Every so often I need a hermit weekend. That is, a weekend when I don’t leave the apartment except to walk the dogs. I need the quiet time to recharge and to gather and organize my thoughts. Between my day job, my writing, my dancing, my financial juggling and Life’s latest challenge, I have a lot on my mind! Sometimes it gets to be too much and that’s when I take a hermit weekend.

The current question as far as dancing goes is “what is my next goal?” The initial answer is Emerald Ball. It’s a big competition in this area, and I have vouchers to use from last year. So it makes sense that I would enter. But the unwritten second part of that question is “can I afford it?” I’m still figuring out that part.

Just like a well-timed bonus from work helped me enter CalOpen, a well-timed tax refund may help me get to Emerald. But it won’t cover all expenses. So do I enter the comp and plan on spending the next several months paying it off? Or do I put competition goals on hold until I have enough money saved to cover everything right off the bat? Whenever that may be. Luckily, I don’t have to decide just yet. Entries aren’t due until the end of the month.

Tied to those questions is the ever-present, ever-annoying thought that I should cut back on more than just the competitions while I sort out other things. But since dance is also stress relief for me, it’s an important tool in sorting out those other things. So I’ll probably continue to ignore that broken record.

Another endeavor I’m working on is a revamp of this website! I plan on rolling out some big changes this weekend, just need to stop stalling. There is always that hesitation before hitting the publish button. When it’s practically the entire website, that hesitation feeling is a tad bit stronger! Feel free to give me a hard time if you don’t see any changes by Monday morning.

As far as my actual dancing, I freaked out a little last week after a lesson because I felt like I had somehow regressed since CalOpen. Foxtrot still needs a lot of work and I was having trouble remembering the waltz routine! Would I be ready for Emerald by the end of April? It’s less than two months away! Teacher reassured me that I would be ready and I had already improved technique-wise during the few post-CalOpen lessons. I suspected part of the panic was due to outside stress, so I decided to trust Teacher in his assessment. No sense making myself anxious over a competition I haven’t entered yet!

So the future is still cloudy, but I’m not quitting or giving up. I’m sure the sun will shine sooner or later!

Happy dancing to all those not having a hermit weekend!