do this opposite of a new masculine. So I had to really, in my healing of my feminine, I had to, I had to truly just, I would hold my hands open and just visualize myself and just offering. And I am worthy of receiving. And you have to, it again, it's what you talked about earlier, where it's feels awkward and people don't understand it. And it's. Uncomfortable because you've never received. You've never received, so you don't know how to receive. And the small practice of doing that, what happened is all of a sudden I was receiving crazy things, little things, you know, someone sent you flowers, you know, or something like I started receiving these things when I started offering and just laying it out and offering that. allowing myself to receive. And then, boy, it's beautiful when you can receive and, and receive it fully. Beautiful gift you give to yourself.

Char Wilson:

Yeah. And it's a gift to the giver too. Yes. Receiving is a gift to the giver. Yes. So we, we talked a lot about, Beautiful healing practices, but to wrap it up, what is one small actionable step that you can share with our sisters listening to this episode that they can take to improve their health, their happiness, and reignite that little spark of an ember within them?

Robin Browning:

You have to do this for you. No one's going to do it for you. Your health is your journey. It's for you. You have to be the one. That stops and you have to choose yourself. Choose you. I say that all the time. Choose you. Honor you. Love you. For the first time in your life. First time in your life. Pause. Stop. How can you start choosing you? In what ways? What's the one thing I can do today? Right now. The one step I can take where I've chosen myself today. Just start with the one step. So if they choose one thing that day, I'm going to take a bath tonight. That's choosing you. Then you'll start getting into more steps. But the one step every day is choose you, get up and choose you.

Char Wilson:

It ties back to what we're saying yes to means that we're saying no to other things. So if you are constantly saying yes to others, you're saying yes to things outside of you, then by default, you are saying no to you and starting to really flip that script and stay in the discomfort of what culture has told us is selfish and start to rewire those beliefs of choosing me is not selfish. Right. Self care is in service to the greater collective.

Robin Browning:

Self care is self love. You taking care of yourself as you loving yourself, and I didn't see it that way for the longest time. I thought if I just kept giving and giving and giving and giving to my kids and giving to the people and giving to my clients, giving to this business and giving it, that was, that was what you're supposed to do, right? Right. But I wasn't loving myself. I was actually, I abandoned myself. So I took my little abandonment wound and I just abandoned myself

Char Wilson:

over

Robin Browning:

and

Char Wilson:

over and over by pleasing other people. I feel you. I did the exact same thing. It's time to unwire with Trev

Robin Browning:

Thompson. Those are the layers we talk about. Those are the years of having to unravel. Yes. It's up to you. That's why I say when you ask about the one step, it's choosing you. What is the one thing you're going to do for you today? Thank you. One, just give it one. And the more you start doing that, the more you are going to start choosing you over.

Char Wilson:

And you have to be intentional about that. So maybe that is. That's the practice for our sisters listening. We've listed a lot of practices in here. Another one speaks to you, then go do that. Please go spend some time in nature. Like wake, wake up and go spend some time in the sun and see how that positively impacts your sleep and your, but this one practice of starting your day with that question, what's, what's the one thing that I can do to choose me today and be okay in the discomfort of your mind saying that selfish You can't afford to do that. People are relying on you. Just, just let that discomfort, that uncomfortable thought move through you. Breathe it out like clouds on the wind or waves of the ocean and come back to that question every single day. What is the one thing I can do to shoot me today?

Robin Browning:

It could be something simple as you went to Starbucks to get a special coffee, but it, you took 15 minutes out of your time to think of you. You know, it doesn't have to be complicated. It doesn't have to be cost a ton of money, you know, to go off and sit in a spa all day, right. If you haven't, but if you don't, it's okay. It could be going out in nature. It'd be a bike ride for 30 minutes, but you did for you, regardless of what everybody else said are needed. Yeah. That's choosing

Char Wilson:

you. Put on a song that makes you feel alive and dance in your kitchen. You know, Buy a special mug. Exactly, exactly. Drink your crazy drink. Something that represents choosing you today. I think that's a beautiful way to wrap up this call. Robin, so much. This has been a delight and honor. Thank you for the courage of sharing your story and your wisdom and letting yourself be seen. Receiving all the love that's coming your way from me and from everyone else that will be listening to this. Thank you for having me. Sisters, we are so glad that you joined us today on She Speaks. I hope you leave feeling seen, inspired, connected, and ready to take one step closer to living as your true self. Remember the wisdom we seek is often found within. Keep shining, keep speaking, keep listening to your inner voice and join us next time as we continue this wisdom journey to wholehearted living. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a five star review. Share it with the beloved sisters in your life. And be sure to check the show notes for ways to connect with Robin, as well as resources to support you on your journey to health and happiness. Before we log off, Robin, how can people find you, your website, social media, and upcoming retreats? You can connect

Robin Browning:

on my website. It's peace in the peaks, P E A K S dot com. I also have a Facebook page and I also have Instagram and for my retreat in April, I have a beach retreat scheduled in the off season. And then I always do mountain retreats in June through October. So those are now getting formed. My June is starting to come together. Now my October is already starting to book because people love the ball colors in the mountains. So that gets booked very quickly. So any of my retreats, but. April's the next one that's coming up and that's going to be here in North Carolina. Beautiful. Beautiful.

Char Wilson:

All right, sisters. We love you. And we will see you next week. Again, check out the show notes for ways to connect with Robin if one of her retreats speaks to you. And go ahead and sign up. Do that thing. Make that thing be what you're choosing for yourself. We'll see you next week.