Susan Watson specializes in working worldwide with all ages experiencing Anxiety, Emotions, and Trauma, in a content freestyle, so that no talking really needs to take place unless wanted. Working with feelings and emotions within the body, Susan releases the emotional connection of past experiences. She teaches self-help tools to help others live their best life, the life that is deserved. Susan supports individuals, groups and the workplace with her Be Your Own Empowered Hero workshops, which were introduced as a measure to reduce the risk of future issues with mental and emotional health.
Introduce yourself, who is Susan?
– Who I am? That is a huge question! Okay, I am a wife, married to my lovely husband Scott, and we live in Kirkliston, a village on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. I am a mother; I have 3 adult children, and I am a grandmother to 8 ranging from 3 years to 21. I have a son and 3 grandchildren who live in the USA, and I love my visits there and my ever-patient daughter in law puts up with me. My other son and daughter live local to me, which is wonderful. Over and above that, I am very independent and have found my purpose in life by supporting others through challenging times in their life, and I love to laugh and my happiest and most enjoyable times are spent with my family. I am also a therapist and a coach, which is a driving passion in my life. I treasure time on my own to recharge my batteries. This normally entails listening to some loud Rock / Metal music, which is my self-care time.
Tell us a little bit about your business, Perfect Solutions Coaching.
– I have 2 sides to Perfect Solutions coaching. On one side, I work with all ages who experience life challenges, mainly anxiety, unhelpful emotions, or are struggling with past trauma. This is on a 1-1 basis, and I work in a way that blends many of the therapeutic methods I have trained in. I spend around 1.5 hours in a session with the client, for clearance, and teaching them self- help methods, and then they have a take-home “tool kit” to use themselves when they need it most. I work in a way that is all about self-empowerment, helping people to be able to manage their own lives and make positive changes on their own, and I am just there in the background should they need me if they decide that is needed. I run the sessions in person and worldwide over the internet, which is fantastic.
– My work's 2nd branch is my workshops, “Be Your Own Empowered Hero” I started the workshop initially as a preventative step, to teach young children and families about their mind and body, to recognize emotions and stress, anxiety, etc and self-help tools. This was all about reducing the risk to young people and families. I then realized why should self-care stop at any age? I take the workshops now into all groups, workplaces, etc. Promoting self-care, personal responsibility, and importantly all the workshops are fun, interactive, and teach life-long skills to help everyone manage their own wellbeing. Prevention is so important.
You have lived with an anxiety disorder for almost 40 years. What was that like, and what did you do to leave the anxiety behind?
– I did not even know I had anxiety until I started looking into this when I was in my 40s. I was always a troubled child, quite a loner and never really felt that I fitted in anywhere, bullied at school and felt like an alien in the world, that I was not meant to be here. I did not like anything about myself and was rebellious. I also had some emotional problems just due to life experiences and felt extremely uncomfortable around people. Anxiety made my world so much smaller than it should have been. I always felt I was being ridiculed and judged. The strange thing is that even as I hated being around people, I was so desperate to have a connection and to feel part of something. I always felt so alone; I did not see my own value at all. I could hardly speak to someone without it becoming such a major event and socializing was a nightmare for me. I had this chronic fear of upsetting other people and would replay conversations constantly with obsessive worries about what other people thought of me.
– This led me to make life decisions that were not good in any way. I left home very young, I was married, had 3 kids and on my own again by the time I was 23. Fast forward to age 40 and I had 3 broken marriages, homeless twice and had been in woman’s aid and experienced a lot of all kinds of abuse in my life. It was recognizing that my life could not continue in this way that I started to look for ways to make changes. I finally realized that I had made bad decisions and choices, which were based on accepting less than I deserved, fear and having exceptionally low self-worth and I set out to change that.
– I made a pact with myself that I would take responsibility for all the bad things in my life and by doing that, I would be responsible for my future. I took a different route than most, I was lucky enough to get my first office job at 40 and they must have seen something in me as within a year, I was a manager and point of contact for staff with Mental Health issues. This was a huge boost to my confidence, I then went on to study diplomas such as Stress Management, CBT, Life Coaching, Hypnotherapy, all of this was to work on myself and I cried through every course I ever went on, just releasing pain and other emotions. I just kept pushing through the fear, I didn’t let anything stop me, no matter how bad it was, I just did it, and the more I did it, the easier it became, slowly but surely. I have trained in so many techniques and methods now. I look back on the past version of me with compassion and love. I am a hugely different person now. My own life experiences led me to work with clients with emotional issues and anxiety and past trauma. I have been there, I know that no matter we experience in life, it is possible to make the changes you wish for, it may take effort and hard work at times. However, it is so worth it. Everyone deserves an opportunity to live their best life.
If I'm feeling anxious, what are your three best free tips to relieve the anxiety?
– The 3 tips that I am sharing today are quick and easy, and I have selected them as you can use them anywhere at any time, without being noticed as they are quite discreet and when you have the anxiety, you want discreet. It always helps to breathe correctly when doing the exercises. Just remember a long breath out, if you can do that, this will go a long way to calm you.
1. Just sit at home, nice and quiet and hold your wrist in front of the wrist bone and close your eyes, and say in your mind PEACE, feel it, breathe it… see a peaceful color or picture… every part of your body full of peace. Practice this often. Then when you need to feel peace, no matter where you are, just squeezing your wrist on that same point. You have installed what is called an anchor. Your mind will associate that grip with peace and calm you and fill you with this when you need it most
2. Stick out the index finger and middle finger on one hand ( one hand will work better than the other, so try both) now with the other hand, grip those two fingers as high up to the hand as possible and SQUEEZE. Squeeze until you feel a little movement or pulse….if you hold the fingers that tight with that pulse for around 2 minutes, it calms you and can stop the panic.
3. Have a color which represents peace and calm for you, or perhaps a light and just imagine that color or light washing through all your body, everything it touches relaxing, healing and comforting… like little kisses of peace spreading all the way through you, make it stronger and brighter, imagine your heart glowing in this color, every breath you breathe in are this color, your body’s cells and organs becoming all this color, relaxing and peaceful. Carry something with you which is also this color and just hold it in your hand, squeeze it and look at it when you need it
Who should book a session with you?
– If you feel that you are ready to move on from anxiety, unhelpful emotions, and past trauma's heaviness, then even making the first step to have a chat with me is worth the effort. All you need is an open mind to trying things that are a little different. We only talk details if you want to talk. Mainly I work with the emotion, so really, I do not even have to know any details of what has brought you to see me. My sessions are interactive and we both have a part to play. I show you how and your own mind makes all the changes. We can do this work over the video so anywhere in the world. The main point here is that no matter what the age I am working with, they come to see me willingly and are ready to make a change.
What kind of content will you provide our readers with?
– I am looking to share a variety of content and information. Self-help techniques, educational information on the mind and the body along with information on the different methods I work with that can very quickly help all kinds of life experiences. I would also like to share tips of confidence building and the importance of self-care as I know how life-changing this was for me. At times this can be tough love. It isn’t all hugs and light. When we just have to say enough is enough, take a deep breath and go for it. It is just easier with a helping hand supporting you on your journey. If anyone has any questions for me, they just need to contact me. I am always happy to help.
