I’m getting ready to go back to ballet class. It’s interesting that it’s more than just trying to figure out where I put my shoes and my water bottle, I’m nervous! I haven’t been nervous about ballet class in a while. I’ve gotten nervous about trying classes in new places but I haven’t had the queezy tummy nerves about my own ballet class in a long time! I’ve been away a while now and I’m concerned that I will have forgotten everything, I’m concerned that I’ve managed to get so out of shape that I’ll be winded before I even get past the warmup, I’m concerned about trying to wiggle into a leotard after a couple of months with little to no exercise!!! I might actually skip the leotard for a bit. Tip: NEVER weight yourself on a Sunday night after a weekend of pasta, turkey burgers, and yummy desserts. Just don’t.

I realize that there is not a miracle waiting to happen, my first classes back I am pretty much guaranteed to be sucky. Majorly sucky, truth be told. Horrifically, possibly massively and comically sucky. I’m okay about it, I guess. I get to go back to class. And with a lot of work and focus, maybe I can move past the major sucky and get back to my regular level of suck. That would be good.

I’m also  little nervous about my injury. It’s sort of a permanent deal so I don’t want to make it worse. I realize that I have to learn how to work with it and that means having to actually work with it – as in, go to class and see what happens. And that takes an amount of faith – faith and wisdom – which I hope I have enough of so that I can make good decisions about what I can and can’t do and how to best manage myself as I go back to dancing. In the end, putting my body back into class is the easy thing – the real challenge will be getting my head back into it.

So to make myself feel better and put my head in the right place, here are some thoughts – maybe they will help you too.

Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.

~Winston Churchill

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.

~Anatole France

Life is no straight and easy corridor along

which we travel free and unhampered

but a maze of passages,

through which we seek out a way,

lost and confused, now and again

checked in a blind alley.

But always, if we have faith,

a door will open for us,

not perhaps one that we ourselves

would have ever thought of,

but one that will ultimately

prove good for us.

~A.J. Cronin

Now let’s dance. All will be well.