He asked me to lay my dreams on the table. I had been thinking a lot about this moment, what I would say. I had meditated on my dreams before I went into our meeting that day and what I heard come through loud and clear, was simple, direct and HUGE… I want to help transform and heal the world with my voice. If I think about it, this has always been my dream since I was a little girl, except instead of just wanting everyone on every continent of the world to know me, I now want them to know themselves through me. I want to help lead them back to their hearts, back to the LovE that they are, that we all are. Layer by unconscious layer, I am peeling back the bullshit and leading my own self back to my own heart and I want to help lead others on that journey. I’m not sure he knew what to do with that. In fact, I’m still navigating how this new chapter of connection, music and voicing my/our truth looks like, so I couldn’t completely blame him for the semi confused, let down of a stare. And so, there I was feeling like I just revealed my deepest desire for my journey here in this lifetime and it still didn’t seem like “enough,” at least that is what my old wounding had me believe. As I sat and listened to him talk about the artists that he works with selling out stadiums, I somehow felt like I wasn’t dreaming big enough. But how can you get any bigger than the dream I just vomited out on the table? I suddenly realized very clearly what I have known for a long while now, MY DREAMS HAVE CHANGED and they don’t look like your typical music industry superstar’s dreams. For some reason though I have been denying this. I have felt like I am selling myself short and not living up to what seems like the American slogan, “dream big, work hard.” What if I want to dream more intimately these days? Everything is always sold to us as “bigger, better, more,” even in the so called “spiritual” world that is now being used to turn manifestation into big business. I completely believe in co-creating with the universe, I’ve done it my whole life, but I have learned, there is a difference in creating from the soul and for the good of all, than from the ego and only the good of “I.” I feel like the way we have been taught to dream has been so far out of balance that balance itself being a dream seems like a mirage, a joke, unfulfilling, lazy… god, I feel like I could go on and on with that one. We are taught that we have to work ourselves to the bone, hustle, struggle, especially as women. Be all the things… wife, LovEr, mother, friend, daughter, entrepreneur, boss, nurturer, fitness model, sex goddess…. the list goes on and I get fucking exhausted just by reading it. This goes for men too, I am completely aware and I feel for you just as much as I do any woman. However, I can speak much more from a woman’s POV.
When we’ve dreamt the impossible dream, strived and hustled, sacrificed so many other parts of our lives for that one dream, shoved pieces of ourselves in the shadow, silenced the totality of our soul’s desires… where does that leave us? I can speak from experience when I say it left me fragmented, void of my deepest truths, heartbroken, angry, attached only to a persona and no longer to my soul. And with that wisdom imbedded in my bones, I am here to suggest that maybe there’s another way. A way of balance, inner connectedness, allowing, softness, more no’s than yes’s, so that the yes’s are a complete HELL YES instead of halfhearted, full presence, so that we may be worked though and our light used in every moment for the good of the whole, less fear, more joy, less grasping, more flow. Does that sound as heavenly to anyone else as it does to me? This is where my dream has come too.
What I’m realizing is it takes a lot of balls and ovaries to define what success looks like FOR YOU and to stick to it when the world wants to throw you off balance. It takes finding people who support you in your vision, who support you in your wholeness and not just support the piece or pieces of you that serve them best. Thank GOD, yep ALL caps there, I have people on my team that LovE and support me in my fullness and I am rounding out that team for myself as we speak. And, I’m defining what success looks like for ME, not for my parents, society, not even what it looked like for “LeAnn Rimes.” I am no longer working for “them” or the system, but I’m defining my success and making “it” all work for me.
My success these days consists of balance, which in some areas I have a long ways to go. It looks like my work being full of meaning, healing and empowerment, for myself and others. It looks like freedom to create when and how I want to create, to feel and be completely myself, even when it goes against societal norms, which is majorly challenging, especially as a woman in my line of business. It looks like not exchanging my truth for someone else’s just to be LovEd. It looks like being driven from my soul instead of the persona I came to believe I had to uphold. It looks like loving the shit out of ALL of me. It looks like more play, more time filled with joy and connection with the humans I LovE. Most of all, it means I no longer abandon ME.
So, I’m here to tell you, dream insanely big, dream intimately, dream truthfully, ALWAYS DREAM, but never let anyone tell you how you should dream and drop the need to compare your dreams to others. That will get you in BIG trouble. LovE where you are in every moment. As Matt Kahn says, “choose to be there.” Make that your dream, the very moment that you’re in. I LovE you and I have deep gratitude for you being here to be a part of my dream.
Live your like the way you want.live it the way it makes you happy.life is way to short to not be happy.find your happiness and go for it.live your life for you Leann
I feel like the world is moving on majorly from the ways of old ,as in idealogies of what success even means. People can chase money ,fame ,BIG everything ,MORE everything ,but is it ever fulfilling? No. Perhaps temporarily it’s a high but then it would need to be repeated over & over like an addiction until it destroys you!
So I feel that listening to one’s intuition and actively saying NO to outside influences is much more productive and sensible. Everyone has a unique path ,there should never be just one gold paved road that everyone wants to skip down into expected happiness. The world is definitely changing ,we’re moving into a new decade ,truth & freedom will be embraced ,those courageous enough to listen internally to instinct can lead the way
X
Keep doing your thing 🙂 Honesty resonates with people ,not cold hard business
Really enjoyed this
Thankyou
You are a inspiration y oi ur true raw talent and beauty shine in your music ..
The ego is so powerful- I can’t imagine coping with it with the attention of celebrity and all of the validation that goes along with it. Trust me, it’s hard enough when no one is paying attention to you 😂 thank you for sharing! So thought provoking and courageous.
You are my personal guru.
I enjoyed reading your message from the heart. It obviously came from the heart of a very good person with a loving soul and deep compassion for your dreams. Your caring for those you love and all humankind in general was obvious. I love your music and wish you all the best. I’m so glad to know that the voice and music I enjoy comes from such a good soul. God bless you.
So well said LeAnn. We all have to follow our own paths, our own journeys as God has intended us to do. I follow other music entertainers and most seem to have turned into work horses. It seems like the bottom line has turned into money & they’ve sold their soul to the devil to have no quality of life. A new concert in a new town every single night, constantly traveling, doing this project or that project. I personally would feel emotionally, physically and spiritually exhausted. I don’t see how they do it. People need to understand that a career is not who we are, it does not define us & that goes for any type of job. I’m glad to see you pushing back and fighting for what is right for you as an individual & an artist, not for what is right for him.
Thank you LeAnn you just freed me from some unnecessary concerns!
Beautiful words girl just beautiful
I like her-and some of her past hits-great singer! Would be nice to meet her.
This raw and incredibly relatable account, is heartfelt and pulls at the bigger picture in life: do more and be more because we are more than the limits we place on ourselves. Basically, I was pulled out of my own headspace and remembered what is important to me as well as why. This kind of grip through her words parallels the vulnerability she took to write it.
I look forward to more!
“Dream insanely big, dream intimately, dream truthfully, ALWAYS DREAM, but never let anyone tell you how you should dream and drop the need to compare your dreams to others. That will get you in BIG trouble. LovE where you are in every moment. ”
I really need this right now. I’ve been going into cicles and the dream to be on the stage keeps haunting me. Seeing everyone and that I do not amount to how good they are makes me play it safe and my mind keeps telling me this is not for me. But then my soul is restless…I lost my voice for a month,got healed and was back to singing (only in my room)
Went through an operation and this time I had a month to think what’s going on in my life and how far I’ve come,I thank God for everything that happened and was grateful. Now, it’s time for me to chase the dream I once burried in my heart. I will be “back in the front row” not to please everyone but me, fighting for who I am, believing again that I was made for this and allow my heart to beat again.Kristi is Kristi ❤️ and I am standing for her.
That was a very deep look sweetie…!!! It sounds like you need a direction to flow into to maintain being the best of a person with dominion and personable choices. You have a very good persona and a beauty unmatched… Your soul is looking for something like returning full circle to your origins. I have been down that road and uplifting my spirit wasn’t where I was headed but now after reading this enlightenment can say thank you for the moment of positivity. Sounds as if you need something to boost your genre.. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy !!!! E- me and my genre will boost your balance of silence of sound .. you always have had the vocals for the lead on cadence of song… Minivan was a very well projected appeal… When down… I find it easier to return to the basics of training . Partly because keeping things simple are best complex just causes confusion….so, two things needed .. Simple and basic, the rest will follow.
There is always another direction to turn… There’s staying on the present course or getting back to the original simple things and not over do. Seek friendships for guidance but those you actually have never been harmed by…!!! Music is a real hard living…but very gratifying if easy and bountiful when others are finding it appealing…. this is where friendships help you to evolve… Glamour and glitter is for the show but for you it should be fulfillment of life and peace. You’ve got this…
You just described a reimagined successful life for yourself. Your description of the unsuccessful life makes everyone else more important (which is a description of my life). I am 63, have essentially nothing, even after working all my life. I prefer to think I did the right things, for the right reasons. If I have truely helped one person, out of the many I cared for, I count myself blessed. It’s not about the. JOB dear, it’s about how you use the success and the proceeds. Giving anything from the heart counts.
The greatest give to give or receive is LovE. Not the “I love your music, body, image” etc. kinda LovE (which of course I do) but the unconditional, deep rooted, soul to soul connected kinda LovE. The kind that exists when you help a person in need without even thinking or considering it. Or, the kind you give at a church mission trip when you take off work, skip your normal vacation that year to spend a week or two helping others that can’t help themselves. And the list goes on and on. It’s a bond with God and the universe as a whole that you create and through that comes a LovE that fills you so completely those other peoples “dreams or desires” for you become irrelevant and you’re able to do what you you want to do to be whole. It also allows you to create a deep rooted bond with people like no other. An amazing feeling!
LovE ya always girl
B
Thank you for sharing that with us and for being open and honest! You are such an inspiration to so many people. I really loved what you said about dreams. I feel like I am so disconnected from who I really am and any dreams I ever had. I feel like I try to move forward and life keeps pushing me back. I want to dream again. To have a dream that is bigger than just me. So, thank you again for inspiring me to dig deep and search the parts of me that I have pushed down and hidden for so long! Love you.