Gratitude Practice 2017 Day #5: Healthy Risk Taking
I recently read an article in a professional journal about the benefits of healthy risk taking as a critical component of positive youth development. This article was full of impressive statistics and carefully researched figures and fancy infographics all of which could be boiled down to the simple concept that trying something new...something that is out of your comfort zone makes you braver, more interesting and a more well rounded person. Ta Da! Nothing earth shattering here but certainly something to think about.
In September, I courageously enrolled Sarah Kate and I in a mommy and me creative dance class. To be very honest, this all began with the good intention of finding an outlet for my very restless and energetic two year old...and it seems only fitting that every little girl be enrolled in a dance class at some point of their life. So, we jumped or should I say leaped in with all of our little pointed toes. What I did not really think through was the mommy dance class aspect of this little adventure. After our first week, I figured that I had successfully spent a total of maybe three full hours inside any formal dance instruction...for my entire life. To say dancing is not my jam would be an understatement...I’m so far from graceful that this good faith effort can be squarely placed in the healthy risk taking category. My kid on the other hand is having the time of her life and her rambunctious energetic happy “when are we going to dance class, Mama” excitement keeps us walking through the doors week after week after week.
Sarah Kate is learning how to leap and stretch and jump and hang like a monkey on the bars and sideways go sliding and wait her turn and giddy up gallop and tippy toes tippy toes tippy toes to the carpet and that everything ends with a finishing shape. I am learning that any movement even as clumsy and awkward as I feel is heading in the positive direction and vulnerability comes in many forms and that all parents struggle and are simply doing the best they can and that developmental stages are very real and that we can do hard things when we try and that I have endless respect for pre-school dance instructors and that that is so okay and that there is something both magical and messy about the creative process and that art making is often emotional and sometimes sweaty and that watching your kid bounce and run and giggle exploring the newness that she has fallen in love with….is absolutely healing some of the secret hurts you didn’t even realize you’ve been carrying around for years. So, today...it’s gratitude for the super talented professionals at Tanner Dance and the process of healthy risk taking. Will we continue...most likely, yes...will either of us ever become the next Martha Graham...most likely, no...but two clumsy girls showing up and being willing...is plenty good.
