“Choosing Joy Over Fear and Brave Over Perfect” – My Interview With Susie Rinehart

Susie is an award-winning author, champion ultra-runner, life coach, activist and mother of two young children. On June 30, 2016, she was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive tumor on her brainstem. Her doctor told her, "Without surgery, you have less than five months to live." After multiple complicated surgeries, she has recovered but there were big risks. That was over three years ago.

Susie's incredible journey to find her voice and a new kind of bravery after facing death allows her to share important lessons about pain and suffering, finding and holding onto joy, and the importance of slowing down to experience the sweetness of the moment. 

The following is just a taste of Susie’s insights. 

Q: You speak of two different kinds of pain. What are they?
Susie: Clean pain is loss. It is the medical diagnosis. It is the broken bone. Dirty pain is the worrying and the added anxiety and suffering that we layer on top of that loss or that clean pain.

Q: What is the point of suffering?
Susie: When we go through moments of crisis, we think they're tragic. And yet often, they shine a light on something that we wish we could get rid of, and then also guide us forward in a way that we didn't think we were capable of.

Q: What is your path to joy?
Susie: Finding a little bit more in balance, having a little bit more self-compassion, a little bit more courage, and a little less criticism of how I show up.

Q: You’ve spoken of the need to stop so much doing and focus on being. Is it our doing-ness that’s harmful or our frenetic need for approval?

Susie: You don't have to give up the doing. That is your executive functioning brain that wants to accomplish things in this life. But I feel I've been able to accomplish more once I've given up the need to always get it right before I even begin. 

When I ask if there’s one last thing she’d like our listeners to hear, Susie says, “Choose connection over consumerism. And if it's work that drives you to achieve excellence, take breaks early and often, and then come back to your work, rather than putting it off until the only thing that you have left for yourself and for others in your life is your exhausted, resentful self.”

Susie Rinehart is the author of Fierce Joy: Choosing Brave Over Perfect to Find My True Voice, an inspirational story of learning to choose joy over fear.  

About Susie Rinehart
Susie is an award-winning author, champion ultra-runner, life coach, activist and mother of two young children. On June 30, 2016, she was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive tumor on her brainstem. Her doctor told her, "Without surgery, you have less than five months to live." After multiple complicated surgeries, she has recovered but there were big risks. That was over three years ago. Susie's incredible journey to find her voice and a new kind of bravery after facing death allows her to share important lessons about pain and suffering, finding and holding onto joy, and the importance of slowing down to experience the sweetness of the moment.

Find Susie on Social Media:
https://susierinehart.com/ (Website)
https://www.instagram.com/susierinehart/ (Instagram)

Susie’s Book:
Fierce Joy: Choosing Brave Over Perfect to Find My True Voice

Books Mentioned in the Interview:
A Few Minor Adjustments: A Memoir of Healing, by Cherie Kephart
Love Is Complicated: A True Story of Brokenness and Healing, by Marlena Fiol, to be released summer 2020

About Marlena Fiol, PhD
Marlena Fiol, PhD, is a globally recognized author, scholar and speaker. She is a spiritual seeker whose work explores the depths of who we are and what’s possible in our lives. Her significant body of publications on the topic, coupled with her own raw identity-changing experiences, makes her uniquely qualified to write about personal transformational change. She is also a certified tai chi instructor and freelance writer whose most recent work has appeared in numerous literary magazines and newsletters.

You can find Marlena in the following places:
https://marlenafiol.com
Facebook
Twitter: @marlenafiol