Category: Empowerment

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Take More Detours

Take a detour? Why, Suzanne? Detours are longer, they are often not the road we intended. They are sometimes scary and leave us without knowledge of where we are going or where we will end up.

The detours of my own journey were and still are crucial to where I’m headed. I wasn’t prepared for the crash and burn of several of the circumstances that were delivered to me without permission, nor the ones I allowed to repeatedly and constantly cause me self-anguish.

Taking a detour is necessary. Get off the route that has not served you. Get off the route that has continually let you down, has sabotaged your efforts, and has hijacked your mind into believing that “you can’t” or “it doesn’t matter.”

It does matter… you matter… your health and wellness matters. What you think of yourself matters. What you dream and desire to achieve matters. Take a left turn, and travel down a road unfamiliar. Ponder what it is that is stopping you. Breathe in all that is wonderful, and exhale all the BS you didn’t invite.

Take a detour today, and trust that this quiet unfamiliar place… is a space meant just for you. Be inspired at what both its softness and hardness teach you. 

May your detour today be exactly what you need. Treat your body and your mind well today. Onward, Loves.


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About Suzanne

Suzanne Swanson makes it her personal mission to help people on the path to recovery. Her own struggles with alcohol and food have led her to a place of wanting to give back to the world. Need support around setting goals, and getting healthy in every aspect of your life? Sign up for our mailing list.

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Can We Do Better?

I look at this triad that stares back at me and still to this day am unsure of its unfolding. I peer into the eyes of that little girl named Suzanne. 

Dreams of a 7-year-old are quite simple… the fairytales of my princess room seemed so life-like and doable. The genuineness to travel to space, meet my celebrity crush, and care for my baby doll as if her literal life depended on it, kept me smiling and full of life.

The adult years slapped me in the face with a darkness I wasn’t prepared for. The unforeseen devil in the bottle of whiskey, the lies of processed shit food, being overweight, and the hidden agenda of my mind… were to continually taunt me, shame me, and unravel every little good thing I wanted to believe about myself.

Today you will find me on solid ground, but with dreams that soar, and a heart that’s been mended. This didn’t come without tough lessons, steadfast trust, and a pair of sneakers. Those worn out treads have carried me miles and miles.

Running gave me purpose. It befriended me at my lowest, and has taken me to my highest. It never sways, it never says…”‘no you can’t”, it’s not partial to day or night, it doesn’t care what I look like, or what I wear. It just shows up when I need it… and guides me one step at a time. It listens without judgement, and it believes in me.

Running helped me break the chains, and fight for a new existence. It instructed me to do better. We all have crap in our mental closets. We stuff it away, we drink it down, we purge it up… over and over. 

What if we just do better? Don’t wait until tomorrow. Don’t excuse yourself to repeating patterns. Do better. Do something. Do it until you see that 7-year-old’s innocence again… and when you see her, tell her she was right. You can be anything your heart desires. The end.

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Light Bringer.

Are you a light bringer and a world shifter?

I get it. No… like I really get it. I ask myself, am I really of this time and space? Has my brain been hijacked? Am I truly witnessing this world fall apart before my eyes?

What happened to the value of a dollar? The meaning of a handshake and its honor for trust. The family table at dinner time, and simplicity of holding the door for someone.

Every day I get challenged. My demons want to me to re-introduce myself. The whiskey bottle subliminally hovers, and the processed comfort foods beg for a chance to take their stronghold.

These things always resurface… coming up for just enough air to try pull me back down… to prove the vicious cycle can reset.

To shift and grow… to brighten and conquer… I must eagerly remind myself of the teachings of my sneakers… and this road.

The conditions are constantly changing. Things insidiously try to stop me from smiling, trick me into un-believing in my ability to play my part in making this world better, and knock me off course so the light dims and conceals my purpose to myself and others.

You have the ability to shine and shift today. Grace is here… there is no need to fight yesterday. Block the mental dimming switch, refuse to stay stuck, and inch your feet just a little.

You’ll ask yourself… will this really matter? To me? To others? The short answer is yes… someone is learning from you. Teach them well.

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It is Well with My Soul.

Good morning. Fuel your soul today with only things that march you further in your quest for better days and change. As you exit your door, take a stand on your life.

What are you sacrificing to get there? What toxic BS are you trashing? And who are you bringing? These choices for this day will all have a hand in carving out who you long to be.

  1. Good morning attitude ☑️
  2. Wellness journal to keep track ☑️
  3. Bottle full of water ☑️
  4. Smile☑️
  5. Is up to you…?☑️

Power up today. Grace is new. The page is turned. Yesterday is over. Tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. THE POWER OF NOW is right here. Put the pen in your hand and start writing your story. Run. Inspire. Fly. Amen.

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“New Year, New You”

Sleepless nights. Tossing and turning. Hating my choices. Angry at where life “put me.” Feelings of low self esteem. Daily wars with my inner self. HATE. EAT. DRINK. REPEAT.

That was my life for years, only I did it in silence so I could isolate myself from penetrating words, good people, and the truth.

It wasn’t until the long distance sport of running taught me to be tougher than my demons. It taught me patience, and endurance. 

It taught me humbleness, and mercy. It taught me that a little daily discipline, coupled with passion, and a good diet could be the answer to unlocking the door and leaving my living hell, and a hell I chose to stay in far too long.

We all hear the same crap. “It’s a New Year, New You”… “Start tomorrow, today is over.” “I’m going to do it… just not today.” 

I’m here to tell you: today counts. This minute counts. You don’t need a new month, or new turn of the numbers to give you permission to become your greatest self. Our addictions, the errors of our ways, and our poor choices can only thrive if we allow them to.

Be done with your own crap. Take the good advice you give others but never follow yourself. Make YOU a priority, don’t over complicate it. Eat a vegetable, drink more water, and let your story tell itself.

Somewhere today someone is watching you. Be a good teacher, and be a kind human. That. Is. All.

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No. More. Excuses.

“I’ll start tomorrow.”

“I’ll do it in the New Year.”

“Next month, I’m taking control.”

I just have to use up what I have. I already paid for this. I deserve it, I’ve had a bad day. This food will comfort my soul. I only live once. I can’t live life without it… and the list goes on…

All the beautifully packaged and tied-with-a-bow excuses we allow our minds to use as a playground.

I had every excuse in the book to justify why I guzzled booze on the daily, and abused my body with toxic crap. I was “justified” or so I thought.

I fed my fear with sugar, and my low self worth with whiskey. I believed in nothing, I had zero self esteem, and darkness covered me like a weighted blanket. I refused to speak about the elephant in the room, and I almost let the lies become the truth.

The power is inside you. Only you have control over what you will continue to tolerate, and what you will change for a better life. Why would we wait? Grace is new every morning.

To excuse, or not to excuse? That is the question.

#RUNBEFOREYOUFLY #nomoreexcuses2021 #takeyourpowerback

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Drink Down the Gratefulness

I know waking up and seeking joy on purpose isn’t always easy. Obstacles are thrown at you all day. Meteor showers of other people’s crap will rain down upon you and make you question if your path is right or crooked.

You will never have control over others’ opinions, ideas, or thoughts… the solution is to create your own. Do what works best for you. Seek out blessings, harvest joy and happiness, and work to become your greatest self.

The world wants you to compete. It wants you to swim in waters of fear. It wants to slowly inflict hate, and it wants you to carry burdens that have already been lifted from you.

Today… find joy in the simple. Find one thing that makes you smile. Do one kind thing today for someone, and above all wake up and be present for yourself.

Drink more water. Put something good in your body, and give thanks for what it carries you through.

It’s a beautiful, abnormally warm morning here in the Northeast. My legs move as I ask them to, my heart beats fast, and my lungs gracefully take me around all the turns and hills of these roads and my life. It’s simple today.

Wake up and pour yourself a cup of gratefulness. Drink it down and go!

#runningmotivation #runmorethanyourmouth #drinksomegratefulness


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Creating Joy Through the Chaos

Mayday Monday….

As the holidays draw closer with each passing day, most of us continue life as normal. We trim our trees, wrap gifts, bake cookies, and celebrate the true meaning of the season…

But what about those who are struggling? I want to talk about this because so many of us at this very moment are in a space of mental entrapment. 

One of us on this very day wakes… and struggles with not taking a drink. One of us has lost a loved one, a pet, or is mourning someone who is still alive. 

One of us is facing a job loss. A father is struggling to feed his family. A veteran is struggling to tie their own shoes. 

A woman is closet eating in shame, and another is carefully applying makeup to hide the bruises. 

Somewhere a child is feeling the brutal effects of a bully. The narcissist continues to gaslight, and still the world turns without a missed beat.

Feeling or creating joy through chaos and trial is tough. It’s a daily challenge to not let these things define us emotionally or physically. But all is not a lost cause…

Wake up and pray for someone even if you don’t know them. 

Go visit a veteran. Smile, listen to their truths and tie their shoes if they need it.

Take a walk with a friend, and listen. Don’t assume, don’t judge, don’t react… just be the ears they are desperately trying to find.

Donate to your local women’s shelter. If they are there… believe me when I say… it took courage beyond measure to get there.

Send a card of encouragement to a friend, and cut the ties of those people, places, and things whose only agenda is derailing yours…

The greatest gift you can give yourself this year is the gift of helping someone.

Not everyone faces the same lot in life. I don’t know the reasons why… but I do know this. Kindness goes a long way. Small things add up to big things, and the sum of it all = greater human decency. 

Be someone’s Mayday today… even if it’s your own.

#RUNBEFOREYOUFLY #remembertheseason #besomeonesmayday

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Transient Thursday

She took a trip deep inside her. She didn’t pack much for this day trip. She wasn’t staying long… her past asked her to sit, pull up a chair, and stay awhile.

She smiled softly with an all knowing that the overthinkers, the overwhelmers, the doubters, all the cunning games of her mind would soon enter the room for a visit too.

She allowed them all to sit and one by one she gave them an opportunity to pitch their deal of opportunity to her… if she chose to stay.

As she got up to leave they spoke quickly and desperately, asking why she was leaving so soon.

“I’m a transient guest today,” she answered.

“I respect what you have taught me. I acknowledge the things I cannot change, and I will never give up and allow you to hijack the contentedness that I cultivated from the cracks of light that you barely let in.”

My past is impermanent, my presence is joy, and my future is whatever I want it to be… and so is yours.

Know that the places we must visit from time to time are necessary. That sometimes to “become” we must “unbecome” first. That the dark places deep within us are often softer, and kinder than we think.

The greatest of your strengths are often built from the aftermath. Settle for nothing less than what brings you warmth, brilliance, and passion.

“Shut the door on your way out,” the past screamed… and with her eyes she spoke:

“Think twice about inviting me next time… good day.”

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Timeless Tuesday

So you get up today and you say to yourself… ah S*#%, it’s just another Tuesday. You think about all the crap you did or didn’t do right yesterday. You punish yourself for the failed efforts of both personal and professional goals.

You let the television, the false promises of society, and the stigmas that have been branded into us for years take the lead role in your play of life.

I didn’t want to face reality. I didn’t want to stop guzzling whisky, I didn’t want to eat kale and superfoods. I wanted pity… I wanted comfort food, and I wanted to hide in my deep dark abyss of self loathing.

Get up… get dressed…. and get out of your own way. It’s not “just another Tuesday.”

Today can be the day of renewal, of starting over if you must, of making a list of crap you’re not tolerating and sticking to it.

Today is a day of uprooting all the nonsense, of reaching out for help, and finally putting you first.

Take special care today to forgive yourself. Know you are given grace each morning, and that small steps of determination will always win over large leaps of fear and uncertainty.

“Beautiful girl, you can do hard things.”

You’re damn right I can…#RUNBEFOREYOUFLY

#tuesdays #yesyouabsolutelycan


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Thank you for supporting my writing and running endeavors at RunBeforeyouFly.com. I’m Suzanne Swanson and I’d love for us to keep in touch! 

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