Instagram story viewer> @lefty1foot> Posts

Susan Silberman Wang

@lefty1foot

874

followers

167

following

• Traumatic Below-Knee Amputee Inspired to Persevere
• Emotional Healing • Personal Growth • Infinite Potential
• Oprah Guest👇🏻

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

While prepping the garden for winter, Mother Nature hit me with a whiff of a reminder - what stinks today can nourish tomorrow’s growth. 👃💩

And yep, a recent sh*tty encounter of my own gave me some fresh fertilizer to work with. It’s not so much about where the sh*t comes from. It’s what we choose to do with it, how we decide to move thru it, and what we allow to grow from it.

Truth is, ya gotta sit in it, work with it, get your hands dirty… and ya just might be surprised by what blossoms when ya do. Life can smell pretty damn sweet on the other side.

Just sayin’… 😉 by @lefty1foot

23

0

19 days ago

There’s enough in life we don’t get to choose. Might as well throw in some playfulness, be ridiculous by choice, add a little nonsense on purpose, find your balance, monkey around a bit, and laugh a lotta, lotta lot along the way!

📸 @evanwangphoto by @lefty1foot

36

0

a month ago

A swapping of seasons is in the air, and the changes are becoming quite noticeable. Perhaps that’s why I’m feeling more reflective about the ways changes have moved thru my own life...

I’ve spent much of my life being transformed by things I never would have chosen. Some transformations were impossible to miss. They altered my body, changed the direction of my life, and asked me to become someone I had no idea how to be.

Others happened much more quietly - in relationships, in the ways I learned to adapt, conform, perform, and sometimes override what I felt or knew in order to stay connected or feel accepted. And eventually, in coming into a truer relationship with myself.

For a long time, I believed transformation was something that happened when life broke me open. What I hadn’t considered was the difference between being broken open and opening.

So much of what changed me came thru pain, loss, challenge, and circumstances I never would have chosen for myself. I transformed thru necessity. Adapting was part of surviving.

I’ve since discovered transformation thru willingness rather than crisis. There doesn’t have to be a forced opening. There can be a softening instead - a loosening of my grip on what was, a making of room for something I may not yet be able to name.

Maybe transformation isn’t always about becoming someone new. Maybe sometimes it’s realizing we don’t have to keep being who life once required us to become. Maybe that’s part of what the changing season keeps showing me - that letting go and becoming can belong to the same process.

📷: my son @evanwangphoto by @lefty1foot

28

0

a month ago

“Life over limb.”

Today, I can still hear my vascular surgeon saying those words.

Back then, I didn’t have the capacity to fully grasp what they meant. I was in too much pain and fighting to stay alive. I wasn’t thinking about perspective, gratitude, life lessons - I was in survival mode.

And then came the reality that I would lose part of my leg.

It took me years to understand the weight those words carried. Life over limb wasn’t simply a phrase. It was what it took to save my life.

Thirty years later, I understand those words in a way I couldn’t back then.

At the time, all I could hear was what was being taken away.

Over the years, I came to understand the gift.

Happy 30th Ampiversary to me :-)

#Ampiversary #LifeOverLimb #StillHere by @lefty1foot

76

2

4 months ago

Thirty years ago today, life cracked me open in ways I never could’ve imagined.

What once felt like the end of my life became the catalyst that awakened me to it.

Thirty years later, I celebrate that I stayed.

That I adapted.

That I kept learning how to live, love, grieve, grow, soften, and strengthen.

What I once saw only as loss slowly became one of my life’s greatest teachers - helping me see life differently, know myself more deeply, and appreciate being alive in ways I wouldn’t have imagined.

There’s also something humbling about having lived longer in this transformed body than I ever did before the amputation.

It’s from this space that I’m shown that grief and celebration can coexist. That I can grieve what was lost while feeling deeply grateful for all that has emerged in its place.

So wild that what once felt like the end of my world became the beginning of so much.

Looking back, I can see how some of life’s greatest gifts have arrived in ways I surely wouldn’t have chosen for myself.

Here’s to being alive and truly living.

📸 @evankwang

#AliveDay #CelebrateLife #30YearsLater #GriefAndGratitude #TrulyLiving by @lefty1foot

48

2

5 months ago

Living Differently These Days

I’m learning - and actually living - what peaceful, fulfilling joy feels like.
Maybe for the first time.

And lemme tell ya - it’s not calm, quiet, or predictable.
It’s alive - raw and real in a way I can feel.
It moves thru me, asks me to stay open, and reminds me that I don’t have to hold it all together.

I get to be unapologetically me.
And sure, that might sound obvious - “who else would ya be?”
Yet so many of us aren’t actually living in our truth. I say that from recognition, cuz I wasn’t either.

Reflecting on the past - not living in it - isn’t about trying to undo anything.
And as twisted as it may sound, I don’t even want to. The scars, the lived-thru moments, the hard-earned lessons… they’ve shaped me. They’ve shown me who I am, and they continue to guide how I move forward.

For so long - as far back as I can remember - if things were calm on the surface, that meant peace. Things were “fine,” and so I told myself I was “fine.”
Even when I wasn’t - even when it was costing me on the inside.

Yet what I’ve learned is this:
what may look calm on the outside is often avoidance - a way of outrunning what’s calling to be acknowledged.
That kind of calm is a false peace, and your body knows the difference. It feels what your mind keeps pushing to override.
Cuz true peace doesn’t come from escaping emotion. It comes from facing what’s being avoided.

In reflection, I can see how disconnected I was from my true self.
How much I kept adjusting myself - holding back, playing small, trying to hold it together when life was asking me to grow.

That wasn’t peace.
That was fear.
And fear - when it isn’t faced - will break you down.

And eventually… that’s exactly what happens.

Facing it?
That’s where the gift of change lives.
And honestly?
This is the strongest place I’ve ever stood.

#livingdifferently #innertruth #innerpeace #healingjourney #selfreflection #selfhonoring #selfgrowth #selflovejourney #selfworth #innerstrength #transformation #alignment #trusttheprocess #reflectandgrow #growthmindset #soulawakening #lifechoices #mindfulness by @lefty1foot

41

4

a year ago

Yesterday marked another lap around the sun, and here’s what I have to say about that…

Fifty-eight - feelin’ great - ready to celebrate!

Not just another year older - another year wiser, freer, and more awake to life itself.

This birthday isn’t about numbers - it’s about awareness.
About realizing how much life has stretched, tested, and humbled me in ways I never could’ve planned…
and how alive I feel because of it.

The losses, the letting go, the tests - they weren’t punishments.
They were invitations, redirections, and moments that cracked me open -
revealing more layers of what I’m made of, guiding me toward my heart’s truth and deeper into my own strength.

Humbled by life and grateful for its gifts -
for the resilience it’s built, the love it’s revealed, and the opportunities it continues to offer.

Cheers to another lap around the sun.
What a gift it is to keep unwrapping this life. by @lefty1foot

26

4

a year ago

This share comes from a place of authenticity - with hope that it offers comfort, clarity, or connection for someone who might see themselves in it.

It’s not about reliving pain or replaying the deep, dark parts; it’s about the perspective and growth that comes thru them.

If any part of this resonates, may it remind you that none of us are ever truly alone in the hardships we carry.

#authenticexpression #healingjourney #selfawareness #innergrowth #emotionalhealing #transformation #selfreflection #lifelessons #consciousliving #healingthroughwords #reflective #growthmindset #boundaries #vulnerability #truthspeaking by @lefty1foot

10

3

a year ago

During a recent ancestral constellations experience, something unexpected found its way to me - something that mirrored a profound shift already underway.

I’ve been moving thru a potent period of personal transformation. It’s been an exhausting process of recognizing and loosening the over-giving, self-dismissal, and self-protective ways I learned to move thru the world - ways I once believed would keep me safe.

As the group settled in, I noticed another participant place a snake skin on the altar. Something in me quietly stirred. It was visceral and undeniable - a truth I didn’t have language for; a feeling deep within I couldn’t quite name, yet it carried a clear, embodied knowingness - a message meant to be felt.

Hours later, as we were preparing to leave, that same individual approached me. They said they felt called to offer me the shedded snake skin if I was open to receiving it. Surprised and touched, I accepted a coiled skin from a Brazilian Rainbow Boa - something that, for me, symbolized release, growth, and transformation… a letting go of what no longer fits.

It felt like more than a gift. It reflected exactly where I was in my journey - slowly, uncomfortably releasing what I’d outgrown and reclaiming what had always lived within me… buried beneath the masked roles I played, the walls I built, and the appeasing behaviors I’d normalized - part of a long-standing strategy to maintain an illusion of control. However, that illusion of safety came at a cost: it kept me disconnected from my truth, distant from myself, and surviving more than thriving.

What once felt like protection began to feel like pressure - a burden I no longer wanted to carry. The unrelenting walls I once confused for safety began to lower, revealing the weight I had long rationalized, justified, and normalized - built from self-imposed responsibility, constant hyper-awareness, survival strategies, and outdated roles I thought I had to maintain. That heaviness had slowly eroded my truth, dulled my sense of self, and pulled me further from what I truly needed.

(Part 2 in comments below 👇🏻) by @lefty1foot

19

4

a year ago

29 years ago today…
Twelve days after being hit…
My left leg was amputated below the knee.

In spite of how disfiguring, destabilizing, and devastating it was…
It’s become a source of rebuilding, reclaiming, and reinventing myself.

Happy 29th ampiversary to me!

#BlessingInDisguise #PostTraumaticGrowth #RiseAboveAdversity #PowerWithinYou #CreateABeautifulLife #InvisibleStrength #PersonalGrowthJourney #JourneyToSelf #InnerStrength #LessonsLearnedInLife #LimbLoss #Amputee #AmputeeStrong #AmputeeLife #AmputeeGirl #Prosthesis #ProstheticLeg #LifeAfterAmputation #TraumaToTruth #HardshipToHealing #TransformationJourney #GratitudeInMotion #ResilienceInMotion #OneLegUp #EmbodyingWholeness #FromPainToPower #ResilientSpirit #LimbLossAwareness by @lefty1foot

66

1

a year ago

Today marks 29 years since the day the trauma team - working to keep me alive - delivered the news to my family: I might not make it. Yet I did more than survive - I rebuilt, redefined, and reclaimed my life, piece by piece, moment by moment, breath by breath, choice by choice, step by step.

This is so much more than just a date on my calendar. It’s a reminder of what I’ve walked through. Of what’s possible when I choose to show up for myself. Of how healing isn’t something that gets checked off - it moves in layers, evolves on an individual timeline, and is deeply personal.

So today, I celebrate life: for meeting myself in places I never expected. For making what could’ve broken me worth it. For discovering that strength can be soft and quiet. For the truths within I continue to uncover in my quiet moments. For becoming someone I choose to be - not who I learned to be to feel falsely safe, accepted, and worthy.

Here’s to the steps that once felt out of reach - the ones I now walk with intention, and continue to learn and grow from.

If life is pulling you in directions you didn’t ask to go - if you’re moving through something that feels like too much - may this serve as a reminder: every step you’re taking, no matter how uncertain, ungraceful, or unfamiliar, counts.

It’s all part of your unfolding journey - and it’s often these hardest steps that lead to the deepest self-discovery. And that, too, is worth celebrating.

Comment with a 🎉 if you’re celebrating with me today!

#CelebrateLife #29YearsStrong #HealingJourney #StepByStep #AmputeeStrong #LifeAfterAmputation #ResilientSpirit #TraumaToTruth #EmbodyingWholeness#FromPainToPower #SurvivorStory #ReclaimYourStory #CelebrateLife #ResilientSpirit #LimbLossAwareness
#EmbodyingWholenes#SacredBecoming #InvisibleStrength #LiveOnPurpose #ReclaimYourStory #ThisIsMyStory #BecomingWhole #AdaptiveLiving #MindfulHealing #BionicBeauty by @lefty1foot

64

5

a year ago

Almost 29 years ago, I was hit by a drunk truck driver while training for a cycling event. It cost me my leg, yet gifted me with so much more.

Recently, a piece I wrote was published on Tiny Buddha, where I share more of what that experience opened in me - around pain, perspective, and the kind of growth that can emerge when life doesn’t unfold the way we imagined.

For those of you also navigating your own version of loss or change I’ve found these times can be exhaustingly, emotionally, and energetically demanding. And yet, thru them, my innerstanding of self has deepened in ways I hadn’t even imagined revealing a more empowered, renewed sense of self.

If you’re curious to know more, you can read the full piece via the link in my bio.

#LessonsLearnedInLife #StillStanding #OwnYourStory #SurvivorStory #HardshipToHealing #TransformationJourney #GratitudeInMotion #ResilienceInMotion #DisabilityPride #LifeAfterTrauma #HealingInProgress #LimbLoss #Amputee #AmputeeStrong #AmputeeLife #AmputeeGirl #Prosthesis #ProstheticLeg #OneLegUp by @lefty1foot

163

5

a year ago