Meet Jacqueline Real

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jacqueline Real. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jacqueline below.

Jacqueline , so great to be with you and I think a lot of folks are going to benefit from hearing your story and lessons and wisdom. Imposter Syndrome is something that we know how words to describe, but it’s something that has held people back forever and so we’re really interested to hear about your story and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

Imposter syndrome has been a huge hurdle that I had to tackle as an artist. Mariachi music is what saved me and Classic Rock is my baseline but fighting through all the mental hurdles to write my own music was a journey I didn’t realize I needed more than anything. I was in a place in my life where I was finally becoming mentally healthy and realized that the script I was playing in my head was not my own. Once I was able to overcome all the negative self talk and hear what was truly in my head opened the gates to so much music. I was working with a coach, a therapist, and I was on a mental health journey for over a decade. I was ready and willing to do the work. That is the hardest part, doing the work to fight through and find my passion. Finding what my gift was as an artist and recording artist has allowed me to give back in all the ways I have been helped. My music allows me to touch others the way all those that helped me have. This gift through service has been the best thing that I have uncovered and it only made me realize even more how important it is to fight imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is fear at its finest and the stronger we become, the weaker it becomes. What can you do if you fought past it? That is where the real joy lives.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

AS I stated earlier, my music is my gift. I had struggled for a big part of my life with depression, anxiety, and an eating disorder and my mental health journey has been a big priority in my life. I have always been an artist but I was inhibited by these labels that helped me believe that I didn’t deserve joy and love. Each layer that I peeled back and learned from allowed me to become more and more in touch with who I was, not just as an artist, but as a human. The healthier I became the more the music came. What has been so beautiful to realize is that I regret no part of my life because now I get to turn those moments that were sometimes the hardest into beautiful pieces of art. If I hadn’t experienced severe depression I would have never written our current song FALLING that is on the radio and climbing up the charts. That is the beauty about art and life, there are no situations that cannot be learned from. Every time I step into the studio I know I am in a safe space where I can release and create and I know that I am giving. Because of all I have been through I have been able to connect to so many others and that has led me to record in Nashville with some of the greatest musicians around. Because of my music I can truly say that I now understand that there are no mistakes, there are no regrets and even if you are at your lowest right now, there is more coming and this is only the beginning.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The ability to learn! My mental health journey showed me there is always something to learn. Being in the start of learning and understanding has opened me up to heal. I am always learning and I love that. Even if you are a savant, there is still something you can learn. This allows us to all be equals and humble and it has introduced me to so many new techniques that has saved me.

Are you joyful? Are you truly grateful? Gratitude is being toted around a lot these days but it truly has been the best quality to adopt. When you are severely depressed it is hard to find the joy and gratitude and finding true gratitude for myself and my life has allowed me to see the beauty in the world that I was missing. By seeing this beauty I have been opened up in ways I never could have imagined.

Be open minded! You have no idea where the next opportunity is and saying “no” so much could prevent you from experiencing something that could motivate you in a totally different way! I have learned that you have no idea what is going to inspire you, so go out and try something new!

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

I think a challenge for artists these days is finding the mental health balance between social media and being an independent artist. These days since you are able to create on your own without a label there is this sense that you have to do it all. This career can be expensive and at times finding the time to take a break within the grind can be hard. Remembering who you are as an artist and human within it all is the hardest balance to keep. You have to keep up with socials, with recording, with marketing yourself, and so on, so this balance has been a current challenge that I trying to understand.

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Image Credits

Jordan Zdon and Jeremy Varner

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