Ep 197 - Thriving Through Adversity with Tara Karels

Have you ever wondered how leaders can maintain momentum and employee engagement during challenging times? In this compelling episode of The Quiet And Strong Podcast, host David Hall sits down with Tara Karels to explore essential leadership insights and strategies for overcoming adversity.

Listeners will discover the importance of balancing vision alignment with empathy to foster a supportive and productive work environment. Tara Karels, with over 30 years of experience in nursing and leadership, shares her unique approach to coaching leaders through personal and professional challenges. Her personal journey, including the profound impact of losing her son, adds a deeply human perspective on what it means to truly thrive rather than just survive.

Tune in to learn how Tara's philosophy and practical tools can help you not only navigate adversity but come out stronger. Whether you're a leader looking to better support your team or someone seeking personal growth, this episode is filled with valuable insights and actionable steps.

Join us for an insightful conversation and be strong.

Episode Link: QuietandStrong.com/197

Tara Karels is an expert in helping leaders overcome adversity, regain momentum, and elevate their performance. Her enthusiasm for relational leadership and moving beyond surviving to thriving, are foundational in her commitment to living out her purpose in all that she does.

Tara’s experience working in fast-paced, high-risk labor and delivery unit has equipped her to walk alongside others to help them navigate life and loss. She can light up a crowd in the speaking arena with an unmatched ability to educate, empower, and entertain while promoting positive growth.

With over 30 years of nursing and leadership experience and a passion for education and personal development, Tara founded INSPROW, a coaching and consulting company that helps leaders achieve their goals and improve their performance.

Her upcoming book, TREKKING POLES: Thriving with Confidence Through Life's Terrain will reveal a framework for moving forward through disappointment, adversity, setbacks, and loss.

Website: insprow.com
Connect with Tara on LinkedIN

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David Hall

Author, Speaker, Educator, Podcaster

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Transcript

Tara Karels [00:00:00]:
I don't like the word resilience. I have come to understand that resilience is really often just suffering in silence because, you know so you get knocked down, you keep getting back up. But are you really getting back up? Are you just showing up? Like, it's one thing to show up to the dinner table, to show up to your job, but are you really showing up for yourself? Are you really moving forward? Because to me, resilience is just often mere survival.

David Hall [00:00:41]:
Hello, and welcome to episode 187 of the Quiet and Strong podcast, especially for introverts. I'm your host, David Hall and the creator of quietandstrong.com. This is a weekly podcast dedicated to understanding the strengths and needs of introverts and strategies for success. Introversion is not something to fix, but to be embraced. Normally, while our each episode on a Monday, be sure to subscribe on your favorite platform. Leave a review or a rating. That would mean a lot to me and help other people find the show. Tell a friend about the podcast and help get the word out there.

David Hall [00:01:13]:
The introversion is a beautiful thing. Tara Karels is an expert in helping leaders overcome adversity, regain momentum, and elevate their performance. Her enthusiasm for relational leadership and moving beyond surviving to thriving is foundational in her commitment to living out her purpose in all that she does. Tara's experience working in a fast paced, high risk labor and delivery unit has equipped her to walk alongside others to help them navigate life and loss. She can light up a crowd in a speaking arena with the unmatched ability to educate, empower, and entertain while promoting positive growth. With over 30 years of nursing and leadership experience and a passion for education and personal development, Tara founded Inspirow, a coaching and consulting company that helps leaders achieve their goals and improve their performance. Her upcoming book trekking poles, thriving with confidence through life's terrain, will reveal a framework for moving forward through disappointment, adversity, setbacks, and loss. Alright.

David Hall [00:02:25]:
Well, welcome to the Quiet and Strong podcast, Tara. Tara, it's so nice to have you on the show today.

Tara Karels [00:02:30]:
Thank you, David. I'm happy to be here.

David Hall [00:02:33]:
So we're gonna talk about the work that you do and your upcoming book. Let's hear a little bit about your journey. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Tara Karels [00:02:43]:
Well, I, have spent the majority of my career in health care. I became an RN when I was in my early twenties and worked mostly in women's health, labor and delivery, those areas. And through that journey, it opened up other opportunities. I owned a business for a while, traveled, and did some teaching. And then I ended up working at a college for almost 10 years being a nursing faculty at first and then moving into administration and overseeing a campus. So a lot of really neat opportunities have been afforded to me throughout this career. And, I continue to work as a nurse part time, but I am expanding now into a business where, I do some coaching, some consulting, and some speaking and really working with individuals, leaders, and teams to help them through adversity and to regain momentum.

David Hall [00:03:42]:
Awesome. And we will get into that. And, again, before we do, you're also a fellow introvert. So tell us about that. Like, when did you figure out you were introverted? Did you have to learn to embrace it?

Tara Karels [00:03:55]:
I think that I didn't realize it for a long time because I'm a born leader. So I was kind of put into leadership roles at a young age and doing a lot of different things. But as I got older, I realized that some of the busyness in my life, sometimes we create a lot of chaos in our lives to not kinda look inward and deal with what's inside. And as I got into my twenties thirties, I realized, oh my goodness. I am not the life of the party. I do not need to be the life of the party. That really I, reenergize by myself. There's certain aspects where I love being around people, but I'm not that person that wants to be at the meet and greet.

Tara Karels [00:04:46]:
And so just some different things came up in those years, and I got really comfortable with the fact that I wasn't the extrovert I thought I had been.

David Hall [00:04:56]:
Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. There's a there's a lot of myths out there. Introverts could be amazing leaders. We just need to understand ourselves. Is there a myth about introversion you wanna bust?

Tara Karels [00:05:09]:
I think that we can't I mean, I think that's a great example, though, not being a leader. The other examples, for me, I love speaking. I love speaking to large crowds, and people give me this look like but I thought you were an introvert. And yes. But I can still enjoy sharing my message in front of a large group. And that's just it's a different way to prepare. And I when you're speaking to a large group, you're not having to process any questions. I'm not it's not a press conference.

Tara Karels [00:05:43]:
You're really just sharing from your heart. You're sharing your experiences, your information, and I love doing that. I love helping people. So that that and being a leader are 2 things that I think people think that introverts don't do.

David Hall [00:06:00]:
Yeah. And you you hit on a good point for the speaking because I enjoy speaking as well. Definitely an introvert, but we just need to prepare and prepare maybe differently than an extroverted colleague would and then just look at our energy around it. You know? Do we need a break after that kind of thing?

Tara Karels [00:06:17]:
Exactly.

David Hall [00:06:19]:
But we have a lot of great ideas because we're always thinking, so there's things that we want and need to share. So great one. How did you put your finger on the term introvert? Was there any resource or book or anything like that?

Tara Karels [00:06:33]:
There was a book. It was I don't even know if it's still in publication. It was called Life Keys.

David Hall [00:06:39]:
Okay.

Tara Karels [00:06:40]:
And it did the whole INFJ, all the personality types, but it was a a whole book about personalities and different things. And then you had that test in it to look at your personality type. And I think that was kind of a turning point for me.

David Hall [00:06:57]:
Okay. Yeah. I haven't heard of that one. I'll have to check that one out. So is there a particular strength that you have because you're an introvert?

Tara Karels [00:07:06]:
I think the one that stands out for me the most is that I am okay with quiet space. Meaning, when I'm having a conversation with someone and really if I'm working 1 on 1 with someone in a coaching realm or consulting even with a group. If I put out a question to them and they need to think through it or they're unsure, I'm very comfortable with that quiet space. And I think that's really a strength because I can allow for people to process their information, not speak for them, not get in their way. And a lot of people aren't comfortable with that. A lot of people have to fill the air all the time, and I, appreciate that strength, especially when it comes to working with individuals.

David Hall [00:07:57]:
Yeah. Absolutely. That's some place that we can definitely excel. So tell us about the work that you're doing now. You like you said, you, you know, you've oh, you've had a lifetime career in nursing and nursing education, and tell us about the work that you're doing now and what made you decide to do that?

Tara Karels [00:08:18]:
Well, I had a large shift in my life. Six and a half years ago, I lost my 19 year old son at the time to suicide, and, obviously, that will shake you to your core. It changed the trajectory of my life, and I really had to look at how I was going to move forward from that experience. And one of the things is that I had gotten through a lot of different adversity in my life prior to that moment. I mean, we all are faced with different setbacks and losses throughout our lives. That one was obviously very tremendous and really made me take inventory of what are my next steps because there was a part of me that wanted to just hide under the covers and never come out again. It was very painful. But in looking at how I wanted to move forward and honor my son, I started looking at ways to help people that were different than I'd done in leadership roles, in bedside nursing roles, in teaching roles.

Tara Karels [00:09:32]:
And I thought, how can I help people in a different way? And coaching and consulting came to the forefront of my mind in terms of really getting out there and not necessarily talking about suicide, although I'm a huge supporter of suicide prevention and mental health awareness, but really looking at how do people navigate adversity. Because what I found was that the same tools that I used to navigate the other setbacks in my life prior to losing my son were the tools I needed to move forward through that experience. And so that really helped me develop a framework and look at how does this apply to us as human beings in the workforce when we're looking at companies and leadership and trying to align vision for our teams and realizing that as humans, we're faced with all kinds of things, challenges every day, whether they're in the workplace or in our personal lives. And how do those setbacks impact our ability to be productive and to work with that team? And if we can really learn how to work with those people and help them move forward through those things, we can strengthen our teams. And so that's really become the focus as I move forward, with this new adventure, this new way to help people.

David Hall [00:11:06]:
Yeah. Thanks for sharing about your son. Yeah. And I know that plays right into the book that you're gonna be releasing soon. It's called trekking poles, thriving with confidence through life's terrain. So tell us about your book and, why is it called trekking poles?

Tara Karels [00:11:25]:
Well, the book is, something I had wanted to write for a long time and not necessarily this book. I actually had, outlined and started writing my memoirs. And then when my son died, I put those aside because it changed everything and the books didn't feel good like they were supposed to. And so started thinking about what I wanted to share and what I wanted to write because I've been writing throughout my life. I've written in journals, and I've, you know, written for fun and all kinds of different things. But I really wanted to get a book completed. And so this book came out of how do I help people? How do I share those tools that I discovered in walking through my son's death? And, trekking poles interestingly, that came from me really looking. I use trekking poles when I go hiking, when I, you know and I live in Minnesota.

Tara Karels [00:12:29]:
We don't have mountains here. But, just in hiking and stuff, and I use them when I snowshoe. And so I started looking at, like, what is the definition? Like, why do we use trekking poles? And in that, I found that trekking poles are used to help us navigate. They're used to help us, with endurance, with speed. They're to take, some of the pressure off of our joints so that we can be more comfortable as we hike. They can help us keep our balance if we're going through, like, a rocky area or crossing a stream. And when I read that, I thought that's perfect because that's what we need in life. What are our trekking poles that help us to navigate, that help us get through those areas, that help us ascend and descend a hill because we're faced with all kinds of things.

Tara Karels [00:13:26]:
So that's where the name came from, and the book then is about that framework.

David Hall [00:13:32]:
Right. So tell us about, like, the main topics. Like, what are our trekking poles? What do those symbolize?

Tara Karels [00:13:38]:
Well, our trekking poles are you know, what are those steps to get through something? Whether it's the loss of a sale. You know, when people work in sales, every sale is important. So that could be a setback if they're losing sales, or it could be obviously as grievance as losing a a loved one. And then everything in between, a loss of a relationship, a loss of a job, maybe even just changing, having to move to a new location. Maybe that's a relocation for a job. Maybe that's just a new adventure in your life, but all of those are new experiences. How do you move forward in those? And so it's about taking some inventory and being honest with yourself about what you need in those moments. About looking at, do you need some additional help from the outside, a therapist or a coach, and then really getting honest with the responsibility you hold in that change.

Tara Karels [00:14:41]:
Whether it's a good or bad change, what responsibility do you have in that place that you're at, the situation you're in, and then your responsibility in moving yourself forward? And then putting together those tools to do just that and move forward.

David Hall [00:15:00]:
I know you also talk about how we can thrive instead of just survive. What's some general tips or ideas about that, about really just thriving instead of just getting by?

Tara Karels [00:15:12]:
So a big word is resilience. People use resilience all the time to describe someone who has gotten through something tough or someone who's able to adapt to change. And, really, I don't like the word resilience. I have come to understand that resilience is really often just suffering in silence because, you know so you get knocked down, you keep getting back up. But are you really getting back up? Are you just showing up? Like, it's one thing to show up to the dinner table, to show up to your job, but are you really showing up for yourself? Are you really moving forward? Because to me, resilience is just often mere survival. Because, for me, an example, I was a single, mom when my son died, and so I didn't have the choice to just not go to work. I had to still pay bills. I had to figure out how to manage life.

Tara Karels [00:16:17]:
Well, you can do that, but are you really thriving? Are you really deciding to move forward? And so to me, surviving is getting by. It's, you know, going through the motions, but thriving is truly taking care of yourself and getting back to focusing on those goals and really taking those steps forward.

David Hall [00:16:42]:
I I agree with you with resilience. We all have different levels of trouble, you know, adversity, things like that. And, you know, do you have an example of that, of how we can learn from our experiences and grow and and be better from it?

Tara Karels [00:17:00]:
Well, years ago, I lost a relationship, went through a divorce, and in going through that, I sought counseling. And I sought counseling because I really wanted to own what part of the loss of that relationship was my responsibility. What part did I own? How was I going to change and be different moving forward if I was ever gonna be in a relationship again? I didn't wanna make the same mistakes. So it was really taking an inventory of my own things and being honest with myself, seeking help. You know, like I said, for that example, I sought out a therapist. Sometimes people find a book they read that really helps them to learn something new. Nowadays, with our amazing capabilities with the Internet, we can get on podcasts like this and listen to some of the wisdom that is shared from, the amazing guests that you bring on. And so there's lots of ways to learn and grow, but it's taking responsibility to do that.

David Hall [00:18:18]:
Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Podcast, that's a good way.

Tara Karels [00:18:21]:
Exactly.

David Hall [00:18:23]:
And you also apply these lessons to leadership. Tell us, you know, what are you seeing in leadership and what makes a great leader?

Tara Karels [00:18:33]:
I think number 1, a great leader needs courage. And courage is about the ability to really stand on that edge. So I work a lot with middle managers because they're those ones that are sandwiched between your c suite leaders and your frontline workers. And they have a really difficult role because they're getting pressure from the top that talks about the bottom line and all the numbers, but they also have those people they supervise who they need to build that trust and that culture. And it's not an easy role to be in. For anyone that's been in that role, there's a lot of different pressures coming from both sides. And so to me, courage is really essential because I always say if you're in that role, you need to be willing to be fired. And I know that's kind of a bold statement, but the reason I say that is you can't advocate for and really grow that those people below you that you supervise unless you're willing to stick your neck out for them.

Tara Karels [00:19:46]:
And, it's not about being defiant, but it's about really standing up in your role and being both sides. And I talk a lot about vision alignment when I work with leaders and how do you connect? Because after the courage, you really have to have some empathy as a leader and really be willing to connect with people. And, yes, we have different roles and, you know, we have certain, I guess, unsaid rules about, you know, we're not going to definitely have close friendships necessarily with people that are our supervisors in certain companies, but we still can have relationship. We still can care about individuals. And I think that's an important piece to really improve employee engagement and then help with momentum in a company.

David Hall [00:20:38]:
And with what we were talking about, you know, with adversity, how can leaders sometimes get stuck when when things happen, when bad things happen?

Tara Karels [00:20:47]:
I think that there are sometimes a lack of there's a lack of support in the system to be able to help them through that adversity, but I also think it's truly that coming back to that framework I was talking about is owning your stuff and figuring out how to move forward. So often adversity sidelines us, and we kinda get stuck in that, and it's really a vicious cycle. So for example, if your numbers are down as a leader, in your sales department or your productivity and you get stuck in your head about that or frustrated with that, you may end up seeing that repeated in the next month or the next quarter because instead of taking action, you're getting paralyzed by that frustration or fear. And so how do we address those things so that we can help leaders continue to move forward and take action? And then the other piece is recognizing that the people we're talking about, the leaders, the frontline workers, they're all still human. They all still have lives outside of work. And so if something comes in and they have a curveball in their life, what supports do we have in place to help them feel supported so that they can continue to operate at their best ability and still feel supported and cared for within the company?

David Hall [00:22:17]:
Yeah. And how do you do that in the coaching work that you're doing? How do you help a leader get their momentum back?

Tara Karels [00:22:25]:
So I work with leaders, doing a consulting work. I have a program that I take them through. It's a, 3 months, 6 sessions where we really look at values. We look at where their roadblocks are and start applying that framework to help them work through that. And within that is looking at their leadership qualities and their ability to connect with the people around them.

David Hall [00:22:56]:
Yeah. And, you know, this isn't only for introverts, but, you know, definitely, we can be really good at connecting 1 on 1 as introverts. But in general, you know, I think that sometimes leaders need to learn how to connect with their teams. What how do you teach them to do that?

Tara Karels [00:23:18]:
Well, when I first had a leader, well, not first had a leadership job, but my my last, administrative role where I was going to oversee an entire campus, for the college I was at, I actually was told by my president who was my direct report that I needed to get over to that campus in the months leading up to my start date and start meeting everybody on the campus and getting to know them. And it was the best advice. And as an introvert, it wouldn't have been my first thing to just walk up to people and, you know, start to get to know everyone, but I intentionally spent time every week on that campus getting to know all the different people that worked on the campus from the business office to our maintenance team, to our faculty, to to our support staff. And what that did was it gave me a presence there where they knew that I was truly in it to work with them as a team, that I wanted to help that campus grow and be a vital part of that community. And so I think that that lived example for me and then really giving leaders opportunities to figure out what does it mean to create culture, what does it mean to engage your employees, and then taking them through those steps.

David Hall [00:24:46]:
Yeah. So do you have any specifics about how you did that? Because, again, I know there may especially you know, extroverts too, but introverts that might struggle, like, if they had that charge that you had to go out and create relationships. What what's some of the ways or strategies that you employed to do that?

Tara Karels [00:25:07]:
Well, initially, some of it is you just kinda gotta, you gotta fake it a little bit because it's a little bit unnerving, you know, just to walk up to people. I think it helped for me to have I knew I had that title that that was going to be my role. So you you wear that sometimes a little bit different. But I also have always had compassion for people. I really care about people and who they are. And so I took the approach that I would introduce myself, and and then I would ask them a little bit about themselves. And if they had a minute, we'd sit down right there. If they didn't, I'd say, hey.

Tara Karels [00:25:46]:
I'm gonna be back on Thursday. Is there a time we can sit down and visit? And then I would ask them, like, what they enjoyed about working, for that or that college and what they enjoyed about that particular campus and their role there. And I got to know a lot about them. That campus was in a very small community, so a lot of the people that work there lived in that smaller community. So it was a very family feel to that campus, and I really became a part of that family because of the time I spent getting to know people. And so there's real value in that, but it it did take just a little bit of, like, okay. This is just part of my day now. And, I came to find out that they were an incredibly warm and welcoming group of people.

David Hall [00:26:39]:
Awesome. And then how would you apply that to the environment where people are working hybrid where they're not in the office all the time or maybe some people are never in the office? How would you apply that if you had to do that in this kind of environment?

Tara Karels [00:26:56]:
Yeah. It's definitely, changed, you know, for sure in the last 4 to 5 years as we changed where people are working from. And some people, like you said, have not come back then to the office. They're still working remotely. And I think that those conversations, we can we can go old fashioned and we can have phone conversations. We can also use Zoom. And when we initially had to go to Zoom from the college standpoint and I was teaching in a nursing program, which is all hands on, and they said, you're gonna have to teach nursing through the computer. And I thought, how are we going to manage this? It was really a a difficult time and nobody liked Zoom.

Tara Karels [00:27:42]:
It was hard to figure out. We none of us had used it prior to that. We had no need to. And now I have come to love Zoom from the standpoint that I feel much more connected to another human being when I'm on the screen with them than when I'm on the phone with them. So I use Zoom a lot. When I'm talking to people, I I always say I'd much rather meet you on Zoom than a phone call. And most people are willing to oblige to that. But I think we have to be creative because we're not all gonna be in the office together in every company.

David Hall [00:28:21]:
Right. That's that's definitely true. And, it is interesting because, like, you know, we're definitely talking on Zoom right now and, you know, I'm an introvert, but face there's no there's nothing better than face to face in most cases for me, but Zoom is a is a good alternative. You know? Definitely better than the phone. So, yeah, that's interesting.

Tara Karels [00:28:45]:
Yeah. I think, you know, Zoom still allows us to see facial expressions and, just kind of connect in a way that we can't do if we're on the phone or obviously, you know, texting or emailing.

David Hall [00:29:01]:
Yeah. What, what makes an effective team? Like, how do leaders build effective teams?

Tara Karels [00:29:09]:
I think it's knowing the personalities of the people on your team, knowing the things that they need. Different people need affirmation. Different people need some space. You know, they don't like being micromanaged. And I think just like, you know, when I was a teacher and you look at different ways people learn and you wanna teach to different, learning abilities and or not abilities, but just, you know, the ways people learn. You wanna teach a lot of different ways to do that. I think leaders have to be agile like that as well. They have to be able to say, I'm going to meet the different needs of my team members to help them work together.

Tara Karels [00:29:53]:
And so it's really understanding those dynamics and getting to know the people, and that's why the relationships do matter.

David Hall [00:30:01]:
Yeah. And I think that's that's extremely important. It depends. I mean, you know, some leaders are leading fairly large teams and it can be difficult to get to know the different strengths and personalities. There are a lot of strengths and personalities as you know well. Yeah. What's some advice you have to get to know the different personalities on your on your team?

Tara Karels [00:30:26]:
I think you have to invest the time. I think that you can do different activities. There's so many different, like, personality test, different things out there that help team building. So there's activities you can do to get to know people, and then there's things you can share in groups to get to know how you work best together. And so lots of different tools like that and things that I bring to help them make those connections. And then really, again, taking responsibility as a leader knowing that you're in that role for a reason. And so how do you live that out? And also be vulnerable enough to share a little bit of yourself as well so that they can get to know you? All of those things, those connections lead to that engagement where people feel connected. They feel connected to the mission and vision of the company.

Tara Karels [00:31:25]:
They feel connected to other people. And even introverts wanna feel connected to something. You know? They may not wanna be, you know, setting up the party plan, but they still wanna feel connected. And I think building those connections is key, just to keeping people together and aligned. And that's so important because we know employee engagement is down, across the board, and we know that that leads to retention issues and turnover, and those are very costly. You know? So really investing upfront with your team and your people is going to pay off a lot down the road.

David Hall [00:32:10]:
Yeah. And you mentioned, you know, there's different learning styles. There's, of course, there's a lot more to our personality than introversion and extroversion, But just as for using that as an example, I mean, we should have we probably do have, in most cases, introverts and extroverts on our teams. And introverts and extroverts communicate very differently. You know? As introverts, we think, and then we share what we think is most important. And extroverts generally share most everything because they're thinking out loud most of the time. And if you don't understand those kinds of things, you can have some communication problems for sure.

Tara Karels [00:32:54]:
Yes. Definitely. Yeah. I mean, we're, complicated beings, but We, can definitely learn and work together. And, you know, I always say that, you know, I'm a little a little tougher than most because I've, you know, been in nursing for over 30 years and, we're well known for eating our young. So I work with, you know, worked with majority of women most of my career and especially working in women's health and then working with nurses who in a specialty area can be very strong willed and, hard headed. So I, you know, and I I wear that as well at times. So I think that has helped me to shape and understand people differently.

Tara Karels [00:33:43]:
And then interestingly enough, when I was a college administrator, most of my campus was technical programs in manufacturing and transportation. So a lot of men who had been on the frontline blue collar workers now were teaching, young men and women in those fields. And, it was such a great contrast to, to see a whole different side of people and learn so much more about the dynamics of people and, from different walks of life. So great experiences.

David Hall [00:34:21]:
Do you have any other advice on leaders and leading teams and building good communication?

Tara Karels [00:34:27]:
I think, you know, don't let time pass before you're really investing in growing that team and getting to know people. I think it's so important to step up, be courageous, have those resources in place for yourself, but also for your team. And, set out to grow that team because, again, it's it's far more costly in time and money to replace people than to help build them up and make them feel a part of something.

David Hall [00:35:00]:
Yeah. Well said on that. Is there anything else you wanna add about your book, trekking poles?

Tara Karels [00:35:06]:
You know, it's coming out after the 1st of the year. So in 2025, little behind the schedule I had hoped, but writing a book is a labor of love. So it's been a lot. You know? It's a journey. It's great, though. It's been a really fun thing to learn and, excited about that. I'm doing some speaking this fall, and then I'll be doing more speaking in the spring. Still doing some work coaching some people 1 on 1, especially during the holidays now, coming up to help people navigate that.

Tara Karels [00:35:40]:
But just lots of things going on, lots of irons in the fire, and it's very exciting to be still caring for people, which is what I've done most of my life, but in a different way. And, excited that I'm able to use this chapter of my life for something positive.

David Hall [00:35:58]:
Absolutely. Well, thanks again for this conversation, Tara. This has, been wonderful and, you know, we all will go through challenges, but we can learn from them and and bounce back from them and and not just survive, but thrive.

Tara Karels [00:36:13]:
Exactly. Well, thank you so much, David, and I appreciate you inviting me on to your podcast.

David Hall [00:36:20]:
Yeah. And where can people find you?

Tara Karels [00:36:23]:
So my website is ww dotinsprow.com. And, from that page, you can also become a Book Launch member and get updates on when my book comes out. It will be available on Amazon. You can also reach out to me through that website if you're needing some consulting or speaking, and I'm also on LinkedIn.

David Hall [00:36:48]:
Alright. Sounds great. Thanks again.

Tara Karels [00:36:50]:
Thank you.

David Hall [00:36:52]:
Thank you so much for joining me. I look forward to further connecting with you. Reach out at david@quietandstrong.com, or check out the website quietandstrong.com. It includes blog posts, links to social media channels, and send me topics or guests you would like to see on the show. If you're interested in getting to know yourself better, there is now a free TypeFinder personality assessment on the Quiet and Strong website. This free assessment will give you a brief report, including your four letter Myers Briggs code. You can also purchase the full report if you'd like more details. I'll add a link to the show notes.

David Hall [00:37:29]:
There's so many great things about being an introvert, and so we need those to be understood. Get to know your introverted strengths and needs, and be strong.