While looking for 10-year-old pics of myself on the Internet yesterday, I came across a 2007 article in which I’d been interviewed by the New York Times.

What I found took my breath away. 

I had to stop right then and send it to one of my coaching clients: a brilliant, creative and wildly successful businesswoman with a serious fear of flying.

Turn your email images “on” to see this throwback pic.
Here’s the link to the full NYT article. 

I don’t think I looked much different back then than I do now. 

2007 Tara || 2018 Tara

It’s genetics. And cod liver oil. So much cod liver oil.

But this article was hard, cold evidence of a truly shocking before-and-after transformation I had in the last decade:

I used to be afraid to fly.

I used to be paralyzed by claustrophobia and a fear of flying. 

So paralyzed that just a few months before that interview, I’d missed a major meeting because I couldn’t sit in the middle seat on a plane. 

And now? To say I’ve overcome my fear of flying would be an understatement.

Seeing this article reminded me of something I’ve been saying a lot lately to my students when they bring up their past failures, disappointments and limitations.

It’s super profound. I tell them: 

That was then.

This is now.

And I speak from experience. 

Because in just the last couple of years, here’s a partial list of places I’ve flown with no fear at all, off the top of my head:

France a few times
The UK
Italy
Sweden
Denmark
Norway
Belgium
Croatia a couple times
Germany, also multiple times
Spain
Costa Rica
Canada
Mexico
And alllllllll over these United states.

In a couple of weeks, I’ll be flying out to Utah for the Sundance Film Festival (just for fun!). Soon after that, I’ll be off to speak at SXSW Interactive in Austin to speak about spiritual rituals in the workplace. And then I’ll head off to speak at another A-list festival in Portugal. 

The crazy part about this whole thing is that, until I saw that throwback article last night, I’d forgotten I was ever afraid to fly in the first place.

So when I say “That was then, this is now,” I speak from experience. 

This kind of freedom from your past limitations, 

…freedom from fretting and ruminating and stressing about unlikely events, 

…freedom from the fears that seem like they control you, 

…freedom from the anxieties that keep you playing a smaller game in life than you are destined for?

This freedom is available to you, too.

I’ll be even bolder. 

This freedom is yours. It is coming. You’ve called it in. 

And it’s on its way. 

The More You Know: Cows are called ruminants because they chew their food endlessly, over and over again, before swallowing it… kind of like we do when we endlessly rehearse and rehash our worries and tales of woe. 

Cows are cute. But don’t be like cows. 

P.S.: If you’d like to get on the interest list for the next enrollment window in the School of Upliftment, send an email to tnn @ soultour.com and say “I’m interested!”. We’ll be inviting new students in soon!

Head up + heart out,

TNN

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