Waltzing into the New Year

I’m going back to college! I don’t recall ever starting out a new year in such a dramatic way as I am about to this January. Since my birthday falls the day after New Year’s Day, January 2nd, I have extra reason to contemplate how I want to waltz into the New Year.

“This is the first day of the rest of your life,” sings Matt Maher in his hit song, “Hold Us Together.” I am taking that message to heart by doing something I’ve long considered would be fun to do: becoming a ballroom dance instructor. Yep, that’s right. I will be entering Dance Teacher’s College to become certified to teach the National Dance Teacher Association of America approved DVIDA syllabus of 12 American style ballroom dances. The first class, which is waltz, is on my birthday! I’ll be quite literally waltzing into the New Year.

Pursuing dreams usually requires a leap of faith in the form of time commitment or financially. It requires silencing all those annoying voices that say we can’t or shouldn’t do it. As one lady I interviewed for an article recently said, “We will never have all the time and money we think we need to do anything in life.” She was speaking in reference to her family’s leap of faith in adopting two girls from China, which led me to think, how many times do we stand at the brink of something wonderful, but tell ourselves we can’t do it for one reason or another, or are afraid to trust?

“It’s the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance” (anonymous).

Richard Gere & Jennifer Lopez starring in Shall We Dance?

I’ve been ballroom dancing for 13 years. It is my hope to help others experience the power, beauty and magic of ballroom dance as I have and inspire people to put their best foot forward in faith. But if I hope to empower others, I must take the first step myself. 

If you could do anything to build the life you imagine, what would you do starting today? My best advice is to envision where you want to be and then start living that way. Or as Henry David Thoreau said, "Live the life you have imagined." When I first began writing and dared to say I was a freelance writer, the words coming out of my mouth always took me by surprise. But by telling myself that I was one, I gave myself permission to be one.

As I begin the journey in dance, stay with me. Keep me company. It will be an exciting year and fun to be back in the role of "student" again, acquiring new knowledge and gaining confidence in a higher learning setting. Happy New Year!