Hey salsa sistas! I have a story to tell. It's going to end up as a story of empowerment but it's going to start off as one of embarrassment :-/. Stay with me!
As you all may know, I don't just own a dance studio in my town and relegate myself to teaching. I still love to and do perform. Yep, I still got it, lol ;-).
BUT, running a dance studio, running a makeup/skincare business, teaching in the dance studio, and still living some version of a normal life can be a little time consuming. So that means time to practice on my own stuff can be a little hard to come by. I'm sure you can relate when you think about your own whirlwind of responsibilities.
But my dance partner is pretty awesome, crazy dedicated, and truly a blessing (we'll talk about how the universe drops stuff in your lap and then tells you NOW it's time - even when you'd let go of that dream a while ago in a later post). All that to say I could not let him down.
So I practiced my arse off. I was sore. I was tired. But I was gonna do one more time no matter what. As many times as he hit play, I was gonna hang.
And so I thought I was ready! There was NO way I was gonna mess up this show. I knew all of my cues. My timing was impeccable. I was poised, calm, in performance mode and ready to rock it.
And you know what. I totally bombed, like crashed and burned both tricks. BOTH TRICKS my people. Both tricks. Aghast! Sink into the floor. Stop the music and just slink off stage right?! At the very least, spend the rest of the night sulking. Go hide in the corner. Refuse to dance with anyone. Better yet, just go on back to the hotel and wallow in bed - with wine.
Oh how easy that would have been! So many times, I've done some version of that! I've let my whole entire mojo be knocked off kilter by - what shall we call it - LIFE! And that's all it really is - it's just life - things happen. Just that simple!
I mean let's be real - what in the world could I have done to change that outcome. I'd already put my best foot forward. No one could have made me believe I should have worked harder to prepare because I was working my hardest. On the night of, I made sure I was rested. I went over the routine in my head. I was in game mode. I was ready. And it still happened. I still flopped the big moments.
And it struck me as I walked off stage, half smiling/half laughing at myself that 'oh well, I flopped but you know what, I still had fun!' AND I still rocked out that show. There was like at least 2 minutes of that show that were OFF THE CHAIN (if I do say so myself). Both of those tricks - 5 seconds tops :-P. Why waste mental energy on 5 seconds?
And that's a lot like life my salsa sistas. That struck me a few days later. Things are going to flop. We are not going to do 100% like we want to all the time. We are going to try our absolute best - and it's still going to fall short.
My question for you is this - why focus on the 3 or 4 inches you missed instead of focusing on the freaking football field of progress you made? Yes, I like to exaggerate sometimes, but you get what I'm saying right? Which part is really worth your time? Which focus makes you stand up and be happy and proud of yourself. Which focus makes you shrink and try to hide in the shadows.
You are too awesome to hide deary so as of today, new challenge! For everything that doesn't quite go your way, make yourself pick out the things that were actually pretty cool about it. They are there - you just might have to work a little on that perspective of yours to see it :).
But when you do, I promise you'll be sitting a little higher and feeling a little sassier ;-).
And life won't seem like such a mean punk after all ;-).