The Question I Almost Didn't Ask And How It Changed My Life | Rita Wilson | TEDxNashvilleWomen

to my husband who wanted two things: that if I died before him, that he wanted me to be very sad for a long time (Laughter) and that he also wanted to have a party. He wanted to have a celebration. I wanted it to be about

life

and joy, telling stories, having sparklers and having a good time! Because he had found joy. I was happy. I was happy to be alive. I was happy to be writing songs. I was happy to have found my passion. Now my parents came to this country. They showed enormous, enormous courage. My dad knew what he wanted.

He wanted to be free. He wanted to live in the United States. My mom knew she wanted to come home. Now, I'm not at all comparing the risks my parents took with the risk of being able to say you want to write music. But sometimes it feels like that. When I sign CDs after a show, people come up to me and say, "I can't believe you're doing this now. This is so amazing. I always wanted to..." and then fill in the blank. Because we get the message somewhere in our

life

that you are joyfully saying, "I love to sing," and someone says, "You can't sing.

You're deaf." Or you're dancing and you're having a great time and everyone says, "You have two left feet." Or you tell your parents: "I want to be a poet." They say, "If you're going to be a poet, I'm not going to pay you to go to college." And those dreams get crushed, and you get backed into a corner, and you go out and do something else. And maybe you won't be so happy. And maybe that little dream still lives inside you. And that, for me, was what I found. I was lucky enough to find that and answer that

question

.

Music gives me joy. I chose this photo because it is exactly what I feel in my body when I sing. It's euphoria. It's never too late to discover what you want. At that songwriting camp I did, you saw that photo with all these amazing Nashville songwriters, it had the title of a song that was about that experience, about what I wanted if I went ahead of my husband and my family. And I was lucky enough to be able to write it with Kristian Bush and Liz Rose, two incredible songwriters. I'm going to sing you that song.

But as we prepare, I want you to think about what you want. Ask yourself that

question

. You may know it instantly. It may take you three months, three years, to find the answer. But I want you to know that it is never too late to ask yourself that question: "What do I want?" Thank you. (Applause)