Aerobics, jogging, dance? I am doing it all and loving it. Like I had planned at the beginning of the year, my fitness level has zoomed up. But hee-hee that’s not what I am writing on, I am about to share a serious life lesson I picked up on in one of the activities – in a dance class to be precise. I joined a fun dance class The Body language Company and it has been amazing learning things I can do with my body. Fun and painful, I must add because stretching your once idle muscles can make you feel things all over your body.
The dance studio where we do our “thang” has a mirror running across the entire wall in front of the class. This is good because you can see what you’re doing, how you are swaying. When I started the class, I did exactly that as we learned routines. I watched myself dance. Of course, I had to look at the instructor to learn the routines but immediately looked at the mirror to see myself do exactly what was taught. We always wrap up class with a group video and sometimes individuals can go ahead and have a solo video.
Then I noticed something in the last two classes. I kept forgetting the routine while we were making the group video. And of course, I started wondering why. I wanted to chalk it down to old age (lol. I am not that old) or probably maybe the routine was too complicated, but I knew it couldn’t be that. And then it hit me, I was no longer looking at myself, learning for myself. I compared memories of the times I got it right with when I didn’t, and it was clear as day.
My new style was to only look at the instructor. I’d learn the routine and continue looking at the instructor, relying on them to remind me of the next step. I didn’t think much of this or how it was affecting me until we had to do the group video. To make the video look good, we all looked directly at the camera lens, and it was hard to see the instructor from my end. I couldn’t put the routines together because there was no one to look at. And I flopped badly because I had not learned on my own and this was what I used to do at the beginning when I got it right.
You can see the real-life lesson already right. Yep.
It’s good to have someone you look at, learn from, look up to, etc. a mentor, possibly because you’re scared, its too hard and any other reason. However, the moment you no longer apply yourself to learn on your own what you’ve picked up, you would most likely get lost. The absence of that person would reveal that your foundation is shaky because you rely solely on them.
In dance class, it’s not that deep but in real life it certainly is. Just imagine someone everyone thinks is so great only to realize they are copycats with no true initiative of their own. Once their plug is no longer available, their shallowness becomes apparent.
What I am trying to say is, learn to do you. Sure, get inspired from wherever but make sure you internalize the lessons and stick it (a dance jargon) when it matters. You’ll be the better for it.
I know now what to do. I’ll probably still make mistakes, but I’ll be more focused on learning for me now both in dance class and in every other aspect of my life.
You should try dancing too – good for the body and clearly life lessons can be learnt there. *wide grin
Musings of Chiarmi 