Life is about making choices. Even those who fail to make a choice are, in fact choosing something. Who are you going to be in your life? How are you going to live your life?
A number of years ago, I chose something off my bucket list that forced me out of the cocoon I had been living in. At the time, I was a documentary filmmaker working mostly from home. My extracurricular fun things included the gym, where I’d plug in my headphones and build up a sweat…and pottery class, where I’d plug in my headphones and be one with the clay on the wheel. One day I decided isolating just wasn’t helping me move through my grief so I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and signed up for a salsa dancing class.
Dance ended up becoming a passion of mine and also a vehicle for learning about life. Invariably, issues I am working through show up on the dance floor. I came to call them my Salsa Life Lessons. Through salsa, I learned to stand on my own two feet, literally and figuratively. I learned about 50/50 partnership and only doing my share, not trying to do the work for everybody. Aside from all the great physical benefits of becoming a salsa-holic, I developed a whole new level of self confidence and I brought fun back into my life.
The salsa community is filled with dedicated dancers willing to fill small spaces with incredible spins, dips and complicated partnering patterns. We sacrifice time, money and sweat to continue to grow our dancing to the next level. We patiently slip to areas off the dance floor to work out a new combination or we redo a move right there in the middle of a song to get it right. The good dancers spend time helping the newbies. The energy of this community has given me my life back.
What kind of community feeds you in your life? Where do you go to connect with others? What activity do you do regularly that gets you out of your head and connects you to your soul? Maybe dancing isn’t it for you, but whatever it is…find something that moves you, inspires you, challenges you and then choose to make time for it in your life.
