A guide to overcoming doubts and becoming your authentic self

EXPERIENCES play a vital role in shaping people’s personalities. From a unique adventure to a surprising encounter, each experience leaves its mark, and many people may immortalise these moments. Some may take a picture or make a note in a journal, and a few individuals write books. This is how Tashi Browne’s newest book began. A frightening experience impacted her and completely shifted her view of life and the limitations peope create. Upon returning home, she began noting what she learned after confronting her fears. Her book, ‘Stifle Those Limitations’ tackles self-doubt and personal growth. Tashi chronicles how a single experience changed the way she pursued her ambitions. “Stifle Those Limitations” provides insight into what Tashi had learned about confronting personal fears in an effort to change.

Who is Tashi Browne?
Tashi hails from the captivating county of Berbice. At an early age, she understood the importance of education and the role it played in self-growth. She ventured into biology and education, then gained her master’s in public health. However, this was only the first step on her journey of adventures and opportunities. Currently, she is spearheading her own business endeavours. “I also have a business that I own, Strategy Pro, where I’m the lead consultant for that business, providing consultancy services for companies in the area of project management, quality management, and strategic management,” she shared during an interview with Pepperpot Magazine.

Tashi’s writing journey began quite some time ago without her involvement in a speech competition. She was eventually awarded the chance to represent Guyana at the Caribbean level. She explained her journey navigating the waters of writing: “I had the opportunity to represent Guyana at the Caribbean level, but a follow-up into last year, which was in 2017. I decided that I was going to give it a shot once more. And at that time, I represented with my speech title being, ‘Stifle Those Limitations’ and I participated in the contest and made it through to a different level, all the way to the national level. And then I won and needed to represent Guyana.”

The experience that sparked the book
Being afloat on a boat in unfamiliar waters with little to no knowledge of how to swim is bound to intimidate anyone. But in Tashi’s case, she used this moment to reflect and dig deep within herself to break limitations she never even knew existed. Recounting the experience, she stated, “I was in a boat with some other persons when the boat got stuck in the middle of the river because the engine got caught in seaweed. And so when that happened, we started to drift, and in that moment, I was so nervous and in a panic state because I cannot swim.”

Tashi returned home with a new perspective. The experience had impacted the way she saw many of life’s challenges, and she began building on the words she had heard during the experience. As she stated, “While that was happening, I heard the words that, you know, ‘Dominion cannot work in us if we don’t activate it.’ And when I came back from that experience, those words kept playing in my mind. And I just kind of started building up from it.”

Tashi quickly realised that her jotting and notes were developing into their own story. As she explained, “I just started to, like, write it in a book. I had a notebook, and I was just writing and making notes in it. I had no idea that, you know, I wanted to write a book or that jotting that down because I felt like this information was there. Maybe I should just write it down. So I did just that. And as it started to build out, I said, you know what, let me put a structure to this process.” She said. “I did that as well, and I started to build it out, and then I realised that this thing is actually sounding like it could be a book, or it’s for me. So that’s where I started to actually build out the process of letting it be a book.”

‘Stifle Those Limitations’ greatly focuses on overcoming fears. Tashi stated that her readers are people with fears and ambitions just like her. “But generally, the book is for persons that, you know, have the potential and have a dream and believe that we’re afraid to go forward and achieve those things,” she said. “There are so many things that prevent us from being all that we can be, specifically things that limit us. And so the idea of the book is for us to recognise that these things do exist, but what can we do to ensure that we stifle these things, like really choke the life out of them so that they don’t overpower us and we’re able to walk in the direction that we want to go.”

Understanding what it means to navigate fears in the business realm as a woman, she said: “I want to encourage, especially younger women, to dream big and to allow themselves not to be afraid to achieve those dreams. And really and truly believe in the possibilities that exist for them.” Tashi is currently working towards placing her books on the shelves of bookstores in Guyana. ‘Stifle Those Limitations’ is also available on Amazon.