The Dance – Daring to Be Different

The Dance – Daring to Be Different

I know that in order to find our ultimate potential we must learn to step to the beat of a different drum, not follow the crowd and be willing to have courage to step out of our comfort zone.  By daring to be different and learning to lean we will find that it is only in the fall that we can catch the wind beneath our wings and ultimately learn to fly.

One of the greatest things we can do in developing a daring character is to not worry about judgment from others.  How many of us choose to not dance because we may look strange in our movements?  I have fallen victim to this fear, and by doing so, stood still while I could have been celebrating life.  Why did I let preconceived views of others freeze my movement, and how important is it, really?

When I was young I went to school with a girl who was so painfully shy that she hindered much of her own potential.  That shyness was like a medication that deadened her spirit and froze her personality.  It wasn’t until she made a concerted effort to overcome that fear that she was able to free her real self, and her personality.  This process took some time but eventually, through much practice, she emerged from this shell that encapsulated her and spread her wings and flew.

Just as an actor prepares for his role on the stage, we too must practice our parts in many ways.  At times the actor’s movements are carefully planned, yet at other times he plays impromptu (with no script).  The key to his success is practice.   He has learned that the more he plays his roles in different ways the easier those movements will become and the more natural he will appear in those roles.  This plays forward with our own movements in life.

Today a group of us received colorful sparkle skirts in celebration of a friend’s 50th birthday. Seeing many of these middle-aged women dancing on a deck like little girls playing the role of untrained ballerinas was absolutely priceless.  I marveled at their pure enjoyment, being aware of how silly their dances appeared yet unabashed in their creation.  Inhibition was thrown to the wind as the twelve of us proudly adorned our vibrant tutus over hiking shorts and went about our daily plans.  These costumes turned many heads yet strengthened our roles as we played out this act.

For those who initially felt shy going out in public and causing attention to be drawn to themselves, they soon discovered just how much fun can be felt by emerging from one’s shell, from one’s comfort zone.  Much more of our potential can be tapped by daring to be different, and as we learn to lean we will find that it is natural, like a dance, for our wings to spread, catching the air beneath them.   And with arms spread wide, our celebration of life can bring us to new heights as we soar to the potential that we never realized was there.

In Other’s Words:

“Failures are made only by those who fail to dare, not by those who dare to fail.”

~Lester B. Pearson~