Don’t Give Up!

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(Warning, cheesy motivational post!)
Originally posted on the Girl with the Tree Tattoo Facebook and Instagram pages, I felt like sharing it here too.

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I thought I was done competing in ballroom for at least a year after CalOpen in February. Now I’m working toward going to TWO comps before the end of 2016.

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I had major doubts about my dancing, feeling like my progress had plateaued with no goal to work toward. Then I had my first coaching and the coach was “super impressed.”

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After the last jump in the Amazon ranks, my eBook “Dance Diaries: Learning Ballroom Dance” did nothing but fall every time I looked at it. I felt like my marketing efforts were having no effect. Then I woke up this morning and it’s back in the top 20 in its category.

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The common denominator is I never gave up.

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Even after I resigned to not being able to compete, I have kept working on ways to boost my income so I could afford it. I still go to my dance lessons and work hard, staying 100% present as much as I can, even when I can’t feel any progress and all I have on the horizon is another lesson. And I still work to find new ways to reach the right people about Dance Diaries because I know this book is just the thing for someone somewhere.

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Whatever you’re working on, don’t give up. Even when it feels like you’re on the path to failure, keep working as if it’s the path to success. Because the path to success actually feels a lot like failure. Until it’s not.

Book Review: Becoming Ginger Rogers by Patrice Tanaka

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2016-07-17-10.44.52.jpg.jpegI finally finished reading Patrice Tanaka’s Becoming Ginger Rogers. If you recall, reading her description of her first competition inspired me to come up with this crazy idea of attempting to enter not one, but two(!) competitions before the end of 2016. I’ve since gone through a mental smackdown courtesy of the demons that live in my head, but that post will have to wait. First, I want to share how much I enjoyed reading this book!

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Now We’re Talking!

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As promised, I’m hopping back onto the blog to share how my dance lesson went. But first, I would just like to announce that I completed Day 4 of the Blogilates beginner’s calendar! I did it after I came home from my lesson too. I was hungry and craving a glass of red wine. Dogs needed to be taken care of first, of course. But then instead of parking my butt on the couch with a nice merlot, I did the scheduled cardio warmup and an inner thighs workout! And yes, if you’re checking out the calendar and saying “ok, but what about the 10 burpees you were supposed to do when you woke up this morning?”  I did those today too! Gold star for me!

Now for my dance lesson.

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I’ve Got an Itch

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I know it’s been too many days since I last wrote something when my fingers are itching to type on the keyboard even though I don’t have a clear idea of what I want to write. So I’m just going to freestyle for a bit before I have to leave for work. I also know it’s been too many days since I danced when I start having lessons in my dreams. Last night I worked on rhythm.

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Inspiration -> Fear -> Why Not

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I’ve been reading Patrice Tanaka’s Becoming Ginger Rogers. It’s a memoir and in it, Patrice shares her journey into ballroom dancing and how it changed her life. Sound familiar?

I never get tired of “life changed by ballroom” stories. Her story has so many familiar elements; it’s like reading a letter from a friend. While I was sitting in the shade by my apartment complex’s pool on Monday, she related the story of her first ballroom competition. I was, of course, instantly transported back to my own competition experiences and was struck very hard by a strong desire to be in that world again. Like right now.

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Just Enjoy It – Two Great Lessons and a Book Launch

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This past week, I had my two regular lessons, one working on rhythm and the other working on smooth. During the rhythm lesson, we danced the cha cha routine to music and I NAILED that stupid spin TWICE! Then we worked on rumba and I “upgraded” my hip movement, according to Teacher. During the smooth lesson, we revisited tango. Teacher wanted me to focus on keeping my right arm forward (I tended to let it pull back, especially when the movement required me to put my left side forward). We worked on these tiny adjustments I could make to be able to take my left side forward without affecting the right.

You know how your teacher will tell you to do something and keep telling you you’re not doing it and then all of a sudden, after making the tiniest adjustment that you may or may not be aware that you made, they exclaim “yes, that’s it!”? Usually, in that situation, I have no idea what adjustment I made. But during this week’s smooth lesson, I actually started to feel it. I consciously made a tiny correction while we were dancing and Teacher felt it and confirmed it was correct!

Sounds like an awesome week, right? Well, it was!

So what’s the catch? There must be something, it can’t all be good.

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