Category: Journaling Courses

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Releasing What Does Not Serve

Very recently I have received a lot of private messages. People want to know: how do I train? What is my diet? And where the heck do I get the drive to want to help so many people?

Although the physical grit is an absolute must, as is nutrition… training my mind is the MOST important thing I do. When our head is not in the game, the rest fall like dominos.

Do I stumble? Yes. Do I get off track? Yes. Am I a quitter? Hell no! Journaling is a huge part of my running success. It’s part of who I am.

Today Imma keep it real and share with you a letter I wrote to myself this morning as I’m putting it in the mental instead of physical work.

Dear Suzanne…

Today I release everything and everybody that no longer serves your quest for peace and health. I am sorry for the way I often treat you, and the way I let others treat you. I am so sorry that I allowed you to tolerate selfish people whose intentions were clearly not the best for you.

Today I promise to do my best to no longer look at you in the mirror and see flaws, or think you are overweight or imperfect, or not pretty enough, or not good enough.

Today I will love you for who you are: a loving wife, a kick-ass mom, a loyal friend, and one hell of an athlete.

Today WE need to do better at feeding your body and soul with what it needs… THE GOOD STUFF. By that I mean with love and plants, fruits, more veggies, and with good people with good vibes… who have only the BEST intentions for you.

Today I will try better to release you from the dizzying merry go round of societal crap. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, Suzanne… today you just need to re-up your contract with yourself. Today I reclaim it!!

Love,

Your BEST Self

Follow along as Suzanne Swanson takes us through her transformation from addiction to athlete. Find support and healing in your own life! We’re sending Suzanne’s blog updates via email along with a daily dose of motivation. Don’t miss the next post… delivered straight to your inbox.

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Don’t Touch My Laces.

Today is simple. Wake up and do your best. We all need support, we all need encouragement. We need laughter, and appreciation for others. We need help from time to time, we need acceptance and humbleness to be teachable and to grow.

We need a few good friends, we need more sincerity and a lot less posed fakeness.

I have crawled from the depths of hell out of my alcohol addiction. I have lost 90 pounds not by sheer luck but by discipline, and hard days, mixed with both tears of deflated failure and of joy.

I have learned how to negotiate running as my beautiful outlet for this batshit crazy world I live in, for the toxic people and negative people I must deal with, and for the continued benefits of my health and well being.

Don’t let anyone tell you how to tie your laces. Only you know where you’ve been… where you are… and where you are heading. As for me… today I slip on my headband… sip the rocket fuel… smile… and go celebrate that I get to wake up and do what I love.

#rocketfuelinmycup

#tiedyefashion

#donttouchmylaces

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Today.

Today someone is waking up heartbroken thinking they will never love again.

Today someone will wake up hungover from the poison they put in their body, thinking recovery isn’t possible. Today someone will wake up at the hand of a narcissist feeling deflated and broken.

Today someone will wake up without a job as the aftermath of yesterday’s board meeting. Someone will battle anxiety and depression. Someone will closet eat. Someone will gamble. Someone will struggle with unfaithfulness or unfairness.

Today is also the day someone will hear the birds for the first time in a while. Today someone will draw the shades open and let the light in after decades. Today someone will feel hope and comfort. Today someone will be cured of an insidious disease.

Today someone will stop and pick a wildflower. Today someone will feel the warmth of the sun.

We are not stuck. We are not hopeless. We need not be afraid. We are warriors. Tuesdays are for morning runs, and coffee shops. For telling a friend you love them and for appreciating that even when the wildflowers think no one sees their beauty… I do💛.

“I hope you are blessed with a heart like a wildflower. Strong enough to rise again after being trampled on, tough enough to weather even the worst of the summer storms, and able to grow and flourish even in the most broken places.” ~ ng

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To Anyone Struggling.

I’m going to say a little something today to anyone struggling.

On the left was a girl whose smile was there because someone said “Say cheese!”

The core of me was alone… in an upheaval of a mess made by wrong choices… fueled by addiction, doubt, and shame.

I rode my high horse as a means of trying to fit in. I let crappy people influence my choices. I was robbing myself of a life of freedom, goodness, and wellness.

The woman on the right smiles because she crushed her devils… weathered the storms, and found peace within the brokenness.

Today life is tough. We scroll through social media. We see fitness models talk about their chiseled success, we see fad diet after diet, shake after shake, supplement after supplement. How can we not feel conflicted?

Here’s the deal: find what works for you and seek the pure joy in it. You want to eat meat? Eat meat. You want to be vegan? Be vegan. You want to cartwheel on the street between each mile.? Do it!!!! Find what you love and let it be a neverending well of happiness.

This world has had enough people spit venom about individual choices.

Today… all I’m asking is you wake up and choose you. Give thanks for who you were, give praise for who you are, and lay down some gratitude for who you will continue to become.

Find what works for you… price tag it and own it. Show the world… be the change.

I promise you someone is watching… let’s give ’em something to talk about ✌️.

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Courage, Dear Heart.

C.S. Lewis says, “Courage, Dear Heart.”

As I reached for my mug today and read the word courage, I was quickly reminded of what this means to me.

Every moment in life is a chance to pin courage on ourselves.

We continue to be tested… and when you are, say no and tolerate nothing less than what brings you peace and happiness.

We continue to be sculpted… and when you are, let the clay take the form of nothing less than what brings you awareness and stability.

We continue to be confronted by all the people, places, and things that leech upon us to suck the life out of us… and when you are, tolerate nothing less than what offers you good character and integrity.

Life will always test us. When you are reminded of this, remember that you are not required to please, settle, tolerate, accept, nor deposit anything that does match your goals, wellness, priorities, dreams, and blueprint.

Take your courage… pin it, share it, send it, save it, be it, keep it… but never lose sight of how you got it.

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Be Your Own Mayday.

This morning I woke up to a crisp beautiful spring day. The sun is shining, I feel a cool breeze as I step outside.

This past week was one of the hardest I’ve endured in a long time. Adapting to the loss of my dog was so hard. I could feel myself slipping into a place I do not want to dare ever visit again.

With that as I laced my sneakers I thought about how life is ever changing… how life has been deeply kind to me… how lucky I am to feel so loved by so many.

I pondered how if we never take chances we simply cannot succeed, and that in order to keep growing I must allow myself to feel it all… and that it’s okay to be sad, that pain teaches us that while it’s horrid in the moment… even at its most powerful state it cannot rob us of better times ahead, nor take away the most precious memories.

Today is my first run in a week, as my feet slam this gravel… I think of how truly lucky I am for my resilience… for my legs… for the next journey set before me.

I don’t quit. I don’t roll over. I get up and I forge on… faith trumps fear. Hope surpasses despair… and the light always shines through the darkness.

How’s that for Mayday…

#beyourownmayday

#rungirl

Follow along as Suzanne Swanson takes us through her transformation from addiction to athlete. Find support and healing in your own life! We’re sending Suzanne’s blog updates via email along with a daily dose of motivation. Don’t miss the next post… delivered straight to your inbox.