Lisa Nichols recounts a terrifying in-flight emergency—power loss and a smell of fire—that made her confront mortality. During the silent 40 minutes she asked whether she had lived fully, recorded a goodbye video for her son, and resolved to 'play full out.' She contrasts her past brokenness with who she became after choosing to take steps toward self-belief and action.
Chapters
I knew that there was a chance that I would die. I'd never been that close to death's door. But what I was surprised about, pleasantly surprised about, was that I had peace of mind. There is no rehearsal for your life. See, I was on a double decker plane coming back from London. And all of a sudden, lights go black. Nothing. Then all of a sudden, the stewardess and stewards are running around grabbing everything off the top of the shelves. What is going on? What is going on? What is going on? I hear, frantic in the voices of the people who are supposed to keep us safe. I begin to smell something burning. Something's on fire on this plane. This plane is on fire. And then for the next 40 minutes, it was dead silence. And the stewards and stewardess didn't tell us anything. They didn't have any answers. And for 40 minutes, all I thought about is, are we about to drop out of the sky? I had no control. It was dark, it was quiet. I could smell fire. It was scary. And all I could do was sit and think about, did I do what I was supposed to do? Did I play full out? Did I love the way I wanted to be loved? Did I. Did I use my voice? Did I make a difference on this planet? If I'm gonna die up here, am I gonna die with the peace of mind that I showed up while I was living? I pulled my phone out and I shot a goodbye video because I wanted my son to see it. I said in the video, you might mourn me, but don't feel sorry for me. I played full out. Are you playing full out? If there was a threat and our lives were going to end, we only had four days to live. No longer would you spend the four days wondering, what could you have done? What should you have done? Or would you spend the four days complete in your journey? I played being able to say, I played full out. I ran, I leaped, and I gave myself permission to soar. And when I fell, I got back up again. It's not about staying airborne. It's about running and leaping again and again and again and again. I look at my life today and it's barely recognizable. I'm a long way away from that woman. Emotionally and physically broken, financially broken. I'm a long way away from that woman wondering, does anyone see me? How can I ever love this? These full lips, this mocha skin, round hips and kinky hair. Will anyone ever love this? Is it beautiful? Will they see it? I'm a long way away from her. A long way. But I will never forget her. But it started with me believing. Taking one step to become the woman that I am today started with one step toward playing full out.
