This is Me.
Every morning I spend a good amount of time looking at my face in the mirror as I apply my make up. I don’t pay much attention to the woman in the mirror as I am just following a routine, like lines in a coloring book. The other morning, for the first time in a long time, I actually caught a glance into my own eyes and a thought came to my mind - most of the passions in my life have been fueled in the result of tragedy. Like many of you, I’ve lost loved ones, been to dark places and watched friends and family go through hardships.
I grew up in a small town that has long been deemed as depressing and filled with death. We even had a memorial barn that stood in the middle of a famers field; each time a student would pass away their classmates would paint their name on the barn in memory of them - it had dozens of coats of paint on it from changing all too often.
"I would forget about the mean girls at school, the homework I was supposed to turn in, and the families at church who thought I should be singing Christian music instead of secular country music. Music was always my happy place."
When I was 7 years old my Dad taught me how to play guitar and I started writing songs. I remember a lot of these songs were sad, but writing songs about tragedy gave me an outlet to process grief. Despite the incredibly happy childhood that I had, being born a creative filled me with empathy so naturally I soaked up emotions like a sponge. At 12 years old I started touring the Washington State fair circuit as a young Country Singer from Seattle. I wooed crowds over with my round cheeks and peppy onstage performances, and every time I would sing I would forget about everything else going on around me. I would forget about the mean girls at school, the homework I was supposed to turn in, and the families at church who thought I should be singing Christian music instead of secular country music. Music was always my happy place.
"I could have never of imaged or guessed that I would be living in Nashville, owning my own business there, and meeting my future husband."
Then all at the same time, between the ages of twelve to sixteen, my brother lost his best friend to drunk driving, I lost my cousin to a drunk driver and my best friend became addicted to drugs. At a young age the harsh reality of what the world could do had set in, so I dropped out of public school and started pursuing my music full time. My parents have always been the most supportive people in the world so they enrolled me into Independent study while traveling with me to Los Angelous and to Nashville, TN to write music, record albums, and tour with my band. When I took my first trip to Nashville as a teenager I could have never of imaged or guessed that I would be living in Nashville, owning my own business there, and meeting my future husband.
From fifteen to twenty one, I spent my time writing with some of the greatest songwriters, performing with some of the greatest artists and meeting with record label execs- I had my first publishing deal when I was just 16 years old. My mentor Tim Johnson walked with me hand in hand for five years. His family became my family as we traveled around the US together, made records and planned out the future of music. Tim and I worked together in the studio up until the last few days he had left on this earth. A year later after his passing, in 2012, I made the decision to move to Nashville.
"...but little did I know that I was actually planting a seed that would become a beautiful fruitful tree."
As I navigated through the aching pains of moving away from home and starting life in a new city, I worked steadily on my music and for income I started doing website updates and data entry for a company back home in Seattle. At the time I thought the job was just a fleeting part of my journey while I pursued my music, but little did I know that I was actually planting a seed that would become a beautiful fruitful tree, in due time. Five years later, I have my own business and career as a full time Web & Graphic Designer.
"You can have an incredible job and still struggle with depression. You can be getting married to the love of your life and still feel lonely."
There are so many stories I could tell you about my life, I could keep you here till the sun sets. I chose this way to open my blog not because I wanted to tell a sad story, but because I wanted to share a part of who I am with you and solely writing out my resume would not have accomplished that. I want to create a community of transparency with this blog. Often successful people say “don’t give up, follow your dreams, hard work pays off, blood sweat and tears” but what does any of that really mean? This blog is a place where I want to be able to talk about real issues and hardships that we face because personal trials affect everything we do in our lives; especially our work and our dreams. You can have an incredible job and still struggle with depression. You can be getting married to the love of your life and still feel lonely. The more we share our stories, the more the grips of our hands begin to loosen and we become free to hold someone else’s hand. We are all survivors and warriors, simply because we are all human. Each hardship I have endured in my life has brought me to the next place that I belong, and I believe turning pain into passion is one of the keys to living a full life.
I’m Hannah Weeks, I’ve been many things and have had many titles, but ultimately, I am a warrior and I know you’re a warrior, too.
My goal for this blog is to provide transparency, give all the advice I can about work / dream life, and create a community where we can all connect with each other by sharing our stories. A place where we can all be warriors together.
Cheers friends,
Hannah
