Don’t.
You’re better than this.
That’s what I said to myself. Slap.
You’re better than this! Slap.
I was standing in front of the mirror, literally, yelling at myself and, yep, you guessed it… slapping myself in the face. Everything in my gut was disagreeing with what my comfort zone was saying (to put it mildly).
That was the day of my first interview at Arthur Murray.
Essentially, I quit before I ever got started, but pushed past those feelings. In my case, that resulted in finding the career, marrying my wife, you get the picture. All great things despite a not-so-great beginning.
So let's look at some things you can do if you ever feel like it's time to hang up your dance shoes.
When things start to feel awkward, it's easy to stop what you're doing, over-analyze, and widdle away all of the momentum that you had. Whether this is on a private lesson, group class, or practice party, it is important that you take the dance version of the sage advice from Dory in Finding Nemo, "Just keep swimming".
Solution: Just keep dancing! You can dance through most of the problems that make you want to stop. Think of some of the great piano players in this day and age - does Elton John restart a song because he hit the wrong key? Or does he play right through it?
Not to mention, slowing down, taking a break, or quitting any process will never make that activity any less awkward.
You know that whole idea of, “whatever didn’t kill you, got you to where you are right now?” Well, that includes the story that brought you into Arthur Murray. Think of the story that got you to this point. In her podcast interview, Chef Lizette Lopez shared how important your story is to your success, and to always be kind to yourself in the learning process.
Solution: If you take the time to appreciate what you overcame to pursue your dance lessons, the frustrations “as a dancer” can be put into an even better context.
Think about it, 6 months ago you may have never had any dance problems because you didn't know how to dance yet. So, with that in mind, a few dance problems should be welcome and expected.
You don’t have to yell at yourself for a pep talk. You actually have complimentary pep talks built into your dance lesson tuition. If quitting your program is the flu, then your teacher needs to hear from you when you have the sniffles.
Solution: Teachers and executives will always put your situation in the best context. Remember, when communication goes down, speculation goes up. Maybe your burden can be lifted much easier than you might think.
Dancing has become your new identity. It has shaped you, dusted off the cobwebs of the kid-version of your comfort zone that had zero fear, and connected you to a community of people you never realized you had so much in common with.
What it all boils down to is that dancing, itself, is like an infatuation. In the heat of the moment you made a spontaneous decision. But the relationship changed. Dancers realize that dancing started the relationship, but the true love comes from the results and benefits of dancing.
A goal is just future regret until you take action. We hope this article inspired you to do just that. Become a subscriber today and let Arthur Murray Live be your digital dance coach.