Shawn Elizabeth George, Pause. Breathe. Pray.

Meet Shawn Elizabeth George, an inspiring human being who happens to be an author, speaker, and wellness coach dedicated to helping others live from the inside out. A Connecticut native, Shawn’s journey has been shaped by resilience, faith, and a deep commitment to encouraging others. Holding a BSEd in Health and Physical Education and a Master’s in School Health Education, she has always been passionate about wellness, but it’s through her personal experiences - including navigating anxiety, depression, and surviving adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare cancer - that have given her a profound perspective on healing and purpose.

Through her writing and speaking engagements, Shawn shares powerful lessons on faith, perseverance, and embracing life’s challenges as stepping stones to growth. Her books, including My Journey to Live From the Inside Out and Our Struggles Have Purpose, offer heartfelt reflections and practical wisdom, inspiring readers to harness their struggles and step into their deeper purpose. She is also the founder of Live from the Inside Out, LLC and Pause. Breathe. Pray.™, initiatives that encourage personal transformation and spiritual connection.

Shawn lives in her hometown with her husband, Stephen, their three courageous and fun-loving children, and their quirky black lab, Georgia. Whether she’s writing, speaking at engagements or podcasting, Shawn’s message remains clear: wellness begins within, and faith has the power to transform lives.

And her reflections during our interview were just that - TRANSFORMATIVE.

Shawn, your journey has been an interesting one.  How has your experience with anxiety, depression, and cancer shaped your approach to writing and helping others?

It really started with my grandmother - seeing how, at the end of her life, she was finally breaking out of her shell.  After all this time, I was just now seeing her - truly - for the first time.  I realized how much of her life she had spent not living freely as the person she was made to be. Witnessing her break open made me realize that I didn’t want to live my life in a shell.  Someday, I wanted to unveil who I am so I could live more authentically and freely.  

Her passing was an eye opening experience.  She had dealt with depression but wasn’t diagnosed until she was 80.  I had dealt with it too, but she was the first family member to be formally diagnosed.  It was there at the end that she and I got to discuss the darkness - about how light can come from it. It was this beautiful time of breaking open. 

When I think of transformation, I picture the journey from caterpillar to butterfly - which, I know, is so cliche - but it’s more than that.  We don't always talk about the messiness of that transformation, or how necessary it is to truly become who we’re made to be.  It's messy, but something beautiful can come from it. 

So yeah, I was just really inspired by her.  Life has given me different experiences, whether through parenting or other life experiences, and I try to take whatever my story is and hope that someone else can benefit from it. Because I don't think our stories are necessarily just for us. Sometimes we go through things so that we can take what we’ve learned and help somebody else.

While rewarding, purpose driven work can also require significant energy from us.  Do you have a self-care routine that helps you maintain balance? 

My actual business is called Live from the Inside Out because I’ve learned that true wellness begins within. My background is in Health and Physical Education, and I love being active and taking care of myself. But as much as I could exercise or aim for a certain weight that I thought would make me happy, I never had the contentment in doing the inner work.

And although that work is deep and challenging, it’s rich. If we keep working on the outside, we’ll keep chasing the wind. But when we come inward, as hard as it might be, it’s like short-term suffering for long-term freedom. If we only focus on the outside, we get these short-term freedoms - little puddles of happiness we jump into - but we don’t get the authentic joy to live and swim in.  

The inner work isn’t perfect. It’s a process. I’m totally a work in progress. My friends say I’m disciplined, and I do thrive on routine. I wake up early, start my day with prayer, read my gratitude journal - grounding myself in what is, for me, an anchor and a solid rock on which to stand. Spending that quiet time in the morning helps me start with clarity rather than letting the noise of the world throw me into a messy headspace. And I am a messy headspace person, so gaining clarity first is important for me.

I do believe in taking care of our bodies. I work out, I walk, I nourish myself with good food. But the heart of it has shifted. Yes, it’s nice to feel good in my body, but it’s also about pouring in throughout my day so that I can be more outward-facing. If I don’t take care of myself and pour in, I feel like I can be very focused on myself throughout the day - what I need next - what I didn’t finish, or what’s missing. But when I take the time to pour into my mind, body, spirit, soul - to nourish myself, then I can move beyond that. Instead of focusing inward, I can ask: How can I love you today?

I think everyone’s pattern and routine are different, but for me, faith is the part that fills me and fuels me. It helps put my mind in the right place so I can see things through a clearer lens. It’s what gives me perspective for my day."

Has there been a particular challenge in your own life, where looking back now, you realize it was a pivotal moment in your own growth journey? 

It started back when I had been on a different spiritual path, but hit a wall with it and fell into a deep depression. That was when I came back to my faith. Even during that journey, I remember thinking, I hope someday this will help somebody else. I didn’t know where that thought came from at the time, but it stuck with me.

Fast forward to 2017, I was diagnosed with a rare cancer. A tumor was found in my nasal cavity and had grown into my palate. Actually, back in November 2016, I had just finished writing my children's book. And then, in January 2017, I got the diagnosis. Part of the process included surgery to remove the tumor, which also meant removing my palate. Now, I speak with an artificial removable palate, called an obturator, that helps me speak - it’s kind of like a certified retainer.

That season was difficult. Here I was, writing and speaking, trying to encourage kids and adults, and suddenly I was faced with the question: What will I look like? What will I sound like? Will I be able to stand in front of people again? Will my voice be heard?

It was a refining time - a time of leaning into my faith. Interestingly, even though I was facing cancer, I experienced a greater peace within my body than I ever had before. I had this deep trust that, in time, all would be well. It took coming to the edge of life to see clearly. And while I wouldn’t want cancer again, the perspective it gave me - how it stripped away all the clutter and gave me this transformative perspective of life and what it's really about.

For me, life is about loving God and loving others, as an extension of that love for Him. Having dealt with anxiety and depression and coming back to faith was a beautiful thing to have that foundation of faith when I went through cancer, giving me something to lean into. The typical things I relied on - like working out - weren’t available to me during that time. But faith became a foundation that truly held me up.

Since then, I’ve prayed that whatever I learn, I can share - so that it might help someone else, even if they’re not facing cancer. Because struggles look different for everyone. I love the visual of a ladder—people might hear cancer and think, Oh, that’s way up here on the ladder, while their own struggle feels much lower. But in God’s eyes, He lays the ladder flat—heart to heart, struggle to struggle. My seventh grader’s challenges are just as important as someone facing a different hardship.

So, for me, it’s never about saying, my struggles are bigger. It’s about recognizing that all struggles matter. And if I can learn something through mine that helps someone else, that’s what I want to share.

It’s an interesting time and big on my heart right now is how we avoid letting our circumstances dictate the posture of our hearts. Instead, have this place in our heart mind where we can be of stillness and sound mind, so that we can then engage in a healthy and productive way.

We talked about these life experiences where we’re seemingly forced to surrender so that we learn how to be the bravest version of ourselves.   

A very powerful moment in my treatment journey, one I will never forget, was during radiation and chemo. I was lying on the radiation table, my head snapped into place, secured tightly to prevent movement. It was unsettling, but it was what it was. I remember gripping the sticks they gave me to hold onto, rolling my shoulders down, pulling them in, trying to steady myself.

When they started the radiation, they left the room. I heard them announce it was beginning, but then - nothing. I couldn’t see it, hear it, or feel it. I remember lying there, gripping those sticks and thinking, Is this even working? And then, I had this moment of realization: This isn’t productive.

I slowly opened my palms. A shift happened. I felt this deep sense of surrender, an understanding that I had done what was mine to do. But in that moment, rather than gripping tightly onto fear, I realized what was more productive was to send love outward. So instead of trying to control what I couldn’t, I prayed for others. I sent love to those who needed it. That became my focus.

Now, does fear still grip my heart, like when I go for scans? Absolutely. I’m human. This is a process. Some days, I can lie in peace and pray, and some days, I have to work through the fear. But I’ve learned that surrender is beautiful. There is freedom in it.

I’ve done a couple of things this past year that’s really taught me there’s freedom on the other side of fear, although getting through that fear can be thick and hard and takes every bit of will.  I’m not a runner. But I trained for the New York City Marathon in honor of my friend, who started Brave Like Gabe, an organization raising money for rare cancer research. She is no longer with us, but long story short, I had so much anxiety about running. But I kept pushing through the fear.  The why was what drove me and helped me get through the fear where there was this beautiful freedom the day of the race.  

I think sometimes in life we expect life to be easy.  We live in a place in the world - that’s lovely - a lot of our needs are met, and so we expect comfort in life, but it isn’t what helps us grow.  It often takes that refinement that’s a challenge, and we can resist it, but if we can press into it we can find that there’s freedom on the other side. 

My whole thing was to get to the starting line and get to the finish line.  I had a panic attack the night before the marathon and I really struggled.  I had to go step by step to get to that starting line, but when I did, I had pure joy for 26.2 miles. 

Community and mentorship are so important.  Is there a particular person or persons that you’ve drawn inspiration from over the years?

"My mom's faith has been something I didn’t always appreciate. She was a woman of faith, and it was beautiful - but at times, I struggled with it. It’s funny, she always had her sack of books, and now, somehow, I’m living like her. I wake up and have the things that I do.

There’s a quote that says, share your faith, and if necessary, use words. I feel like she lived that. She didn’t press her faith onto others - it was simply who she was. And what she did was love people well. She’s definitely someone who has always inspired me with how deeply she loves others. Her life’s work as a school counselor reflects that, which I just love.

My husband is like a rock in my life. We’ve been together almost 30 years, and he has always been a steady presence. I’m incredibly grateful for him because he has stood by me, even when he didn’t fully understand me. Whether it was anxiety, depression, or cancer, he still loved me well. Through all of it, he was there to hold my hand, and I am just so thankful for him.

And then there are my dear friends and mentors. Even as a parent, my kids have impacted me in ways I never expected. When I started parenting, I thought I would know what I was doing, but I really didn’t have a clue. Seeing my kids for who they uniquely are has taught me so much. Parenting isn’t just about expecting our kids to grow; it’s about growing beside them. It’s humbling.

I feel like so many people have shaped me, helped me grow, and made me look inward. In life, it’s easy to point outward, but sometimes you have to ask, What is mine to do here? What is mine to say? What is mine not to do or not to say that could benefit this relationship?

Life has a way of bringing you to your knees.  At the end of the day, I just want to love people well. And I keep asking myself, How can I do that best?

Shawn, what advice would you offer the woman with a whisper in her heart to lean deeper into her power?  

The words I personally live by are pause, breathe, pray, and live out love. That love may be for ourselves, or it may be for others - but it starts from within.

As people, we have an inner knowing of what to do. We can grow from every experience. For me, the marathon was a perfect example. At first, I thought I had to do it perfectly, but I realized that pride was the stumbling block between me and the finish line. When we humble ourselves and take that step of faith toward whatever our inner knowing is, we allow ourselves to learn and grow along the way - and not fear refinement.

I think I'd have to sit with each person to hear their story, to know what they want to say to their heart because everyone might need something a little different. But one thing remains true: everyone has unique gifts and skills. And when we stay close to those gifts and use them, we feel greater fulfillment—in our hearts, in our minds, in our souls, and life when we’re living close to those things. 

We talked about the willingness to be messy, imperfect, and vulnerable for the sake of others, knowing that it will serve the greater good. Just show up.  Lean in. 

It’s like, what would we say to a kid? There’s a great quote: Perfection is the enemy of progress. My son is learning to play the guitar, and he’ll say, Oh, I missed a note. And I remind him, That’s part of the process. It’s easy to say that to someone else, but when it comes to ourselves, are we willing to take that same advice and put it into practice?

Another marathon reference.  The day of the race was so beautiful because everyone was cheering each other on. There was no competition. People stood on the sidelines cheering.  You were cheering the people beside you.  It was all about building each other up.

How lovely would it be if we all chose to look at one another and simply ask, How can I love you today? How can I build you up today? It’s simple acts of love that make a whole difference - in our hearts, minds, and in our lives.