Dance like no one's watching

Tired.  Was playing the silly game Plants vs. Zombies on my iPad till close to 3am last night.  Was super tired but couldn’t sleep after that!  Brain must have still been thinking about how to crush them zombies.  Hahaha.

It was a real chore waking up and staying awake during a presentation on claims that I had to attend this morning.  Now I’m super unmotivated at work.  Setting myself hourly goals so that I can finish my tasks quickly.  (Well, I’m 20min ahead on my current goal hence I can blog!)

Last Friday was a good WCS day.  Had a productive time at social as I was able to follow well (not well as in “good” but well as in to the best of my current abilities).  Dance is a process of time.  Not only must you get the timing right, you also need time to improve.  Sometimes, when I look around the dance floor, I feel that I am lousier than some of the girls only because they have been dancing WCS for the past 1-2 years whereas I only started this year.  I thus wanted to quickly catch up with them… and that means squeezing what took them many months to achieve into the 2 months that I’ve been doing WCS.

Then I read what one of the instructors posted in the group chat I am in:

“People… you will get there when you get there. Don’t be too preoccupied that you’re not progressing as quickly as you’d like or as fast as X or Y.

While I can understand the natural inclination to improve as fast as possible, I think the best part of it all is always the journey. How much fulfillment would you get if I told you you could progress to All-Star tomorrow just by eating some magic chicken rice or something… vs someone who has to work through the hours refining his/her craft, struggling but persisting to get better to where he is/was at that point in time.”

And I agree.  While my competitive nature means I will never be satisfied with where I’m at, I am also acutely reminded that I need to allow enough time for getting better.  Most importantly, I must enjoy the process.  Instead of applying everything that was taught in class on the dance floor, I am now going by the rule, “if you don’t feel it, don’t use it”.  I’m sure I will eventually get the moves that elude me – at a later stage.

I was very heartened last Fri when one of the more advanced leads asked me if I have other dance background because I have improved very fast (yeah, the poor chap danced with me at my very first WCS social after having attended only 2 lessons.  Lol.  2 months compared to 2 lessons would definitely have been a big contrast).  I also asked another friend for feedback since I have not danced with him for 2 weeks and he said he was pleasantly surprised because there was a marked difference from before he went on holiday.  In his words, I am the most improved rookie recently and am now better than some who have been dancing for almost a year.  That was gratifying because I am a rookie.  No pressure on me to compete with the better girls!

And I believe I will catch up.  Someday.