Living the Dream

It's a beautiful day in Nashville Tennessee, and I'm feeling a long way from my home in Sydney Australia.

I'm blessed to be living my dream life.

Today I'm songwriting with Pal my husband and we're at ASCAP Nashville writing room #3 with our cowriter Stan Garland.

Stan it turns out has written a number one hit song. This is a big deal for me cos this year I set a goal to be writing songs with hit songwriters, to learn from them and to get better at the craft and write a bunch of great songs. When I wrote down that goal I didn't put a time limit on what year that songwriter had the hit - but that's OK - a number one hit is still a number one hit in any decade! And that's more than I have ever achieved. I can still learn a lot from these awesome hit songwriters like Stan.

I love the title of Stan's hit "The More I Turn The Bottle Up The Further Down I Go".

And there's a really neat story that goes with this song that Stan told me today.

Stan recalls he was on a tour bus with the famous band Alabama when a singer named George Strait (who is arguably among the world's most successful country singers) came up to Stan and shook his hand saying "Stan, I've just found out who you are and I want to tell you that I would have given anything to have recorded that song of yours before Mickey did". At that time George already had recorded over half a dozen number one hits.

So I tell myself - here's a lesson or two to learn from Stan the man with the number one song in 1982.

1) You've got to be QUICK sometimes.

Remember what George Strait said - he wished he'd recorded it first before the other guy cos that song was a number one hit that year. And that hit could have been George's.

2) You've got to be SLOW sometimes. Slow at passing on things like invitations and opportunities.

Opportunities come along in the weirdest disguises - like crazy invitations to cowrite with old hit songwriters from 3 decades back, like opportunities to record a song that comes along, and it ends up going to number one.


3) You've got to say YES sometimes. Like getting out of your comfort zone and going to see the world, meet people, live a crazy life for a few months, spend a bit of money you have saved for a rainy day.

4) You've got to say NO sometimes. No to life's push and pull, no to that pesky accusing voice that lives inside your head that says - "get real dreamer! you'll never make it". Or saying no to giving up on your crazy dream. Even saying no to that part of yourself that stops you doing the stuff that nourishes your very core.

5) You've got to be true. True in the purest sense, like a true friend, a true human being with a heart, a true spirit who's yes is yes and who's no is no. Cos life can come along and trick you into thinking that your only option is to bend the truth, lie and cheat and be mean spirited.

At the end of the day when I lay down to sleep at night I still need to live with myself. And be happy with the choices I've made that day.

I am no fortune teller and how can I ever know when a good opportunity comes along that could change my life - for better or worse. But I'm a believer in living the dream - that I'm a winner, a lover and a grinner - no matter what.

Today I'm feeling my way through this crazy life, living the dream and going for it.

Hugs

Zelda Sheldon

Hugs are the universal medicine.