We’re all busy people who don’t have time to be checking and interacting with multiple online communities so it makes sense to send everyone an occasional catch-up email rather than expecting you all to be having Skool conversations with each other every day. This way, you can see if there’s anything of interest you want to check out. In the spirit of working smarter, not harder, this message is going to members of both Skool groups - Horses Connect and Sustain your EA practice – because many of you are members of both. What’s the Difference? The main difference is that the Horses Connect Skool community is a public space for anyone interested in equine-assisted work. It also contains the libraries of resources (private) for graduates of the Horses Connect TR?EAL Coaching course and the Horses Connect Equine-assisted learning and Personal Development Course. Sustain your EA Practice is a private group and it’s has just had a name change! We’ve realised that overwhelm, burnout, and that sense of ‘oh F**k what do I do now?!’ is not exclusive to equine-assisted practitioners. Many people in caring professions have the same experience. THE REALISTIC GROWTH COMMUNITY is there to help! Both groups offer free lifetime membership with options to purchase courses, or upgrade to get them free. Remember to keep an eye on both Classrooms because we’re adding more content soon. And, if you have any requests for resources or courses or information, please let us know. What else has been happening? THE REALISTIC GROWTH COMMUNITY is now running a Member Spotlight feature. At the moment, @Chaela Sumner is in the hotseat but she will be handing over to @Lucy Seeley in the next few days. MEMBER SPOTLIGHT is your opportunity to answer a set of questions on you, your business, and anything else relevant to the community that you want to share, and the post in pinned in the community.

Yesterday morning, I left for work wearing footwear that was not waterproof. In my defence, I had checked the weather app and it told me that we’d have a dry day. What I hadn’t bargained for was that the copious amounts of rain the night had left the outdoor arena wet and mushy. I was barely 5 minutes into setting it up for the day when I realised that my feet were soaked 😳 And then it became clear that the weather hadn’t consulted the app and didn’t know it wasn’t supposed to rain 🌧️ Like all horse people, my car is always full of ‘just in case’ supplies so I knew I had extra socks and boots. But here was my dilemma - the spare boots were only slightly less un-waterproof than the ones I was wearing. At what point should I change out the wet footwear into the dry set that would eventually lead to soaking wet feet again? I stuck it out until after lunch. By then, my feet couldn’t have been any wetter. The dry socks and boots felt amazing - until they didn’t 🤣 QUESTION: What do you think about delayed gratification - putting off an immediate reward now for a bigger and better one later?

Last weekend I got stuck into my own version of a Swedish Death Clean 😊 That’s where you get rid of all your junk before someone else has to deal with it when you’re dead. I went through boxes and folders of old notebooks, correspondence, photos and books and decided what no longer needed to take up space - in every sense - in my life. As a result, I now have a much less cluttered house, office and life Kind of …… When is a Clear Out not a Clear Out? When you don’t do the ‘Out’ bit 🤣 There is no more forgotten, unused, or irrelevant ‘stuff’ clogging up the energy in drawers, on bookshelves, or under beds. Now it’s all sitting in my hallway 🥴 It’ll probably make it as far as the car in the next few days. Eventually, it will get to its final resting place. I spent so much energy clearing the junk but I really just moved it from one place to another 😊 Now, instead of being out of sight (and mostly out of mind) it’s now front and centre looking at me every time I walk by. Almost tutting in disappointment and disgust at the sight of me doing other things and leaving it in limbo 😜 And yes, it’s not lost on me that I would be better off doing something about completing the job than writing about it. At least, if I suddenly drop dead or get hit by a meteorite, or abducted by aliens, I have it almost done. Just the OUT bit to finish 😊 Is it just me or does anyone else have difficulty finishing tasks?

I don’t use AI to write posts but sometimes it’s fun to play with.😊 Try this prompt and share your answer in the comments 😊 Mine will be there too 😊 Open your favourite AI and ask ‘Based on what you know about me, what famous horse do I most resemble?’

You may (or may not) have noticed I’ve been a bit absent around here for the last few weeks. Truthfully? I’ve been a little overwhelmed. Actually… a lot overwhelmed. There has been a perfect storm of: too many moving parts too many ideas not enough hours in the day, and exhaustion quietly sneaking up on me from behind! I’ve been so busy trying to keep all the plates spinning that I stopped paying attention to the person spinning them. The ‘plates’ became my focus and keeping them all going just kept getting harder! I really gave it my best shot – until my body said STOP! Sound familiar? Here’s the awkward little lesson horses repeatedly try to teach us: You cannot sustainably care for everyone and everything else while quietly abandoning yourself. Eventually your body, brain and energy notices. And life starts gently (or not so gently) nudging us to pause. For someone who preaches the power of pause, I found it really difficult and uncomfortable to settle into the space of ‘non- doing’. It was so challenging to give myself permission to rest, breathe, and decide ‘What actually matters right now?’ And it was even more challenging to let some things go, for a while. For me, it’s been a reminder that sometimes the bravest thing we can do is stop pretending we’re fine when we’re actually running on fumes. And maybe there’s a lesson in that too: Overwhelm is information, not failure. Sometimes it means: - too many priorities - too may projects - too little support (probably because you didn’t ask for help!) - or simply… you’re tired. And tired people are allowed to rest. Anyway, I’m still here. Slightly frazzled. Still figuring things out. Still occasionally resembling an overcaffeinated pony in a plastic bag storm. But back. And grateful you’re here too. QUESTION: What has life been trying to teach you lately — even if you didn’t particularly ask for the lesson?