If you will
recall, the theme for this A to Z challenge is Phases, Passions, and/or Life
Lessons. When I begin a hobby I never
really know whether it will be a phase, passion, or turn into a life lesson. I have always loved to dance. In fact, I wrote this post about the love affair I had
with dance as a little girl. It was one
of the first blogs I ever posted. I am
not sure I had any followers at that time... hahaha.
If you read
that post, then you know that story ended in heartbreak for that little
girl. However, dancing and I were not
finished with one another.
When I moved
down south, I became fascinated with country line dancing. I didn't participate. However, I was in thrall whenever my
then-boyfriend and I would go to a bar that had line dancers. That inner voice would pipe up and say,
"I really wish I could do that."
My boyfriend had no interest in learning. Sigh.
I kept my seat and watched.
After we
split, I moved back in with my parents.
That meant moving back to my hometown.
Honestly, that felt like failure on so many levels, and I had NO DESIRE
to reconnect with anyone I knew from high school who still lived in town. I didn't want to explain how my life had
taken so many wrong turns. I had given
up my job in New York City (more on that with letter "G") for a guy
and then things went wrong with the guy.
And now I was back at home with no idea of what I wanted to do for a
career. My life sucked. And I was living with my parents. My career options were terrible, mostly
because I didn't know what I wanted.
When you don't know what you want, you can rest assured that
you will not find it.
Sidenote: to anyone in the future who wants to take time off to go "look for yourself," let me save you the trip. You are right here. Just get a job. It will help you to immediately figure out what you want, and don't want, to do for the rest of your life. I know that it helped me. I kept changing jobs and hating them. Nope. Not the one. Not that one, either. In the meantime...
I did
the ONE THING I knew I wanted to do. I
started taking country line dance lessons at the local bar. Turns out that I was really good at it. Mostly because I have a really good
memory. Or I did. I could retain the steps to a lot of
different dances. It wasn't long before
I was taking lessons almost every weeknight, and then spending every weekend
there. All I ever drank was water,
because a good dancer doesn't drink and dance.
I also immediately lost 10 pounds and was down to a healthy 107
pounds. That is different than the
unhealthy 102-105 pounds that I stick consistently with a migraine.
I am posting
a photo:
As you can see, I wasn't a fan of dressing
up. A bright T-shirt, jeans, and my
cowboy boots were my usual fare. And for
those of you who have met me, or seen my video, or other pictures... yes, that
is me with red hair. I think I have it french braided in that pictured. Or it might have been in a ponytail. You get hot dancing. In either case, I call that the Red
Hair Phase. My hair has been through all
of the phases. Now, it doesn't go
through any. I am allergic to the hair
color, so what you see is what you get!
Eventually I
got into partner dancing at the bar and that was also a bunch of fun. I had a couple of fellows that I danced with
regularly. The dancing crowd pretty well
knew everyone else and hung out together.
It was a whole lot of fun.
When mom and
I moved to Georgia, I tried to make a go of it at the local bar there, but it
was not the same. The bar was not in a
very nice neighborhood. The people were
not as friendly. I ended up spraining my
ankle (which is a whole other blog) and that pretty well ended what was already
an unsuccessful transition to a new place for dancing.
Rating on
the Dancing: I've Been Through Two Phases.
I'm not saying that there couldn't be a Third in My Future. You Just Don't Know...
Image found at www.weheartit.com
Have you ever tried Country Line Dancing or Partner Dancing? Did you dance as a child (ballet, tap, jazz)? Have you ever tried any other type of dancing like ballroom dancing? Have you always wanted to dance, but never had the time or courage? Do you let others hold you back from things you wish you could do?
