051: Lawyer Turned Tarot Professor: Anxiety, Intuition & Overachieving with Annie Aboulian

What happens when the person who spent years relying on logic, achievement, and doing everything “right” learns to trust a different kind of wisdom?

In this episode of FEAR UNZIPPED®, Sandi Serling sits down with Annie Aboulian, the creator behind The Tarot Professor, to explore intuition, anxiety, self-doubt, and the journey of reconnecting with your authentic self. Annie shares how leaving behind a successful legal career led her to discover tarot as a powerful tool for self-reflection, personal growth, and understanding her inner voice.

Annie opens up about growing up as an overachiever and people pleaser, following the path she thought she was supposed to take, and realizing that achieving everything she was told to want did not necessarily mean she was fulfilled. Together, Annie and Sandi discuss the fear of judgment, the pressure to meet expectations, and how much of the judgment we fear from others actually comes from within ourselves.

They explore how tarot can be used not as a way to predict the future, but as a visual language that helps people access their own intuition, emotions, and inner wisdom. Annie explains why intuition often feels quiet and calm, while fear tends to be loud, repetitive, and filled with doubt.

This conversation is a powerful reminder that trusting yourself does not mean eliminating fear. It means learning how to move forward even when fear is present.

Our Guest

Former attorney Annie Aboulian is a literature professor and the writer behind The Tarot Professor, a best-selling Substack column that approaches tarot as a powerful self-discovery and personal growth tool. Her mission is to help overthinking analytical types like herself reconnect with their inner wisdom and value their intuition as much as their intellect. In addition to writing, Annie leads tarot workshops online and in person. She also loves to explore the bookstores and art museums of Los Angeles, where she lives.

In this episode, you’ll learn

How Annie went from lawyer to becoming The Tarot ProfessorWhy achieving everything you were told to want can still leave you feeling lostHow perfectionism and people-pleasing disconnect us from ourselvesWhy fear of judgment often comes from our own internal beliefsHow tarot can help strengthen intuition and self-awarenessWhy tarot is not about predicting the futureHow to distinguish fear from intuitionWhy trusting yourself can help reduce anxiety and overthinkingHow to reconnect with your inner wisdom when making decis