Hello!! And Happy Summer! I hope you’ve been enjoying the first two chapters of my new “The Road to Royce” documentary. I’m attaching Ch. 3 at the top here for you to watch before I release it to YouTube and Facebook Thursday am. Honestly, it’s probably the most emotional chapter of the five for me because it’s all about the big shift that happened in me…starting with my moving away from Nashville, the pandemic hitting, and then finding a really good therapist…and where those things took me.
If you want to catch up, watch Chapter 1 here and Chapter 2 here, as well.
Here are a couple of things I’m needing to remind myself of while I’m on this new journey.
What I think about myself is way more important than what anybody else thinks about me. I need to continually surrender the desire to evaluate whether I think (or I think other people think) I’m qualified for these big steps. I already decided that I am. My job now is just to take the next step in front of me. (This is also how I view life: I may not be able to see the next 20 steps in front of me, but I usually can see the next one, and that’s where my efforts go.)
What other people think about me is really none of my business. Even still, I am striving to be viewed as excellent in all aspects of what I’m working on. Right now it entails getting new logos and graphics made, photographs created, songs organized and properly planned for releasing, videos filmed and edited… all in line with this new persona… and his new image. (How does one even create a new image? Well… turns out you can make slight stylistic changes that communicate more clearly more what kind of artist someone is! I’m experimenting with all this right now.)
One of the main drivers behind this new direction has been “What would I do if I lived completely free of fear? What would courage and bravery allow me to do?” Along the way I’ve been able to find areas where there has been fear (mostly surrounding #1 & #2 above!), and then choose to not let it determine how my life goes any longer.
For me, love is the greatest antidote to fear. I wrote about this in my song “Brave” — “Fear has no place in me, your love has set me free.”
When I know how loved I am, I’m free to be authentically me. I’m free to be all that I was made to be, no longer needing to hide behind pretense. I can release my desire to constantly try to control situations and people, and can actually let others be who they are choosing to be, as well.
I am feeling deeply loved these days, and I’m so grateful for that. The freedom it offers allows me to walk through each day with open hands and a curious heart, excited to see what’s next, without a need to control anything or anyone. And believe it or not, I’m actually free to be ok if nothing happens at all.
This is peace rooted in being loved. This is hope fueled by faith and vision.
This is me.
Yes, I want to have fun. And travel and sing. And shine a really bright light of love and life wherever I go. Even if it’s just down the street.
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