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.
Good morning attitude ☑️
Wellness journal to keep track ☑️
Bottle full of water ☑️
Smile☑️
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.
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.
I awoke to a song faintly playing in my head: “The sun will come out tomorrow...“ Without much thought about it, I shot up to start my day. I went straight to the coffee maker and opened the unending cabinet of another addiction of mine… too many mugs!
There she was, staring at me. I carefully placed the mug down and began to think about this beautiful symbol’s meaning: healing, and a source of life.
This year is about to end. We have faced continued trying times… personal struggle, and world wide fatigue and crisis. I am tired, I am sometimes weary, I fight my daily battles. Yet each day, I begin with Hope.
I have dreams, and plans so big they can’t begin to fit on that lined notebook paper. I have athletic goals, and pipe dreams that are laughable to many… but to me are the very things that keep me sane, healthy, and appreciating health and wellness.
I refuse to carry the heavy BS into the New Year. It weighs a ton, reeks of self intoxication, and it’s not worth once of what defines me.
This time of year is made for re-birth. It is made for healing, for loving the people who make you better, and for leaving behind those who don’t.
Sip and be well. And remember, “The sun will come out tomorrow.”
I hear the clock ticking. The second hand makes known how much time is left before I say goodbye to 2021, and prepare to develop, grow, and thrive in the next 365 days.
To exit something gracefully is a challenge, and for many of us, implies multiple meanings. It can mean we must let go of the thing that has weighed so heavy on us… not altering its validity, not denying its lesson or importance… but simply and painstakingly cutting the cord of what is preserving bitterness in order to end the madness.
For some, it may be exiting a toxic relationship or friendship, where finally the tight grasp that a certain person once had over you has loosened just enough to be set free.
We all carry the power to battle our mental hijackers and spiritual strongholds. We all tolerate things that are beyond ludicrous. We condone, we consume, and we swallow the negative backwash of others. Exit gracefully, intentionally leave behind the baggage, and arrive at the new starting line of life.
For me this year has had its rolling hills. I’ve had tears, I’ve had smiles wider than canyons, and I’ve had sadness that aches to the core… but it’s kept its promise. It has made me a better athlete, a better friend, and has given me more insight to understand what I want and what I will demand for my continued becoming.
Exit this year gracefully… bow your head in thanks, raise your hand not your white flag, and run into the New Year with a blank canvas.
Who will you be in 2022? What will you accomplish? Who and what you take with you and who and what you leave behind will impact your results. Stop being okay with what’s not okay.
May we all find our balance, exit gracefully, and land ever so softly to new beginnings.
Run and write your way to a happier, healthier and more purpose-driven life. Sign up to hear from Suzanne via email. We’ll have some thought-provoking writing challenges, discussion groups and other empowering activities planned for 2022. Sign up for our emails here.
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.
She is a balance of raw strength and sudden weakness. She is a blend of deep seriousness, and a soft silliness.
She’s a space of deep darkness, yet with a light that draws others near.
As we gather within ourselves and prepare for another year, it’s time to release… time to purge. It’s time to clean out our closets of emotional clutter, and make room for nothing less that what heals us… what makes us well, and what radiates joy.
We all have “the things”… the imperfect relationships, the memory that holds us captive, the looking in the mirror sideways 100 times praying for just one day of actually liking ourselves.
We all pray silently for change. We dislike the cards dealt to us, but we continue to let others play our hand.
Look out into the unknown. See all the beautiful things that surround you. Release it there. Toss it away, and breathe new life into your purpose.
Emotional freedom is not free. It cost everything you have been through, everything both tragic, and lovely… but you are not required to re-up its subscription.
The greatest measure of courage is to release the past… forgive the poisonous people who do not expect it, and cultivate the new place where your beauty, your sense of freedom, and your dear life are claiming their power. Their strongholds have worn out their welcome… it’s you-time.
Onward, Loves…
Copyright Suzanne Swanson and Run Before You Fly. All rights reserved worldwide.
Wanted to share a kind testimonial submitted by one of our participants:
“…This is very well put together. I appreciate the effort Dina and Suzanne are putting into this and so very glad I signed up.
Day 2 was really good for me and I felt I was really able to express myself. I look forward to the days ahead. Happy journaling to those that are doing so!”
-Melinda Sparks Ardoin
Holidays are busy for everyone. We hope that for the days leading up to Christmas you are able to bring it all together, and really engage in and enjoy the most precious parts.
Our journaling challenge can help you relax into the spirit of the season and there is no pressure, obligation or judgment.
