The Evolution of the name "Soirche Leigh"
Having been given the perfectly good name Cheryl Leigh Kane at birth, I've experimented with changing my name several times in my life. Even though it's a strong name and could even be considered a solid stage name, it's never really sat right with me.
There's even one of those awkward "family stories turned into a joke" around my given name. As the story goes, my mom & dad had decided on the name Erica for my first name. While my mom was recovering from a C-Section birth, my dad gave the birth certificate to his mom to fill out. When the document was later handed to my mom (while still in the hospital) she saw the name Cheryl on it.
I remember the first time I heard the story; I thought "I would have preferred Erica". They laughed about it whenever the story was told, even joking that perhaps it's a good thing so that I wouldn't be confused with Erica Kane on "All My Children". But I could always tell that it more than irked my mom. It certainly seems to have been an apt harbinger of things to come where my paternal grandmother was concerned.
In retrospect, I think I'd prefer Cheryl over Erica. In fact, I've come to appreciate my name in the past few years in a way I never could. It's true! But I digress...
The first time I experimented with changing my first name was when I got to college in Munich, Germany. I decided to go with my middle name Leigh. Unfortunately, I kept forgetting to use it when meeting all the new people at school. It might have been the fact I was 17 years old and it was Oktoberfest in Munich!
I eventually gave up the quest.
Nearly 2 decades later, during my mid-life crisis, I adopted the name Maxx (inspired by the main character in the TV series "Dark Angel" and the comic book "The Maxx"). This time the change stuck; for nearly 8 years.
It was after a particularly painful divorce from a narcissist and a subsequent clairaudient experience while behind the wheel of my 18-wheeler that I eventually returned to my given name Cheryl.
This was in 2018. I had just sold my truck and walked away from a 6-figure trucking business to follow the calling of my heart. I launched an online coaching business and was SUPER excited that I'd purchased the domain "cherylkane.com" all the way back in 1997 and had managed to hang on to it all these years, even though it was just "parked".
Fast forward to "The Great Cracking Open" of 2023. In that moment I realized, in short, I had no idea who I was or what I actually wanted for myself and in life. So I sold everything I could--including my motorcyle AND my car-- and left the US on a modern-day walkabout in South America. Essentially I was working my way down along the west coast of the continent, squatting in a given country for 90 days then moving on to the next while I sorted out my shit.
There's a whole bundle of stories to be told about that journey. The short of it is that I remembered who I was! Even though my True Nature--my Self--was still buried under repressed emotions, protector parts, and unprocessed developmental trauma, I heard the call once again. I decided to retire (I was just turning 62), emmigrate to South America (where I could afford to retire), and return to my music.
Turns out I had a whole bunch healing that needed to happen 1st! Still, that call has been a guiding light for me in the darkest of times.
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