How Ballroom Dancing & Seeing a Therapist is Changing My Life (You have me)

Part 1

Several months ago I started taking ballroom dancing lessons. I also started seeing a therapist. 

(This is basically the answer to your question: what are you going to do with “all” of your time? Yeah, I’m still chuckling over that one...)

The backstory for the ballroom dancing is that my mom has taken lessons from a great instructor named Dimitriy for at least a decade. While I’ve always admired her hobby I never had the time or the money to give it a try myself. Sure, I dreamed of becoming an excellent latin dancer (who doesn’t?) but it just seemed like a really far off dream for me. Then I was offered the gift of lessons, and because I did have some more time in my schedule I decided to go for it.

I'm not sure if you've seen Dancing with the Stars, but if you have it's possible the dancing looks somewhat challenging, but I thought: come on, how tough could it be? Besides, it’s so glamorous and if it’s glamorous it must be fun. And if it’s fun it must be easy...Right?! Yeah, no. I was wrong. We’re not just out on the dance floor bee-boppin’ around. Ballroom dancing is work, that’s why it’s considered sport. My body is being contorted in ways I never thought possible. Dimitriy’s own dance teacher told him that if he wasn’t in pain he wasn’t doing it right.

Can we learn this lesson too many times? Most things that are worthwhile in life are never as easy as they seem. Parenting never seemed easy, but it is also more gut-wrenching than I ever thought possible. Marriage. It’s not just two twenty-somethings in love trying to pay the bills. It’s your baggage, and their baggage, and your family, and their family, and your dreams and desires together and apart. And also there's the dog poop in the backyard that needs to be picked up and the garbage needs to be taken out and then there’s the Costco run...

Just a little postscript FYI here. When I’m dancing, in my mind I’m able to make my body do what Lacey Schwimmer’s body does (she's from Dancing with the Stars). Here’s Lacey (& Lance Bass):

Here’s what I actually look like, me & Dimitriy:

To be continued...