Finding Hope in a Shania Twain Documentary

The other night I was settling in after an especially rough day by having a drink, and watching some music videos on MTV Classic. As I looked to see what else might be on I noticed a documentary on Shania Twain was about to start on AXS TV. I figured – sure, why not?

I write about music because I love it, which is also why I read a lot of musician autobiographies, and music history books, so two hours on the biggest country crossover artist of all-time was something that piqued my interest. At the very least I wanted to know about the process she had while working with Mutt Lange.

What I did not expect was a story that hit me directly in my soul.

Before any talk of recording, or fame, Shania discussed when she lost her mother and her stepfather in a car crash.

At just 22 years old she suddenly had to raise her siblings, while also launching her career, and being the breadwinner for her family, all while attempting to grieve the loss of her parents.

I drew immediate parallels to my own ongoing personal tragedy, and resulting situation.

My parents were in a car crash earlier this year. My mother passed away, and my father suffered life threatening injuries, ultimately slipping into a coma (thankfully, he is now awake).

Much like Shania, I, too, immediately had to snap into action with a new role in life, that of caregiver – her for her siblings, me for my father on his very long road to recovery – while somehow continuing a career, and attempting to find time to grieve.

After quite a few minutes of digesting all the similarities, and, selfishly, being a bit upset that the documentary didn’t dive into her grieving process while she was balancing everything else in her life, I began to notice something. I noticed all the things she ended up celebrating, and all the times he had a genuine smile on her face.

She’s experienced a lot of wins of all shapes and sizes, and a lot of happiness.

This gave me hope.

It showed me there will be a time when I will reach that place in life.

As some of you know, I believe in signs from the universe, and with that in mind I refuse to believe that I found this documentary, mere minutes before it was going to start, by accident. I was meant to see it, and I was meant to hear Shania’s story. 

It was the universe’s way of telling me – it will get better. Even if I’m not there yet, and don’t know when I’ll be there, it will get better.

You never know where you’ll find what you need, and on that particular night I found hope in a Shania Twain documentary … and that actually does impress me much!