But I get up again!
Slowly, sometimes painfully. But I get up and keep going.
The stress meter has been maxing out for the last few weeks, to the point that my body is showing physical signs.
A blog post from last year, For Every High, There is a Low, popped up in my statistics and after rereading it, I was inspired to do a sort of follow-up.
There’s that moment on your journey toward a goal when something hits you and you think “oh shit, this is really happening.” I reached an “oh shit” moment this weekend when I printed the entry forms for Ballroom Beach Bash.
For February’s interview, I’d like you to meet Antoinette Datoc, otherwise known as the Dancing Housewife. She is a fellow ballroom dancer, as well as a blogger and podcaster.
I was straight-up spoiled this past week! I danced four nights and saw the Dancing with the Stars Live show on the fifth night. And that was after a whole day of ballroom training at the Smooth Camp last Saturday. Yes indeed, I was spoiled.
Just popping in for a quick update because, to be honest, my brain is a little overworked and the creative juices just aren’t flowing that well tonight.
Ever get so used to things going wrong or off-script that when things start actually going your way, you get suspicious?
I’m feeling very suspicious. My last few lessons working on tango have been awesome. Thanks to extra work from my second job, I will have enough money to go to the competition I wanted to go to. I had no weekend and am working almost every night this week, BUT I WILL HAVE THE MONEY TO COMPETE!
*brief break to do a happy dance*
Ok, what’s the catch?
We’ve entered the second month of 2017. It’s usually around this time that people start wavering on their New Year’s resolutions. Bad weather prevented you from making it to the gym last week, and this week you had to work overtime and were just really tired. Multiple people at the office had birthdays, which means cake, and you didn’t want to be rude and not have a piece, or two. Then your friend was having a hard time so you comforted her by having a girls’ night complete with pizza and booze. Or, if you’re like me, your demons got loose and you decided to go to bed at 8pm, foregoing the stretching and dance practice you were going to do.
I know the title is a little dramatic, but I just liked the sound of it so much when it popped into my head. A neutral alternative title could be “One Thing at a Time.”
I think I got a little overexcited about 2017. 2016 was full of change and delays and detours; I was laser-focused on getting back on track and making up for lost time. We’re one month in and my laser focus has turned into a light show with beams shooting every which way. It’s getting hard to see where I’m going.
For 2017, I decided to start monthly interviews/guest posts. I want to share other ballroom dancers’ stories. Some have been inspired by ballroom to start other passion projects. Others found ballroom to be their saving grace. We all have one thing in common: a passion for ballroom dancing. If you have a story you want to share, please let me know!
To start the year off, I’d like you all to meet Cindy Muller, ballroom student and owner of My Ballroom Boutique! Cindy and I met virtually through this blog and Facebook, and we share similar financial struggles in making our competitive dreams come true.
It’s a rainy Sunday here in Southern California. Perfect weather to stay in, get some house chores done, and do some writing! While laundry was tumbling and turning in the washer and dryer, I finished reading another ballroom book over breakfast. Next, I was going to sit down and write my review. Thoughts for my own next book started flitting around my head though. I also needed to put together the article for the interview I did with another ballroom dancer. Then I started thinking about my own dancing and how I should review my waltz and do more work on learning the tango routine. I knew the competition I was aiming for would get here faster than expected. Speaking of competing, I wondered how long would it take to find a suitable amateur partner. I just started posting on social media this past week that I was officially in search of one. I needed to do more cross-training and recommit to regular stretching too. I should also do another assessment of my finances and figure out where the remaining comp money was coming from. Then there were the other investments I was thinking about making this year. Tax time was also coming up. I needed to get my business structure solidified.
Aaahh!
The Girl with the Tree Tattoo 