My First Keep On Dancing Guest Blogger

Please welcome my first guest blogger Krissy from Thinking Of Blue. I knew Krissy liked to dance so I asked her to take my 30 day dance challenge. She did an absolutely great job and accomplished what I have yet to accomplish - going 30 days without missing a single day. Thanks for doing such a great post for me Krissy.

*On her dance chart, the black dots were her mood before she danced and the red was her mood after. Check out the mood scale and the dance chart over at my left column.

A month ago, I received a request from Cynthia to join her journey in her 30-Day Dance Challenge and then write a guest post for her amazing blog with my thoughts on it. The challenge was to dance 30 minutes a day for 30 days. I have to admit, at the time I was a bit apprehensive about the task as it seemed a bit daunting (I’d have to make time, I couldn’t put it off and would have to follow through with it…I had numerous pointless excuses I’d come up with) but was so honored that she’d asked, I agreed and really began to get excited.

While I am technically a “dancer” and have been for the past 14 years, I don’t have the self-confidence that many dancers do. I’m not one who particularly enjoys being the center of attention and while I thoroughly enjoy dancing on stage, I much prefer dancing with other people on stage with me. Through this challenge I came to realize that when I’m dancing, when I really get into it, my cares, fears and worries, literally melt away. For the brief time I’m in motion, everything around me stops, I can fade into the music and become one with the world of song around me.

Making sure no one was watching, I began the first half hour of the “30 Day Dance Challenge” dancing around my living room. After just a few days, I felt as though I didn’t have to the time to set aside to devote to the challenge. I quickly realized that I could fit dancing into my day incredibly easily for it didn’t matter where I danced, just that I DID dance.

My “dance studio” changed almost daily. Over the 30 days I danced in my living room, my bedroom, my backyard, my kitchen, while waiting for an appointment or waiting to meet someone, the “studio” was even dancing across a parking lot into a building rather than walking across it. I found it truly wasn’t the destination but rather the journey of dancing it took to get there.

The days progressed and with my Ipod glued to my hip, I began getting more comfortable and found out that when I belted out the lyrics to the song playing as I danced, I really didn’t mind the stares I received from the onlookers and passerby’s.

I gauged my mood on a scale of one to ten (with one as the lowest mood and ten as the highest) before and after I danced each day to see if a pattern emerged. Looking back over my 30 days worth of data, my mood was always up higher, even if it was only a little, by the time I finished dancing. In fact, by the time I finished dancing for the allotted amount of time each day, I was always in a much more joyful and energized place and my “can do” attitude had often been renewed.

I tried to be consistent and dance in the afternoon (which I achieved 26 of the 30 days) because that’s the point in my day where I personally feel the most frustrated that the day is flying by quickly and that I can’t catch up and accomplish what I hope to. So as my mood is usually the lowest then, that’s when I chose to plug my ear buds (Iphone headphones) into my ears, listen to the music playing in public areas around me or turn the stereo volume up high to the point where when I sing out, my emotions forcing my voice as loud as it can possibly go, my anger, sadness, frustration and lack of self esteem have nowhere to go but away.

I have a feeling that those who have had the * cough * …um…privilege… to see me dancing over the past 30 days, may have been completely confused to what they were seeing…. Some girl, singing (off key of course!) and flailing her arms, legs and body in every which direction.

Some sight, I’m sure.

I’m really thankful that Cynthia recruited me to the 30 Day Dance Challenge because it forced me to hold myself accountable and allowed me the privilege to see how true it is that there really is no better high or bad-mood-buster, than….

Dancing Through Life.

Keeping Dancing,

Krissy

Over the 30 days, I danced around to every genre of music that’s danceable. Here are 10 that I continued to hit the repeat button on!

Black or White - Michael Jackson

Stay Beautiful - Taylor Swift
Wasted - Carrie Underwood
Jesus Take The Wheel - Carrie Underwood
There's Got To Be More - Stacie Orrico
Don't Forget - Demi Lovato
More To Life - Stacie Orrico
Imperfection - Saving Jane
Girl Next Door - Saving Jane
I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker - Sandi Thom
Just Dance - Lady GaGa