She’s Brave Podcast with Kristina Driscoll
Episode 94 - Solo Episode: ‘Don’t Give Up On Your Dreams’
Kristina Driscoll (Host of She's Brave Podcast):
Hey, you guys. Hey, you guys. It's Kristina with the She's Brave Podcast. Did you see that just there? That was a flaw. I like- my voice was kind of scratchy, and I kind of had to clear my throat, and then I had to start again. And you're probably thinking, 'This is intentional'. But, it's not. That was totally not planned. It's actually all part of what I want to talk about today, which is, don't give up on your dreams and part of not giving up on your dreams is also letting go of perfection and being really real and being really authentic.
I'm really inspired to do this solo episode today because I just got off of an interview with a band called Chapel Hart. And it's three young, Black women from Mississippi. The lead singer -they're all kind of lead singers- but Danica was working at a hospital, living a really good life in a small town in Mississippi. She had a beautiful voice and her cousin tree came to her and said, "Let's go to New Orleans and let's just hang out and play the guitar and sing on a street corner in New Orleans". Cause that's like how you get started in the music business. And you guys, it took her two years to do that dream. Two years to even start to even try to do it.
If you're sitting here listening to me today thinking, 'I want to write a book' or there's something that you're dreaming about, but you haven't pulled the trigger yet. You haven't done it yet. Well, I'm here to say a couple of things.. Number one: Totally okay if you haven't done it yet. Totally okay if it takes you two years to pull the trigger to do that tiny first baby step in whatever it is that you're doing. Totally okay.
Danica basically lost her job, right? Sometimes these things that are so horrible that happen to us and we think, 'Why is this happening to me?'. They turn out to be sometimes the best thing that ever happened in our life.
So she lost this great job she had at the hospital and she said to her cousin, "It's now or never. Right now I'm between jobs. Let's go to New Orleans. Let's stand on the street corner". So they went to Royal Street and it's just right near Bourbon. I was actually just there. And they started playing. Now the first day they put out a hat and for the first 40 minutes, nothing! Nobody's giving them money, nothing. Finally somebody gave them a couple bucks, whatever. And the first day wasn't so great, but they decided to go back second day. Second day, people were starting to really put money in their hat! I think they were feeling a little bit more comfortable.
The story continues, basically Danica's sister joined the group. They ended up, singing on the street corner on Bourbon street, which was a step up. They started performing in clubs. Then they actually made it on a show called 'America's Got Talent'. Simon Cowell and Heidi, Klum and Howie Mandel were the judges. They made it big time in 2022. They started singing on the street corner in 2014. That's a long time, you guys.
Let's talk about Danica a little bit more, because I'm so freaking inspired by her. It took her two years to pull the trigger on doing something. Now they've actually performed at the Grand Ole Opry. They've won all these accolades. They have over 600,000 followers on social media. They are just crushing it. But after 2022, they had something really, really bad go wrong. So even when you're living the life of your dreams, you're going to stumble. You're going to fall and it's going to be really hard to pick yourself up because guess what? Nobody's going to pick you up. You're going to have to pick yourself up. You're going to have to clap for yourself.
I'm going to get really real and raw here because I've been struggling a lot lately with my podcast. Where's it going? Is it growing fast enough? Am I getting my voice out there enough? Is this good enough? Am I good enough? And I even skipped a week a couple weeks ago. And I feel okay about that because I think sometimes you have to step back and reassess where you're at and where you want to go.
And I want to encourage you guys to do this little hack that I do sometimes and sometimes I forget -I remembered to just do it this morning, which is just ask for help. Ask God, the universe, either say a prayer or just ask in your head. Just say, "God, Universe, Am I meant to be doing this?"
I said, "Am I meant to be podcasting? Is this the direction I'm supposed to be going? I need some kind of a signal. I need, need something. Should I keep going?"
I got on this interview this morning and it was the most powerful interview that I've had to date and probably the most influential people I've ever interviewed too. Their music is unbelievably inspiring, especially for women. Really incredible songs. One of them I love it's called, 'You can have him, Jolene'.
Just do not give up, because what I'm realizing is that overnight success is not it. It's, it's not it. And we need to be more real with each other. I think that's part of why they've been so successful is when you go to watch their videos on YouTube, they're so real about everything. About how much they've been through, how hard it was to be Black females that are singing country music, for them to fricking break into Nashville! It was so hard and it took so long. To be on a big national televised show like that, it took years. And they're really honest and open about it.
I want to be just really honest and open with you guys too. Like maybe. You look at me and you think, 'Oh man, like she's got it easy. She's got the perfect life'. Let me tell you friends, my life is far from perfect. I'm telling you now it is so, so hard sometimes.
Um, what you don't know about me is I work two jobs in addition to podcasting. Yes, you heard that correctly. Not just one, two jobs. I work two jobs. And then on top of that. I have a young son who is struggling with some mental health issues and he's in marijuana recovery. So I've got that going on too. There's times I really struggle with: How am I going to get this week's episode out? How am I going to have the bandwidth to do this thing? And sometimes it's okay to not be perfect. Like it is okay to just say, "Maybe I'm going to skip this week, for the first time ever and that's okay". I want to encourage you guys
I was teaching a podcast class recently to new podcasters and I came up with this analogy and I love it so much. Most of us are just, we're sitting huddled in a little box. We're in a little box that, in a cardboard box in the middle of a room, right? We feel like we're stuck there. Like we're just, there's walls all around us. But if we can just like poke one single hole into that little box, and then a little crack of light can come in, then all of a sudden we're like, oh, oh, that worked. So maybe I can like try over here and put another hole in the box, right? And another little ray of sunlight comes in. And then we just keep poking away at the box until it gets so big that a gigantic hole opens up and we just like step out of the box, right? I think that's the way our life is. Like, are you putting yourself in a box? Cause I know I do. I totally put myself in a box and I know we all do. Just sometimes just take some tiny, tiny step towards a goal. And not beat ourselves up if it takes us a couple of years to take that first step like it did Danica. And so this interview today, this morning, was the answer to my prayer about whether I should continue to podcast or not.
Because it was so good and these women are changing the lives of other women, empowering women through their voices. And they are so beautiful and they're every shape and size and they are such a beautiful example of just owning it, being real, being raw, being authentic. Let's do it, people!
Right? I just shared a bunch of really personal stuff with you guys, and I want to encourage you to get out there and just do that thing that you think is so freaking hard, because look at Danica. Look what happened.
I'm going to give you one more example. This was a student of mine, just going to call him Nick -that's actually his name, but I'm not gonna tell you his last name (laughs). He took my podcasting class and I didn't know this about him until he started podcasting and he sent me an episode where he talked about my class. And he said that. I wasn't messing around and first or second class I made everybody get off of the Zoom call for five minutes and record a trailer and then come back and jump on and he was beyond terrified.
He talks about how terrified he was and how he couldn't do it. He couldn't get himself to do it. And then he basically tried to do it later and it took him 30 minutes to make a horrible, horrible trailer. Like just make a short little intro for his podcast. And yeah, that was the game changer. That was the thing that got him over the hump, that got him to be able to podcast. Because even when he, he came back on and he had tried to do it, and he couldn't feel like he didn't really get it done. And I basically said to the whole group, "Congratulations, you just did it. You did it. Whether you're going to use it or not, whether it, it ends up being related. To whatever even it's horrible. It's a horrible trailer. You actually recorded your voice on your phone and Now, you know you can do it. And so what's your next steps?" And he said that that was the game changer that changed everything for him.
So yeah, I just am feeling the need to just get super real with you guys and let you know, if you're out there and you're struggling I hear you I'm with you. I literally cried at-at my work the other day because it was a hard day. But I'm still here. And you are here too, and there's a reason why you're here.
So don't forget that there's a reason why you're here. And that thing in your head that just won't go away, that tells you that you need to do, whether it's climbing Kilimanjaro or it's getting a degree in nursing or whatever it is. You know, it's there for a reason you guys, it's there for a reason. Listen. And just at some point take like a little step towards that goal and take a listen to that episode. It'll be airing later in July. You're going to be unbelievably inspired by these three amazing women.
Okay. That's all I have to say. Just stay brave. Stay brave. You guys. Okay.
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(Outro drums and claps music starts playing) Outro:
Hey, Brave Friends!
Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy life to listen to today's episode!
I love learning about what makes you brave.I'm here with you. I see you, I hear you, and I want to hear from you. I want to know how you are showing up as brave and resilient and authentic.
Connect with me on Instagram @ShesBravePodcast or check out my website at www. ShesBravePodcast.com.
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I'm sending you guys so much love. Until next time, keep being brave!
