Category: Self Therapy Journal

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This Morning’s Run

This morning’s run was a hot, humid one here in New Jersey.

Often times I get up and go without much thought on where I will run or how far I will go. I tie my laces, walk out my door and immediately I am on my familiar county roads.

Some days I see just wildlife, some days many town locals wave as they pass me in their cars. Today was just the hum of the local farmer’s tractor off in the distance, the sounds of the birds, and my heavy breathing trying to fight the humidity.

As I passed the barn with that beautiful flag hung… I am quickly reminded of just how lucky and blessed I am.

I get to wake up and do what I love, on these back farm town roads that I love but not without what that flag represents… not without those men and women who bravely fought so I could be just this lucky.

This is my home… these are my roads… and today I am just a happy girl.

❤️🤍💙

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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Why Not Wednesday

WHY NOT WEDNESDAY‼️‼️

Why not wake up today and decide today is the day you change your life?

Why not wake up today and decide today is the day you cut the excuses?

Why not wake up today and decide you are going put to rest doubt and fear?

Why not wake up today and forget the scale, forget the harsh screams of others and just be wonderfully you?

Why not wake up today and smile and wave at all them haters and naysayers?

Today is yours. The work is hard, and the road may be long, but the journey… every paved and unpaved mile, will teach you something valuable. Set out to find gratitude in each mile.

Have acceptance in each setback, and have hope for every victory yet to come. Someone is watching you. Show them kindness, teach them love, and let them in on your successes.

Bitterness need not apply. Now let’s go smash some pavement… after all, it is WEDNESDAY‼️ WHY NOT?

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Be an Influencer.

One woman…
One mind…
One beating heart…

Never ever again to settle for less than what feeds my soul.

Do I pray for this world? You bet I do‼️

Am I going to just sit back and let the world happen to me? Hell no‼️

Wake up and be an influencer!!

Stop whining‼️
Make your bed‼️
Make good food‼️
Lace ’em up‼️
And go scream it from the rooftops‼️

#wecantstopwinning #fridayvibes #beaninfluencer

Run with Our Pack!

Run Before You Fly Private Facebook Group is open to all who wish to continue to share their experiences, love of running, and battles of life, with each other. Together we are better.

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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

Join our safe space where we will share, inspire, love, and grow!

Run Before You Fly Private Facebook Group is open to all who wish to continue to share their experiences, love of running, and battles of life, with each other. Together we are better.

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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.

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Light It Up.

“Why do you do it?” I get asked frequently by many… “How do you find inner motivation? How can you wake up and find time?”

For me, the answer is simple. Not ever going back to a place of discontentment.

Why should we settle? Why should we continue to let people, places and things carve out the person we are? Our circumstances may be crappy, or seem minute. Our pasts may seem daunting, unjust, or just average.

If you want to be a force of nature… then wake up and do the work. Let the lessons of life guide you. Take small steps to release your crap, and say yes to challenge and change.

You are responsible for you. The haters will hate, the naysayers will vomit venom, the critics will judge. Get in your tunnel and light it up… let the world see what can you can do.

You don’t have to be the best, or the fastest. You just have to be consistent. I promise you, someone is watching you. Teach them something worth learning🖤.

Stay in Touch with Suzanne

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Rhode Island Half Marathon in the Books!

Just a few pictures to capture the joy of accomplishment. Rhode Island Half Marathon. First shot, just after crossing the finish line. Below that, fueling up with some Lucky Charms! With gratitude for my amazing life partner, who is always there with a smile at the finish line. Thank you for your unshakeable belief in me.

No great half marathon starts without having me some Lucky 🍀 Charms and an Americano with an extra shot!

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.

Sign up to hear from Suzanne via email here.