Journal Day - "the one thing you know for sure"

Danielle at Sometimes Sweet has given us another brief for Journal Day. See her entry here.

“The older we get, the more certain we get about who we are and what our purpose is.  For me, a lot of it is still unknown, but as I make my way down my own path, I have begun to realize that there are indeed some inevitable truths that I know for sure. On your own blog, write a post that talks about "the one thing you know for sure."”

I wasn’t really sure where to start with this till it hit  me last night after my 2nd crappy day at work in a row. I was almost ready to head home, curl up on the sofa & watch mind-numbing tv *ahem* jersey shore *ahem* & not bother with heading to Jive but there was a little bit of me that knew if I went I’d forget everything & leave with a smile on my face. Do you know what? It worked! So my answer to the one thing I know for sure is:

“No Matter How Bad Your Day Was, a Good Old Dance Will Perk You Up.”

As I was typing my theme I remembered a song from one of my favorite musicals – Mack & Mabel (if you don’t know it go & see it, it’s ace). The song I’m thinking of is ”Tap Your Troubles Away” & the specific line is “When a sky full of crap always lands in your lap, just tap tap tap your troubles away” It’s so true. I can go from being really down in the dumps & fed up, to not a care in the world & everything being a.ok. There are a few things that help:

~ the people – everyone’s your friend whether you know them or not, (ok there are a few dance snobs but not many), they’re all really friendly, up for a dance & a good time so their positive vibes end up rubbing off onto you. I have my close friends at Jive & also people that I say hi to, have great chats & dances with, but only ever see when I go to class. It’s so nice to have this mix cos you can talk to someone if you’re really down or just get on with the dancing side & just say your day was fine if you don’t want to go into detail.

~ smiling – I always make sure I smile & enjoy each & every dance I have, whether it’s with a beginner or someone far more advanced. Everyone’s there to have fun & I find if I smile at my partner it’s much more fun. There’s nothing worse than dancing with someone who has a mardy face as if they’d rather be somewhere else or dancing with someone else. I’ve had comments from various guys who like dancing with me cos I always look like I’m enjoying myself which is nice to know.

~ concentration – seeing as I’ve been learning to dance as a man as well as doing the woman’s beginner part the amount of concentration involved makes you forget everything else & focus on the moves & routines. The same applies for some of the more challenging advanced classes (especially the ones this week). I’ve really enjoyed the new routines & I’m trying to work on my frame & styling as well & it’s resulted in lots of compliments along the way.

~ the atmosphere – two of our venues are in bars, the other one is a leisure centre. I prefer the bar venues because you get time to socialize with a  drink as well as dancing & it’s more of an upbeat night out. It’s a combination of the disco lights, the pumping music & the buzz of the other people around you.

It’s not only Modern Jive & Tap that has this effect – Emhen works all the hours god sends but still makes time to go to Salsa, no matter how late or tired she is because it’s a great way to get a buzz. Ever since we lived in India & she discovered Salsa classes she’s been the same. Dancing is like a drug & the high it gives you is brilliant, you even get withdrawal symptoms if you don’t experience it enough. You also get the added bonus of weight loss! It’s a win win situation!

There are times when dancing doesn’t work & I’ve turned up to a venue, tried to have a couple of dances, realized I’m getting nowhere & I’m frustrating myself & just left, but these nights are few & far between.

The downside to these nights out is when I get home at about 12:30 / 1am & I’m on such a high I can’t sleep. I end up watching tv trying to calm down & usually stagger to bed about 2am, then have to get up for work at 6am & start the day grumpy due to lack of sleep! Yoink!

So whether it’s at a class like Modern Jive, Tap Dancing or Salsa or something as simple as dancing in front of the mirror in your bedroom, doing a little drunken dance in the loo (you know who you are!) or a little shimmy on the tube to your iPod I’ve learnt that every little helps (this post wasn’t sponsored by Tesco by the way!). Try it!

x x x