A few  weeks ago, a dear friend of mine double-dog dared me to enter into the Miss Tennessee for America beauty pageant.

Among other reasons, he knew that because it was SO far outside my comfort zone, there was a massive breakthrough waiting for me on the other side of it. But as he said to me that day, I had to get “on the court” in order to find it.

My immediate reaction was "No way! Are you kidding me? Me? Enter into a beauty pageant?"

The voices in my head immediate said:

"You're too old!"

"You're not a size 2!"

“You're too much [fill-in-the-blank] or not enough [fill-in-the-blank]!"

"You know nothing about pageants!"

And then a higher voice said:

"That's exactly why you need to do it Leanne! This is your chance to re-define (and help others re-define) what beauty IS and what it is NOT -- that beauty doesn't have to mean a certain shape, a certain age, a certain size… that beauty is not a SEEING, it's a BEING."

So what did I do? At the ripe ol' age of 37, with no experience, no knowledge, and not a clue about anything beauty-pageant-related, I signed up to compete less than 2 weeks out.

⭐️ It was the EPITOME of me facing my own deepest fears, insecurities, and comparison-itus tendencies.

⭐️ It was my own self-image and body-image experiment to break through my own self-limiting beliefs.

⭐️ It was an experience I'm honestly still processing, and really just figuring out how to share right now. 

In this episode of the podcast, I share the details of how everything went down, but in the meantime, I’ll just summarize my experiences by saying this:

YOU get to say who you ARE and who you are NOT.

If you want to do ANYTHING, the only thing stopping you are those voices in your head saying you CAN'T or saying you WON'T.

Four weeks ago, I thought you had to be a 'skinny mini' or in your 20's be in a beauty pageant, but after my experience , I think it's safe to say that's just not the case.

And just in case you're wondering, spoiler alert: this 'non-beauty-pageant gal' was chosen as:

⭐️Placed 3rd Runner Up for the State of Tennessee

⭐️Was voted on to be an Ambassador for The Miss for America Organization

⭐️Am The Official "Miss East Nashville"

Never say never. Because you might just surprise yourself. I sure did! ❤️

Listen to the full episode of the podcast where I go through the in’s and outs of my experience entering a beauty pageant!