Find the Greatest Achievements of Your Life in the Small Moments of Sovereignty

When Your Nervous System Has Your Back Anything Is Possible

I have spoken in front of 5,000 people at Avery Fisher Hall in NYC.

I birthed two whole humans and built a $2.5B money management business from scratch. Yet neither of these is my life’s proudest moment (sorry kids!).

That moment happened in a tire store.

After an alert flashed on my dashboard, I checked the right front tire pressure, added air, then drove to a nearby branch of Chapel Hill Tire to get it fixed.

When I returned to pick up my car and as I was paying the $34.53 charge, I asked what was wrong with the tire. The desk clerk glanced at the ticket, told me he’d find out, and headed out to the service bay.

When he came back he told me there was nothing wrong with the tire and would give me a refund. I was skeptical, but tire dude reassured me that sudden changes in the weather do wacky things to tire pressure and that all my tires, not just the one flagged by my car’s computer, were also low.

“You shouldn’t have been charged, as there was no leak. I checked it with the spray soap myself, but we put more air in all the tires so you’re all set.”

I kept replaying the exchange in my head, over and over.

All of a sudden it hit me: I had questioned the tire repair without drama, fear, or even conscious thought.

I simply assumed that when there’s an economic exchange (or even any exchange, really) there should be clarity, reciprocity, and transparency. I brought my tire in to be fixed and I was being charged without an explanation.

My spidey sense flagged it and make me ask.

I asked as naturally as breathing. No drama. No meaning-making. THAT was a first.

I did not cringe over whether or not I should ask, did not worry about being seen as rude, and was not afraid that they were ripping me off. I was curious, relaxed, and confident. I had finally, at the age of 59, truly embodied my sovereignty.