As part of my treatment plan, my doctor advised me to begin practices to lower my stress level. He said that whatever I chose to do, it should be something that I enjoy. I knew that exercise was probably the best medicine for de-stressing and making sure that the rest of me stayed well enough to fight off this cancer. Besides spinning, I haven't found much in the exercise world that has held my interest for long. My doctor kept telling me, "You have to love it, or you will never stick with it." I started searching my brain for something that I love, and I could only come up with one answer: DANCING.
If I look back on my life, dancing is probably the one thing that I have felt the most passionate about (family, friends, and work aside). If you had told me at 21 years old that there would ever be a time when I wouldn't be dancing, I probably would have looked at you like you had two heads. Dance was a large part of my life from a very young age. After high school, I went on to dance on the dance team at two different colleges. It was such a large part of me...but life happens. You get married, have children, and sometimes there just isn't enough time for those things that you are passionate about.
I continued to dance in my head and my heart even after my feet were no longer carrying out the steps. I love music just as much as I love dancing, and really, the two go hand in hand. The Husby is convinced that I am the human version of iTunes. If it is a song, I probably know it. There really aren't any types of music that I don't like, so my music collection is as random as it gets. If you can dance to it, I probably love it.
The Fred and I were sifting through VHS tapes (I know, who has those anymore?), and she found several dance competition tapes. I decided that it was probably time to burn all of them to DVD. As we were watching each of them, one of them really stood out to me because I remember that it was at a time when I realized just how great of an outlet for expressing myself dance really was. It was a song that I felt an emotional connection to (even though I had only just turned 15 years old at the time), and I found that I was able to express those emotions through dance. Now, I know that this was well before I had reached my peak as a technical dancer, but it was a point in my life when I realized that dance would always be a part of me.
For me, music and dance are both great therapy. I have a physiological reaction to both. So, after deciding that the solution to my doctor's assignment was to start dancing again, I began looking for somewhere that I could do just that. While searching for classes, I came across a website for Dance Trance Birmingham, and I was convinced from the beginning that this was the place for me. How right I was.
Now, I have to admit, it has been a long time since I have danced (8 years to be exact), and it shows. I am slowly getting the hang of it, and I have to keep telling myself that as long as I am having fun, that is all that matters. Sometimes I forget that my body is not functioning at 100%, but as long as I am showing up and putting in the effort, I know that I am reaping both the physical and psychological benefits.
I was sitting at work last week and a co-worker asked me about where I was dancing. I told her all about Dance Trance and explained that basically it was like a hip-hop dance class. She laughed so hard trying to picture me doing hip-hop that she almost fell out of her chair. For anyone that has met me after I stopped dancing, I can see why that is so funny.
Next Friday, I will be participating in Relay for Life as a survivor and as a member of Team Dance Trance Birmingham. I am very proud to be participating with such a wonderful group of women that have the same passion for dance in their hearts. We will all be wearing Dance Trance gear, and I felt like I really needed to come up with something that would reflect how much I love this place and the therapeutic role that it has in my life. I decided that I would design a shirt to wear for the event that expresses just that...
I think that pretty much sums up my plan for lowering my stress levels. Overall, I am thankful for the opportunity to do something that I love and have it make a positive impact on my life and my health. And by the way, as of my doctor's appointment on Wednesday, I have lost 20 pounds! That only sweetens the deal.
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