**WARNING: THIS IS A RAMBLING POST! GRAB A CUP OF TEA AND BISCUITS!**

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To be honest, I’m a bit skeptical about sharing this post, but I am writing a personal lifestyle blog, right? So here goes… 🙂

There aren’t many things in life that I can truly say I regret, and that if the chance arose, I would go back in time to change it, because I am a firm believer that every single thing that’s happened in my life has been essential to who I am today. There’s just one thing that I would change in a heartbeat. I would have gone on X factor and Britain’s got talent when I was 13. I had been dreaming of the day I would finally be old enough to enter each competition, and when the time finally came- I filed out the application but never sent it- why? I was too scared. Scared of how the judges would react, scared of rejection. This is the biggest regret of my life.

I have been singing since I came out of the womb practically, and it is my biggest passion in the whole world. I thought I would share with you my love for singing and tell you a bit about me growing up.

I remember once that our teacher in nursery asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up, and I immediately said a singer. This was my answer every ear up until the age of about 14.

In primary school I was the lead in my choir, and I regularly performed solos in front of the rest of the school, and even at Christmas I was given the only solo of the nativity. We used to visit the library and sing for the elderly.

Stars in their eyes was a popular show when I was around 6-7, and I did actually nearly enter once- coining Kylie Minogue as my impression. The only problem was, we had to send off a video with the application and my family didn’t have a camcorder. Those were the days eh? No emails or Social Media back then!

When I joined high school things changed a lot for me. I came from a very small primary school and I was the only person to pass my 11+, all of my friends went to different schools while I started at a massive Grammar School. It was daunting to say the least. I joined the choir as soon as I could, and we performed at the local church at Christmas. And over the next few years I spent a lot of time at the weekend recording myself singing and playing it back over and over, trying to pick out flat notes. It’s safe to say that  I deleted most straight away because I’m a massive perfectionist when it comes to music!

And then we get to the point where I wanted to enter the X Factor, I had grown up watching these amazing performers and wishing that I was the one up there in front of the crowd. I was so excited that as soon as the application form was advertised after the previous series had ended, I raced to the computer and printed it off, filling it out there and then. But then, as always, life got in the way. School work was getting more difficult and my social life was becoming tenuous. A lot of things got in the way, and I never applied.

At the age of about 13, I started writing songs. You know what it’s like when you’re a teenager hitting puberty- emotions flew around everywhere, and for me I found comfort in writing my feelings down on paper. I suppose it acted as a therapy of sorts. And at the age of 15, I performed one of my original songs at a school concert, and I was pleasantly surprised with the positive response I got!

I have been wanting to enter again in the years since then, but because I was focussed on my education, and my work, the right time has just passed me by. And now I’m sat here like a sad Sam talking about the opportunities that I let fly by, and I feel a bit silly really. I watched the first episode of Britain’s got Talent on Saturday, and this 12 year old girl blew the audience away with her voice. And although I love watching children singing, a little part of my heart just broke, because I didn’t take my chance when I had it, when life’s responsibilities only consisted of my homework due in the next day. But now, I’m working a full time job, trying to save up money for a house, and a car, and generally trying to be an adult. It’s not fun.

Anyway, my point to this story isn’t to moan, it’s to say to all of you lovely people- don’t wait. Grab chances while you have them and leap into everything you love in life. I know that I’m young and I do still have time to follow my dreams, but I just wish I had started a lot earlier. So, if you want something more than anything in the world, just do it. You’ll regret it if you don’t!

I hope you enjoyed this post, It’s something very different from usual and something very personal to me. And you never know, I might even upload a singing video at some point!