Line Dance Lessons – An Epic Fail Redeemed
What a night! My first official quest in this year of adventure included many lessons besides the steps to Honkey Tonk and Cotton-Eyed Joe. Here are the top 10:
Predictions do come to pass. Witness this quote from my second post: “each of my plans that I’ve made so purposely, so intentionally, will have at least a twinge (if not a radical declaration) of ‘I really didn’t see that coming!’”
Expand your focus. (If I had, I actually could have seen that coming!) In this case, my limited view of the larger picture resulted in a big blind spot. Here we are, nearing the end of 2018 and there is verbiage on the dance venue website – only now do I see it – right under “Line Dance Lessons EVERY WEDNESDAY NIGHT” that says “through 2017…” So, had I asked someone to click all the links and proof my quest schedule, or had I continued calling the venue until I got a human on the line, I may have discovered that in fact Wednesdays were now college nights with no lessons at all!
Growth necessitates screwing up. No wonder hearing the things God is teaching my unapologetically awesome friend Abby resonated with me so much the other day. Similar lessons here: how to get over my performance/perfectionist/excellence fixation by… wait for it: FAILING! Whee, that’s fun, isn’t it?! And then, how to look around and notice I’m still alive, the world hasn’t stopped spinning, and from what I can tell no one I love is irreparably maimed due to my mistakes. It’s actually going to be okay. I’m okay. And very human.
Always think bigger. Don’t assume your 1 or 2 friends who have expressed interest in this particular activity will be your only takers and you’ll therefore be able pivot on the fly if something goes south. People – at least your people – are apparently ready for adventure. That means if you blow it, you blow it with 20 instead of 2. Likewise, if it’s great, you celebrate the fun with 20 instead of 2.
Your tribe will rally. Understand, with profound gratitude, that these amazing adventurers who have come along for the ride – your people – will do whatever it takes to make sure you don’t crash and burn. Either that, or they’re just so invested in having the adventure that they’re committed to salvaging it when it starts to spiral: including agreeing to teach the dances to the group that they themselves will learn on YouTube in the next 15 minutes. I LOVE these people!
When you’re with adventurers, you are bound to have a good time. These are fun-generators who will laugh and call it memory-making when all else fails. They’re so good at glass-is-half-full they will likely even tell you the evening was better than it would have been if it had gone according to plan. Or perhaps they’re just solid, supportive friends. Probably a little of both.
Adventure is both terrifying and infectious. Yes, the general manager of a steakhouse & saloon who suffers from social anxiety might take 20 minutes to decide to help rescue a doomed event, but eventually he’ll realize the benefit to his business of keeping your group around for an otherwise very slow evening. That will then prompt him to offer a timid admission while biting his nails and staring at his feet that sounds like this: “I know I’m gonna regret this, but I’ve worked here for 2 ½ years and I know all the line dances. I could probably teach you some.” And just like that, he is drawn into the adventure of facing his fears and stretching himself, too!
Use it or lose it. If you don’t do one of the activities you love most in life for 25+ years, don’t expect your grapevine-shimmy-kick-stomp to travel from your ears to your brain to your feet in quite the same way or speed as you remember from ye olden days of yore. Instead of getting discouraged about that, make a vow to bring those skills back to the frontal lobe by doing that activity regularly for the next 25+ years.
Women aren’t the only ones interested in trying new things. Or maybe they’re convinced it would do their men good and they’re very persuasive. Or maybe, when contemplating the potential discomfort of stepping into the unknown, women like to have their very own “woobie” in the form of their men to make it a little easier. Or maybe, since this adventure was dancing, why not invite your man to participate?! Whatever the reason, guys, it was a pleasure! Thanks for joining us and you are welcome to do it again any time. Unless we’re skinny dipping.
Plan B (a.k.a. winging it) can turn out better than Plan A. Case in point: In the end, me and 19 awesome, adventuresome friends were bent on fun. We decided we’d make the best of a bad situation and got creative, pooled our resources and eventually had the good fortune to take over the entire dance floor. We chose the music we wanted at the decibel we wanted, enjoyed private dance lessons for an hour, worked up a sweat stomping and laughing, captured the fun on photos and video, ate dinner together and left before the crazy college scene started. Not bad for the first quest of the year!
So, in summary, here are the lessons learned from Adventure #1 (in the form of “F” words - but not that kind): Be ready to flex, to fail, to fix, to forgive yourself, to be foolish, and to find freedom, favor and fun with friends while you follow your heart.
Do you think these lessons apply to most adventures? What have you learned from stepping into the unknown? Leave a comment and let’s get the conversation going!
