Last weekend I had another new adventure, where I had an interview on The Couch.
I have been stepping out of my comfort zone lately.
I was interviewed about my song Rise and then I got to sing my song.
I loved the experience and the opporunity.
Please enjoy.
Saturday, 25 of April, I competed in my first bodybuilding competition in Perth, WA.
I have been training since I committed to my gym journey on May 11 2023.
I said to my coach I need a new goal, and I decided to compete.
It has been an interesting journey, and I have learned so much along the way.
I have an amazing coach who supports me and listens to my many, many questions.
It has been a journey of early mornings and following my training and meal plans.
I loved the whole process of this journey. Except for my little moment on registration day when I got my outfit. I was in the moment of. I don’t think I can do this. I am so not ready for this. I was already so invested for me there was no turning back, and I had already paid for everything.
What have I learnt along the way-
Trust your coach
Follow your meal plan
Get organised
Meal prep
Ask questions
Trust the process
Show up everyday for your gym sessions
It is cold in the mornings in winter (but it is okay)
Believe in yourself
and
You can do it.
Peak week I found so strange, I am so used to singing and speaking on stage, but this was so different. This was a different level. I know for me there were so many new and unknown experiences.
There were so many new experiences, 3 layers of tan, finding the venue, seeing the stage for the first time, just finding my way around,
Did I like it? Yes. Would I do it again? Of course.
We are looking at April 2027.
Now the new goal is to build more muscle, eat more, yeah!
The journey continues.
I am so glad you are here, you are worthy, valued and loved
I have been quite lately with my writing and that was because I was on school holidays which I really enjoyed.
I just needed some time to decompress.
Last year was a full year so productive, I loved it.
I released my first single Rise, and that was a beautiful experience. I was on the radio, and hearing my song on the radio was my dream.
The whole experience of writing, recording and the end product was my dream.
I also finally completed my Diploma of Counselling, Yeah!
I decided to commit to finishing it by the end of last year and I did.
I am also working towards my first body building competition this year. This has been one of those trust the process journey.
I have been working with my coach and I have a posing coach as well.
As well as all of the above I work full time in my role as a Primary School Chaplain which I love.
This year I am really excited for I will be releasing another single soon and hopefully will be going back to Melbourne for more recording.
I have also been going to open mics.
This year my other goals are to speak more, sing more and share my journey more.
What are your goals for this year?
What is something that we can encourage each other with?
Keep dreaming, shining and showing up.
You have got this.
I will share more soon.
I am so excited to share that my song Rise has now been released, we released it on 1st of September in time for Body Awareness and Eating Disorder week.
Rise is available on Spotify and YouTube.
This has been a dream for me, and it is so surreal.
I have had so many amazing people help me on this journey.
I have to say that I am so grateful for Merelyn Carter from Carter & Carter.
We have been on this journey for many years.
Rise is a song about overcoming, it is my story, my testimony.
It is about finding hope in those difficult moments,
I want to make a difference.
I will share more soon.
Tracey Buckley
Lately I have been focused on a lot of my goals and achieving them.
I started to think why has it taken me this long to achieve them?
Which I think is a valid question to ask.
I am wondering why it has taken me so long to gather up the courage to do the things that I have dreamed of?
Oh, I have so many questions.
I know that God’s timing is different to ours and we are right where we need to be.
God is not late he is always on time.
As I navigate my goals this year, I am reminded of how His timing is different.
I am reminded that he gives us favour, divine appointments, divine connections, and divine protection.
I have been on a journey, gathering up life skills, learning and embracing different experiences.
I have been collecting the necessary skills that I need to make my dreams come to life.
There has been many pinch me moments (as I like to call them) in the last few months.
My God moments-
One that I am so grateful for is being able to record two songs that I co wrote and be in a proper recording studio. That Bill Risby who I have never met created the most beautiful piano arrangement for my song Rise. That Brett Word created the most amazing guitar arrangement for Rise, that Merelyn Carter who has been my music mentor for a long time guided me through the journey. Also having Adrian from The Song Store (where I recorded my song) teach me so much about being in the recording studio and the recording process. Oh, and for him playing Cello in the instrumental of Rise.
I am also grateful for my gym journey where I have a great coach who has journeyed with me, from the person that was so unsure of herself in the gym to the person who is now working towards her first bodybuilding competition next year. Being in the gym has helped my mindset it has let me know that I am capable, that I can do hard things. That I love a challenge and I am not giving up.
There is also another mentor Elaine who helps me with me writing and I have just about finished my journal book that I have been working on for such a long time. This has been a journey and she is just so encouraging and has supported me in embracing being an author.
There have been many mentors and people that have been in my life that I have learnt from and grown. Mentors who have been with me in the valleys and then celebrated on the mountain tops.
Yes, there have been many valleys but oh the mountain tops make it all worthwhile.
Some of them will never know how much they have impacted my life but they are all in my story, they are all part of my journey that I am embracing.
They are all the reasons that I am still here, still here creating and embracing new opportunities.
It has taken me a while to walk out my dreams because He was doing a work in me and still is, he is the potter and I am the clay.
I hear Him whisper it is not too late Tracey.
I hear Him whisper to you it’s not too late.
Be encouraged I am cheering you on.
I am learning to be me.
Three weeks ago, I was in Melbourne recording 2 songs that I have co-written.
The songs I recorded are Rise and Princess Heart, these are songs about my journey.
I had the most amazing experience, I kept on saying this is my dream.
I recorded at The Song Store in Melbourne and it was the most surreal experience.
For the song Rise I wanted it to be acoustic, so my music mentor Merelyn organised for Bill who lives in Queensland to play the piano. Oh, my goodness what he did with the song was amazing.
I think amazing is my word for this experience.
Then she organised Brett Wood to play the guitar on both my songs and yes you guessed it he was amazing.
The song Princess Heart is also acoustic and I wrote that song in 2009 at my very first mentor session with Merelyn at her house.
I did not want to finish the song it was hard, because it was my story, we finished it. Merelyn and her husband David helped me to revise it.
I wrote the song Rise with Paula from Jetty Road, on a songwriting retreat that I attended last October.
I am so blessed by how both songs have turned out and how they sound.
It was even better then what I ever thought it would be.
Now I am in the process of getting all my socials ready for release.
I am not sure when, but stay tuned.
I have a photo shoot this weekend, which is also a first and I have to get a few other things organised.
It is journey but it is an amazing, incredible and I just cannot believe this journey.
As I have said to friends, it is was a pinch me moment.
I can’t wait to share the songs with you.
Will share more soon.
The countdown is on there are 3 weeks until I go to Melbourne and record my songs Rise and Princess Heart.
Yeah!
I am feeling so excited and nervous, this is a pinch me moment, a dream that I have always wanted to do.
I have been to a recording studio before, but this time it is next level. This time it is different.
Do I know what I am doing?
No, but that is okay, I will have my music mentor with me to help.
It’s an adventure.
A few weeks ago, I received the piano track for my song and oh my goodness it is so beautiful and yes it made me cry.
I have four different versions and I need to decide which one to record. It is really difficult.
I have wanted both songs to be acoustic, so we are having for Rise piano and guitar.
For Princess Heart we are having just the guitar.
I am wanting to learn and understand the process of recording.
We have three full days in the recording studio.
Check list for now is-
There is still more to be done.
I am choosing to embrace the process.
The next few weeks I will be working on singing the songs and working out how to structure the words and feelings.
I’m gonna rise……………………..
Will share more soon.
My word for this year is-
Rise
This year I want to Rise, Rise to be creative.
I want to Rise and have amazing adventures.
Last year I went on a songwriting retreat it and wrote a song called Rise.
This year I am really excited as I will be recording my song Rise in April.
I have been in a recording studio before, it was to do vocals over a song that I had written. It was a demo. With my song Rise I will be recording in Melbourne and I am totally out of my comfort zone.
This time it will be different in the recording studio, because I want to release 2 songs and they will be professionally produced.
Sometimes I feel that I need to pinch myself, this is my dream.
I want my songs to make a difference.
I have always wanted to make a difference.
I will take you on the journey as the countdown to Melbourne begins.
In just over 6 weeks I will be there. AARRGG!
Yesterday I had a session with my music mentor who lives in Melbourne and we worked out how we want the songs to sound.
There is so much to think about and do before you actually go into the recording studio.
I have worked on a different arrangement for my song Princess Heart, which I love.
Now I just need to practise my songs and I will probably have some singing lessons before I go over as well.
Next Monday I will be performing at an open mic and singing some covers.
I will share more soon.
I am still on my gym journey and loving the process. I am learning so much.
Years ago, my thoughts about exercise were do as much cardio as you can and eat very little.
I thought that you had to do cardio for at least one hour a day, seven days a week.
Now I know that I want to build, I want to be strong and to do this I have to eat.
I am so grateful for my coach who is there to guide me and to challenge me (in a good way).
I have been on this journey from 11th of May 2023 and I do not plan to stop.
We are working towards a competition next year, I don’t know when yet. I am just focusing on one day at a time.
I am still going to the gym 5 mornings a week from 5.45 am.
My alarm goes of at 4.15 am and I just get up, I don’t have those thoughts of do I want to go to the gym.
No, I get up and it is a huge part of my daily routine.
I am learning a lot about trusting the process and trusting my coach.
This is something that I have not done before and it is all new.
I love learning, I really do.
I am enjoying the whole experience, well probably not some of the injuries if I am being honest.
We have been working through them and I haven’t stopped my commitment to this journey. I also have a great physio, thank goodness.
The weekends are my rest days and I am okay with that.
I will share more soon.
theheartproject.net 