The Moment I Stopped Fixing People (And Everything Changed)

There's a fine line between helping and rescuing, and learning to see it can change everything. In this episode, Ashley shares one of the most powerful leadership lessons she's learned: that rescuing people keeps them small, and real love means stepping back and letting others rise on their own. She opens up about moments in her own journey in business, friendships, and life...where she caught herself stepping in too much, and how choosing to step back actually created more empowerment, trust, and growth for everyone involved. This short but fierce episode will help you release the need to fix, overextend, or carry others so you can step into your true power as a leader of your life. ✨ In this episode, you'll learn: The difference between helping from love and rescuing from fear Why rescuing others often comes from a need for control, approval, or safety How stepping back can actually create more strength and growth What true leadership in your life, business, or relationships really looks like 💬 Ashley's Fierce Reminder: "You don't save people, you show them how to rise." 🌸 Listen when: You're feeling drained from over-giving, struggling to set boundaries, or realizing it's time to let others carry their own lessons. 🎧 Tune in + rise: Spotify | Apple Podcasts 💌 Connect with Ashley & Fierce Forward: Instagram: @fierce.forward Empowerment jewelry that reminds you of your strength: fierceforward.com

This episode is for the woman standing in the middle of her storm — when everything feels like too much, when life feels loud, and you're just trying to stay steady. Ashley opens up about a season that tested her deeply — as a leader, as a woman, and as a human — and how she learned that true peace isn't found in calm weather, but in becoming the calm. Through challenge and change, she discovered the power of rooting down instead of running away, and how to stay grounded when the world around you shakes. If you've ever felt misunderstood, exhausted, or like you're the only one holding it all together — this episode is your reminder that your strength grows deepest in the wind. 🌳 🌿 What You'll Hear in This Episode: What it really means to have "deep roots" in your life and leadership How to stay centered when everything around you feels unstable The lessons that come when you stop fighting the storm and start trusting it Why boundaries are acts of self-love, not rejection A guided reflection to help you reconnect to your inner calm 💎 Key Quotes from Ashley: "Peace doesn't come from the absence of challenge; it comes from standing tall within it." "You can't control others — only your response. You can lead with integrity and still be misunderstood." "The storm isn't here to destroy you. It's here to remind you how deep your roots really go." 💫 Connect with Ashley: Instagram — @fierceashleyjohns Fierce Forward Instagram — @fierce.forward Podcast — The Fierce Forward Podcast  

This short, fiery episode is your reminder that you don't have to keep accepting excuses, over-explaining yourself, or shrinking to make other people comfortable. Ashley shares what it really looks like to stop taking the bullsh*t — to trust yourself, honor your truth, and stop letting other people's behavior define how you feel. If you've been tolerating energy that drains you, this is your wake-up call to take your power back. 💎 Key Takeaways: When you know who you are, you stop explaining yourself. People will test your boundaries — your job is to hold them. Not taking the bullsh*t isn't harshness — it's self-respect. Your peace isn't found in their apology, it's found in your clarity. 🌿 Favorite Quotes: "You are not here to be a dumping ground for other people's chaos — you're here to live in your truth." "When you stop taking the bullsh*t, you stop waiting for people to grow up and you start growing stronger instead." 💛 Follow Ashley: → Instagram: @fierceashleyjohns → Instagram: @fierce.forward → TikTok: @fierceashleyjohns → Website: FierceForward.com → YouTube: Fierce Forward with Ashley Johns

What does it really mean to be cool? In a world that tells us "cool" is about popularity, perfection, and how you're seen — I've learned that true coolness is something much deeper. It's not about your outfit, your success, or how many people like your posts. It's an inner energy. A calm, grounded confidence that comes from knowing who you are and standing fiercely in it — even when it makes others uncomfortable. This week's episode of The Fierce Forward Podcast is all about redefining cool from the inside out. I'm also sharing the inspiration behind our new Fall Collection — launching this Thursday, October 30th at 9am Pacific on fierceforward.com. Each piece in this collection was designed to remind you of your power to stay cool, calm, and grounded no matter what storms you're walking through. It's the energy of the oak tree — steady, rooted, and unshakable. If you've ever compared yourself, questioned your worth, or felt like you're not "enough," this episode is for you. It's your reminder that the most magnetic thing you can ever be is yourself. 🌿 In This Episode You'll Hear: What "cool" really means from a deeper, soulful perspective Why confidence starts with self-trust, not validation How to embody calm strength through life's storms The story and energy behind the new Fierce Forward Fall Collection 💎 Mentioned in This Episode: 🛍️ Fierce Forward Fall Collection — launches Thursday, October 30th at 9am PST Explore 20+ new gemstone jewels and crystals designed to help you anchor your energy and embody your calm power. 👉 www.fierceforward.com 💫 Connect with Ashley: Instagram — @fierceashleyjohns Fierce Forward Instagram — @fierceforward Podcast — The Fierce Forward Podcast

When you decide to raise your standards, everything changes — how you show up for yourself, what you accept from others, and what you allow in your life. In this episode, Ashley shares what it really means to raise your standards, why some people won't like it, and how to stay rooted in your truth even when others resist your growth. This is your reminder that your evolution will make some people uncomfortable, and that's okay. You're not here to be liked; you're here to become who you're meant to be. 🌙 In This Episode, You'll Learn: ✨ What "raising your standards" actually looks like day to day ✨ Why people sometimes react negatively when you begin to grow ✨ How to stop abandoning yourself to make others comfortable ✨ The difference between control and self-respect ✨ Why letting go isn't loss — it's energetic alignment 💫 Ashley's Fierce Reminder: When you raise your standards, you teach the world how to meet you. Don't apologize for choosing yourself. This is how you step into your power and walk Fiercely Forward. 🧘🏼‍♀️ Journal Prompts: Where am I still accepting less than I deserve? What does meeting my own new standard look like? Where am I still afraid to be fully seen in my power? 💖 Connect & Go Deeper: • Explore Fierce Forward Jewelry → www.fierceforward.com Each piece is handmade with intention to remind you of your strength, boundaries, and growth. • Follow Ashley on Instagram → @fierceforward Join the Fierce Forward community of women walking their paths with courage and heart.

Feeling scattered or low on energy lately? In this short episode, Ashley Johns — creator of Fierce Forward Jewelry and the Fierce Forward movement — shares how to protect your energy and refill your cup through simple daily structure and intentional rituals. "You must begin to create a life around your energetic needs so that you can build the life of your dreams from a full cup and a full heart of joy."  Learn how to: ✨ Recognize when your energy is leaking or overstretched ✨ Build small moments of solitude that ground and recharge you ✨ Create daily rhythms that keep you centered, calm, and inspired This 5-minute Fierce Forward Podcast episode is your reminder to slow down, come home to yourself, and fill your own cup first — so you can shine brighter in everything you do. Perfect for women who want to feel balanced, peaceful, and aligned while leading, creating, or simply living more intentionally.  Listen now to reconnect with your energy and move fiercely forward. 🤍 Join the Fierce Forward movement:  www.fierceforward.com – shop intentional gemstone jewelry & home energy pieces Follow Ashley on Instagram: @fierceashleyjohns Join the Fierce Forward movement on Instagram: @fierce.forward

What if you could learn how to focus more on yourself so you can finally stop caring what other people think about you. Caring what others think isn't a weakness. It's a skill you learned and have been honing over the years. But now it's no longer working in your favor to have and literally "live" this skill. This one is for the ones who learned how to be a people pleaser to survive. Now, it's time to learn the new skill that will help you thrive! So if you can learn this skill of focusing your attention outward, you can also learn its polar opposite of shifting your energy and focus towards yourself.  In this episode, I'm sharing how to have the awareness behind this habit that you've been living over the years and turn it into a new habit of directing your energy to the things that actually help you expand, grow and be more of yourself.  It isn't hard. It's a practice. One of awareness, curiosity, and the desire to change. It is so possible for you to make this change and begin living in true freedom of expression. Nothing feels better than being who you are and that sweet exhale you take once you truly let go of caring about the things that keep you small to instead caring about the things that help you expand while you're here. Press play and let's Fierce Forward! Follow Fierce Forward for more inspiration to move forward, fiercely in your life: Shop Fierce Forward Jewelry & Home Decor: https://www.fierceforward.com  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fierce.forward/ & https://www.instagram.com/fierceashleyjohns/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fierceforwardwithash

As you regulate your nervous system, your true self emerges. So much of feeling off-kilter and out of control in your life comes from simply needing to reclaim the tools that can bring you back to calm.  When you are calm, you are your most potent self!  The way back to this isn't through one action, it's through creating a lifestyle around the intention to be at peace and centered within yourself no matter what happens around you. The way to do this is through daily rituals.  In this episode, I'm sharing the 5 rituals that can help you go from scattered and out of control to at peace and feeling secure within yourself and your life. It's like you're getting new tools for your toolbelt that become a way of living, not just a life raft for when things go wrong!  Choose one of these and let's get back to calm, centered and ready for anything. Press play and let's Fierce Forward! Follow Ashley & Fierce Forward Shop Fierce Forward Jewelry & Home Decor: https://www.fierceforward.com  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fierce.forward/ & https://www.instagram.com/fierceashleyjohns/

Sometimes we lose that connection with ourselves and our goals in life. The further away we go from this feeling of being connected, passionate and excited about going after our true desires in life, the more our spirit becomes disconnected and that weight is a heavy one.  We shouldn't run from it or hide it on a shelf in the darkest corner of ourselves...instead, we should reconcile with this disconnection by reconnecting to ourselves.  "You're one decision away from a completely different life."  In today's episode, I'm sharing a part of my story that I've had to find a reconnection to so that I can be happy and at peace with myself.  I promise you when you feel like you're getting far away from something that's in you to create in this lifetime, you will feel deflated, down and lose confidence every action you take that takes you farther away from what you truly want. But it's not the end! It's the beginning of something so beautiful and transformative when you decide to make a new decision for yourself. Press play and let's Fierce Forward! Follow Ashley & Fierce Forward Shop Fierce Forward Jewelry & Home Decor: https://www.fierceforward.com  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fierce.forward/ & https://www.instagram.com/fierceashleyjohns/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fierceforwardwithash

Perfectionism is not who you are, it's something that's keeping you from being who you are. In today's episode, I'm sharing how I've learned to work with perfectionist tendencies so that I can move forward instead of letting it keep me blocked from expressing myself and my truth. I want to help you do the same! Learning to let go of needing everything to be perfect for it to have value or worth is key.  Whether you're wanting to pursue your passion or speak up for yourself, nothing is too big or too small to keep perfectionism from keeping you from these things you want to do in your life. I've created 7 steps for you to start walking through the door of perfectionism so you can live from the river of your heart and be happy. "Don't let perfectionism paralyze you. Embrace progress & take action!" ~Unknown Press play and let's Fierce Forward! Follow Ashley & Fierce Forward Shop Fierce Forward Jewelry & Home Decor: https://www.fierceforward.com  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fierce.forward/ & https://www.instagram.com/fierceashleyjohns/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fierceforwardwithash