Announcing the “Ignite What Matters” book series led by Beth Medved Waller

On the evening of February 18, 2015, at Wolf Trap (as Beth Medved Waller sat with long-time best friends on the front row at an Edwin McCain concert), her friend Stacey slipped Edwin (who is best known for his hit 90’s songs “I’ll Be” and “I Could Not Ask for More”) a note and asked him to play Beth’s favorite song, called “What Matters.” He did. Beth cried hysterically. And the idea for WHAT MATTERS was born.

After the concert, the local Realtor and avid volunteer began to name her philanthropic endeavors and videos “WHAT MATTERS Initiatives.” The Edwin “What Matters” song lyrics profess, “What matters is your heart,” and after that night, she started following hers. Little did she know this time 5 years ago that her heart would lead her all the way to Africa and that she’d eventually form a 501(c)(3) nonprofit named after the song she heard played live in February 2015.

She certainly had no idea that exactly five years later she’d be announcing a new book series called “Ignite What Matters,” as the first of her many upcoming global fundraising platforms. “I’ve designed each book to infuse a minimum of $35,000 into nonprofits, and I feel so blessed to have created a project that combines my passion of story-telling, writing, fundraising and spreading awareness about worthwhile causes,” said Beth of the new book series. She added, “I’m honored to be partnering with publisher JB Owen and the fabulous Ignite team. I’ve already worked with when I wrote about these last five years in an Ignite series book that launched in November and I’m a huge fan of their phenomenal publishing platform.”

Below is a portion from Beth’s chapter in the compilation book, “Ignite your life for Conscious Leaders.” Stay tuned for news of the brand new “Ignite What Matters” upcoming book projects that will each highlight 35 people who will share stories about how they too have ignited what matters in their own lives. Learn more at www.igniteyou.life (click on the Ignite What Matters upcoming books).

Listen to the song that inspired it all: What Matters, by Ewin McCain.

“Running Away from The American Dream—with a Soundtrack”
(An excerpt from the Amazon best-seller, “Ignite your Life for Conscious Leaders”)

In early 2015, I booked an evening out with my best friends from high school and college. All three of us are busy mothers and we hadn’t made time to get together for ages. When they said they could come with me to an Edwin McCain concert scheduled for the next month, I quickly logged online and booked our tickets.

Much to my dismay, about a week later, I received a phone call saying that the ticketing company couldn’t secure tickets and to call them for a refund. I was so disheartened that I couldn’t bring myself to return their call nor to tell my friends our evening was canceled. Weeks went by, and an unforgettable moment occurred when I was about to walk in to pick up my kids from my parents’ house. After a stressful day, I found myself in need of spiritual affirmation, and I pleaded for a sign that the major changes I was contemplating in my life would lead me in the right direction. Within seconds, my phone rang. “We’re calling to tell you that we’re over-nighting tickets for the Edwin McCain concert. You’ve been upgraded to front row center.”

I don’t know how or why that upgrade happened, but getting that phone call was an unforgettable moment. To this day, recalling that miraculous sign still brings tears to my eyes. But those tears are nothing compared to the sobbing I did when, on the night of the concert as I sat in the front row, on 2/18/2015 (EXACTLY 5 YEARS AGO TONIGHT), my friend slipped Edwin a note (which I now have on my wall) asking him to play “What Matters.” She knew that with everything going on in my life, I needed to hear my favorite song.

It’s impossible to describe what happened in my heart as I heard the lyrics being sung specifically for ME. I sobbed like I have never sobbed before or since. I was awestruck. The artists who wrote and performed the song that had been such an inspiration to me were playing it live, just feet away from me — FOR me. It was that experience that validated the profound truth that the “ask and you shall receive” and “anything is possible” verses can truly be realized. As the song finished and I wiped my eyes, I made a vow to stop “choking on a lifetime of never taking a chance,” as the song lyrics encouraged.

For more than a decade prior to that night at Wolf Trap when I heard the song live for the first time, I felt an uncanny comfort playing “What Matters” to remind me that, one day, I’d not awaken wishing I tried, as the lyrics encouraged. In hindsight as I look back on those years, I was trying too hard to reach some level of accomplishment that always had me longing for more. I had amassed, by anyone’s definition, the American Dream — complete with the boy, girl, dog, church-going family, positions of leadership in my community and blessings too numerous to count. I was debt- and mortgage-free (with large retirement accounts and college funds for the children), had a pontoon boat that we enjoyed taking out a handful of times each year, and I had a bright financial future with a thriving real estate team.

But I was wasting away inside. What looked like perfect to everyone else wasn’t right for me. Month after month, I’d sit on my therapist’s couch and weep while uttering the same frustrating question, “Why am I so miserable when my life is so perfect?” As time passed, my self-loathing increased as I punished myself for not feeling happiness or fulfillment, even when I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I had more blessings than most. I felt like a fraud, living a life that didn’t belong to me. But even on my most stressful day with responsibilities spinning out of control, playing “What Matters” brought an absolute assurance that, one day, things would be different.

Since that monumental winter of 2015, I’ve been on a journey to discover my passion and purpose in life. It’s a transformation fueled by taking chances, discovering new ways to make a difference and unlocking one dream after another. What’s the secret to my newfound lease on life the past five years? It’s this: through the sweet sounds of music, I found my way back to myself.

I discovered that in trading my abundant American dream for my heart’s dream of nonprofit passion projects, I was blessed with even greater prosperity in all areas of my life. I’ve closed a thriving real estate brokerage to have more time for my mission. I created a 501(C)(3) nonprofit named WHAT MATTERS (after Edwin’s song, of course) and have formed initiatives from scholarships and interest-free loans… to a community meeting space and nonprofit center… to video interviews to promote causes and events. I’m now a thriving co-parent instead of an incompatible spouse and my travel has metamorphosed into frequent flights across the globe, including ten mission trips in less than two years. My passion for providing support to children in Africa (including the construction of a Ugandan primary school named after my hometown) is another long story with a soundtrack of its own.

Now, I live with my heart as my guide; and there’s even a song to prove it. I wrote the lyrics for a song of my own while at a recording studio in the ghettos of Kampala, Uganda. The song “What Matters is Your Heart” is my nonprofit’s theme song and is also the basis of the first of my global nonprofit fundraising endeavors centered around music.

I’m an everyday girl from a small town in Virginia who, through music, heard the song of my heart. What is YOUR heart trying to tell you? Make a decision TODAY to start listening and watch your life transform as you see proof that anything is possible and that it’s always working out, even when it isn’t. As my own lyrics declare, “What matters is your heart…let it lead the way.”

Visit www.whatmattersw2.com for more about the book and other WHAT MATTERS Initiatives.

• Audio version of the story (read by Julie Wise Covert and recorded at National Media)
• Her Chapter in print
• The Full Book (published by Jb Owen)