My current hometown of Oakland California, has a legacy of supernaturally fit old guys. Jack Lalanne came from here, and there are many local guys who are doing their best to fill his shoes. I’ve been a gym rat in Oakland for about 22 years, and I’m endlessly charmed by the old dudes that were getting it in decades before I arrived, who are still on the gym scene.

There’s this one guy who I estimated to be about 100 years old back when I first met him, in 1998. He might be one of the fittest people I’ve ever met. I still see him running all over town, around and around the Lake, even during the pandemic.

A few years back, I ran the first Oakland half marathon. Thirteen miles. And I’ll never forget this same super-fit old guy running past me. He ran to the finish line, turned around and then ran back to cheer on the rest of us. 

As he ran back from the finish to the start, he would lovingly accost individual runners to encourage them.

I must have looked really tired on my mile 12, because he ran right over to me and bellowed: “You’ve got this!!!  You can do this!!!”

“YOUR BODY IS LYING TO YOOOOU!!”

I thought: “You know what? My aching feet are lying to me. I’m almost there. Turbo time.” 

*Tara: zoom*

As I sat down to write this morning, that gentleman came to mind. 

In some ways, with that one sentence, he became my role model for my life’s work.

If you think you have a problem with perfectionism, procrastination or self-sabotage…

If you have a savage Inner Critic who has ever stopped you from doing something you truly wanted to do…

If you feel like you spend more time with your fears, self-doubts and struggle stories than you do expanding your capacity to live the life you dream about..

Or if you just have some kind of struggle switch inside that flips on every time you have a dream or desire to level up…

I’m here to tell you that I’ve run that race, Brilliant One.

And my life’s work is to run back from that finish line.

I’m running back, calling out to you just like that guy called out to me, but with a tiny twist.

I’m yelling: “Your Inner Critic is lying to you!!!!”

Your fear is lying to you.

Your programming is lying to you.

Because your fear — the old, played-out programmed habits of thought that speak in the voice of your Inner Critic  —  your fear is saying things like: 

Who do you think you are to even dream that dream?

That’s not really possible… for you.

You’re smart, but you’re not THAT smart.

Nobody cares about your story. 

You made your bed, now lie in it. 

No one you know has ever done something like that, successfully.

You never finish what you start. There must be a little bit of something wrong with you, deep down. 

That’s what your Inner Critic is saying. 

But I’m here today, just like that super-fit old guy was on my half marathon course. 

And I’m running back to tell you that your Inner Critic is lying to you.

Because here’s the honest-to-goodness truth, [First Name]:

You are offspring of the Divine. Your birthright is freedom, wholeness and joy.

You ARE allowed to want whatever you want. 

And it IS possible for you.

You ARE that smart.

People DO want to read what you have to write and buy what you have to sell.

You DO get to outgrow things, and patterns and ways of being.

You might BE the first person you ever know to do that. You get to be that. 

There’s nothing wrong with you, because you’ve had great ideas before and not finished them.

The truth is that all of that was part of your journey, your process, your becoming who you came here to become. 

That means you’re doing it right.

All along the way you’ve been groomed, you’ve been prepared, your skin has been thickened, your heart has been softened. 

You’re coming into a time when you’re really ready.

Catch this principle today, my friend: Your Inner Critic is lying to you.

Head up + heart out,

Tara-Nicholle Nelson, MA, Esq.
Founder + CEO of SoulTour

@taranicholle on FB | TW | IG | LI

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