It’s Never Too Late
We all have a soundtrack in our heads and sometimes what we tell ourselves stops us from doing what we really want to do with our lives. There are lots of reasons we give up on our dreams. We tell ourselves it’s too late. We complain that we’re too tired and we don’t have the time.
We even tell ourselves the meanest thing of all: you’re too old.
Recently, I featured Gwen Borden & Amy Goober on my weekly series, “The Story Behind Her Success.” This dynamic mother/daughter duo co-authored a book called My Mother Always Says: 25 Lessons for Finding the Silver Lining. At 94, Gwen has reinvented herself many times, discovering new talents and nurturing old ones. Her mantra: The only things we regret in life are the things we didn’t do.
I always say that I’m a lucky person, because I get to sit down with inspiring women every week. They’ve taught me so much, including the fact that we really do live our lives in chapters. There are seasons in our lives and although there are years, decades even, when our focus is career, marriage, and raising our children, our hopes and dreams for ourselves should never be packed away, left to collect dust in the attic. Figuring out what matters most requires slowing down, taking a breath, and sitting in silence long enough to hear another voice. This one lives inside your heart. This voice wants you to dream again.
And to be clear: dreaming about and doing what we love are not selfish acts. These actions feed our souls.
Two years ago, I heard an old song by Vera Lynn called “I’ll Be Seeing You.” Hugely popular during World War II, the song was a love letter across the Atlantic to soldiers far from home.
I’ll be seeing you/in all the old familiar places/that this heart of mine embraces/all day through.
As I listened to the song, tears streamed down my face and suddenly, I heard a little voice inside ask, why did you stop singing? Hearing this song triggered my heart’s desire to sing again and a flame was reignited inside of me. In that moment, I experienced incredible clarity, joy, and a sense of direction. I knew what I had to do and that’s what happens when we unleash our talents and use them in this lifetime.
Dear Reader: please don’t say you have no talent. Everyone on this earth is born with God given talents. We are all good at something and all too often, what we do for a living is not what we love to do most of all. Some of us use our talents early in life. Some of us discover them later in our lives. Sometimes, our hopes and dreams have nothing to do with talent but are a simple desire to try new things. The point is: these hopes, dreams, and desires are all there, waiting for you to light the fuse.
I’ve spent the last two years back in the studio where once upon a time, I used to spend lots of time as a professional singer. I’ve recorded seven of my favorite songs, including the Eagles classic, “Desperado,” “Longer” by Dan Fogelberg, “Merry Christmas Darling” by the Carpenters, “I’ll Be Seeing You,” and my first original song, written for my late father, called “A Letter.”
And I wish you’d written me a letter/something to unfold/Your words right there on paper/something I could hold/Wisdom to remind me, I’m stronger than that tree/where the swing and I reached for the sky/and you believed in me.
I’ll be releasing a new song every month on all music platforms and in March, 2026, I’ll add two bonus tracks to the release of my sophomore album, GRATEFUL. A 10-episode podcast series called “Candy O’Terry Songs & Stories” will support the launch.
Am I hoping to be a worldwide sensation? Of course not, although a girl can still dream, right? Honestly, I’m just tuning into the joy of singing a song in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, you like it, too.
The moral of this story: It’s never too late to do what you love.
Shut out the noise of the world we’re living in and listen instead to that little voice inside your heart. What is she saying? I can’t wait to see what you do next.
xo
