Summary

Dr. Ruth Miller-Anderson is a resilient individual who has navigated significant personal and professional challenges, including illness and financial hardship, to become a successful life and business coach, author, and public speaker.

Abstract

Dr. Ruth Miller-Anderson, also known as The Swan Doctor, is a 48-year-old pharmacist, life and business coach, and academic from Northern Ireland. Despite facing numerous hardships such as divorce, bankruptcy, chronic illness, and the loss of loved ones, she has managed to reinvent herself and use her experiences to empower others. Her journey includes overcoming Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), the impact of the 2008 Great Recession, and more recently, Long Covid. Inspired by Jack Canfield's "The Success Principles," Dr. Miller-Anderson has embraced a life purpose centered on guiding and inspiring others to achieve their goals with love and compassion. She now shares her story and insights through writing, speaking, and mentorship, offering hope and encouragement to those facing their own challenges.

Opinions

Dr. Miller-Anderson believes that her personal struggles have equipped her with new skills and a new direction in life.
She values the importance of proper grieving and acknowledges its impact on her life.
The author views her diverse experiences as assets in her roles as a coach and mentor.
She is an advocate for alternative therapies, especially in cases where conventional medicine lacks answers.
Dr. Miller-Anderson holds a positive outlook on life, emphasizing the role of hope and courage in overcoming adversity.
She considers her life's work to be about teaching, advising, inspiring, and empowering others in a compassionate manner.
The concept of resilience and the ability to adapt to life's curveballs is a central theme in her narrative.
Dr. Miller-Anderson sees her life as a book with various chapters, each contributing to her overall purpose and story.

About Me — Dr. Ruth Miller-Anderson

Also affectionately known as The Swan Doctor…

Photo Credit: Dr Ruth Miller-Anderson Personal Collection. Speaking at Fire Up! 2018

They say that our life is a book and each phase makes up a chapter.

I have many chapters that bring me to this place where I’m indulging in an ‘about me’ article and hoping I can maintain your interest in finding out more.

Let’s just get the boring demographics out of the way so you can proceed to the juicy gossip.

I’m 48 years old, married for the second time to ‘Big Al’, mum to a 15-year-old daughter from my first marriage, and dog mum to a Bichon Frisé and rescue Saluki.

I grew up in, and still live in Northern Ireland, a previously war-torn and still politically erratic beautiful country occupied by many unique, friendly, and amusing people. Big Al originates from Scotland and can confirm the uniqueness of our sense of Northern Irish humor known as ‘the craic.’

Look at my CV today and you will see I am quoted as being a pharmacist, a success in life and business coach, a mentor, a project manager, an agony aunt, and an academic. I have a study wall covered in certificates reflective of my inquisitive and multi-passionate life. I have achieved at the highest level of academia and won multiple national awards

Sounds like a perfectly successful life, doesn’t it?

So what’s the juicy gossip bit then Ruth?

Well, I’ve also been a divorced, bankrupt, grieving, chronically ill single mum who moved back into the family home in my late thirties when all was seemingly lost.

The biggest challenge in my life and mindset has been aligning these things from my personal life with the outwardly successful CV…

and it has been this challenge that has brought me here.

Writing about my experiences.

Initially, I started a blog on my business website in 2017 with the cathartic aim of trying to understand my own experiences whilst then realizing I could use them to support others in getting them through their challenges.

The path to failure can also inform the journey to success.

The Challenges of the Past

I’m an only child. Born to two doting and loving parents who had been married for 17 years when I made a surprise entrance into their world.

Despite never having smoked and lived a healthy lifestyle, my dad died of lung cancer in 2000. It was a huge shock. By this time I had also lost several family members whom I was close to. The death of a dear friend, also from lung cancer, left me completely bereft. I don’t believe I have ever grieved properly, and it has impacted my life in various ways ever since.

“If You Get Grief Wrong, You Get a Lot of Things Wrong” Timothy Shriver

I was diagnosed with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) in 2004 and spent many years trying all sorts of alternative therapies to get well. It ended my career in academia.

After having my only child in 2007, I did return to better health enabling me to run several businesses (a coffee shop, chocolate wedding favors, magazine, and property development), and also return to full-time work as a pharmacist. I eventually took on a new role working between hospital pharmacy and academia; a welcome return to something which lights me up.

I was a ‘victim’ of the 2008 Great Recession which saw the closure of my coffee shop, and the loss of my property development and letting business.

In 2009 I left my toxic marriage. For the sake of my daughter, I prefer not to talk about this too openly. It’s probably also for my own sake as this experience left me a shadow of my former self before finding my soul mate Alan. He brought me back to life.

In 2017, aged 43, one book changed me.

The Success Principles by Jack Canfield.

This book provided an exercise in determining your life purpose and conveying this in one sentence.

This is what I ultimately wrote.

‘My purpose in life is to use my knowledge, experiences and positive outlook to guide, teach, advise, inspire and empower others to achieve their goals in a loving and compassionate way.’

My original chosen career as a pharmacist and academic certainly reflected my purpose, but when I wrote these words, I realized the negative things in my life had given me new skills and a new direction that would reach many more people in different ways.

Through coaching.

Through writing.

Through speaking.

Through mentorship.

Through consulting.

The Challenges of the Future

Despite my perceived recovery from ME, I have been plagued over the years with asthma exacerbations and episodes of pneumonia which triggered more fatigue and post-infection sequelae.

In March 2020 I fell ill with a ‘respiratory viral illness’ and secondary pneumonia. In all likelihood, this was my first episode of Covid19.

But we weren't routinely testing for it then.

When I was admitted to the hospital in June 2020, the line was it couldn’t be covid as I hadn't been to China or North Italy. We now know Covid19 was already in the country long before the pandemic was officially declared.

I attempted a return to work and business.

It was going reasonably well.

On 1st February 2022, I had a positive LFT for Covid19. My condition deteriorated and my symptom list expanded. I now have a diagnosis of Long Covid. I am back to trying every conceivable alternative as conventional medicine doesn’t have the answers…yet. I remain hopeful.

Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all…

Emily Dickinson

New challenges have been presented. Hope remains.

My favorite quote has become my life’s mantra and I find myself reverting to it once again:

“Success Is Not Final and Failure is Not Fatal. It’s the Courage to Continue That Counts.” Winston Churchill

The future is unknown and uncertain, but I want to physically write the next chapter in my life’s book and take you on this new journey of discovery with me.

Please stay for the ride.

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