Soundtrack of my Life – Entry 35 – Waking Up Dreaming by Shania Twain

This song has the energy I’m embracing in 2023, so I thought it would be the perfect track to share now that spring has sprung in my part of the world. Shania has been one of my favorite artists for years, but in learning her story and the struggles she went through, this song has extra special meaning to me. I can’t help but admire her resilience and, if given the chance, I would love to have an hour with her to chat about creativity and pursuing dreams even through the darkest of times.

As I meet and interact with more writers and creatives, I find that we all have a “story,” a time in our lives when we came to a fork in the road and decided to turn left instead of right, or in some cases, to take the road less traveled. I am no different in that after my cancer diagnosis and radiation, I examined my mortality and re-evaluated my legacy. What did I want to leave behind? More important to me was… what had I always wanted to do that I hadn’t accomplished? What was on my bucket list? Those questions had me going back to school, earning a degree, traveling more, and writing/publishing my first book. This line in particular from Shania’s song has significant meaning to me for those reasons.

While I’m not the youngest creative on the planet, I’m certainly not the oldest. There are bands from my era still rocking it, debut authors at ages higher than mine going on book tours, and influencers on Insta in their 80s. There are so many ways of looking at the life we are given, and each day I’m thankful I’m still here and have the love of my friends and family. I am also thankful that I’m still able to do what I love and share it with those who need a bit of an escape. What songs like these do is give me that kick in the pants I need, oftentimes right when I am at my lowest, to continue to work with the Muse who has finally caught up to me. She was there all along, but she was waiting for me to figure out what she already knew… I should have been writing. By the way, I was, it was just not as deliberate as it is now.

So now here I am, 9 books in with my 10th on the way, a series I’m querying, and a blog full of shorts and musings that each share a different facet of my soul. I still have bits and pieces of myself out there to be gathered, and perhaps one day someone will if they truly want to know the “real” me. In the meantime, I will continue to pursue my passion and dream about the day I’m able to spend less time working, and more time enjoying the life I am working toward. What this song means to me is it is okay to dream, not only while sleeping, but in the daytime too, and most importantly, not to give up on yourself along the way… no matter what.

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As always, thank you for sharing this journey with me, and for taking the time out of your day to read my thoughts. It means a lot. For anyone interested in what I write, please feel free to stay awhile and poke around on my website. I have a ton of content I’ve been developing over the years and I would love to get your thoughts on it.

For my Power of Four series, the best link is:

https://dahenneman.com/welcome/power-of-four-series/

For my Mythical Creatures posts, head over to:

https://dahenneman.com/welcome/about/mythicalcreaturemonday-posts/

For more Soundtrack of my Life posts:

https://dahenneman.com/welcome/about/the-soundtrack-of-my-life/

And for my Shorts and Tidbits:

https://dahenneman.com/welcome/about/current-thoughts/short-stories/

As always, I hope this post finds you happy and healthy. Until next time! XO