"You have balls ... I've always admired you for that"

A few months ago, the studio director of my hometown dance school said this to me in reference to my goals of pursuing a dance career and my general lack of upset in the face of rejection. The comment caught me completely off guard but it was something that I was proud to hear. It's funny the things that adults notice about us when we're children, especially the character qualities that are so deeply engrained in our personalities that we just forget they exist all together. Recently,  I've spent a lot of time thinking about how we benefit from our individual oddities. How different would our lives be if we spent more time embracing our quirks?

In case you didn't know, I'm a risk taker (shocker, I know). I've received mixed feedback about that part of my personality. Some people are completely turned off by my tendency to take wild leaps of faith and others encourage the habit. In general, I think that taking chances is a great thing. So what if something doesn't work out as planned? Sometimes we only get one chance to try something new, we might as well go for it.

So, I have made a conscious effort to incorporate this goal into my life:

Say YES to everything 

 

The only stipulations being that what ever I agree to must be something that I can fully commit to and that I will be smart enough not to accept opportunities that will negatively affect my health or well being. The goal being to consciously avoid shying away from new experiences because of the perpetual "What if?" What if I'm not good enough? What if I can't do this? What if I make a mistake? etc. Even though those fears still exist, they are conquerable or at the very least, suppressible. We spend so much time overthinking our decisions that something we forget to actually step forward.

 

I am pleased to say that so far, saying yes has been nothing but beneficial. In the last month alone I have been afforded the opportunity to walk/ dance on a runway, sit in executive seating at a sporting event, land a teaching job, travel, and dance nearly every day simply by agreeing to take chances. I want to encourage everyone else to try this too, even if only for a little while. It's quite a liberating experience.

 

We are too young, too full of life, and have too much potential to limit ourselves to comfort zones to the size of postage stamps.

 

So love your quirks,

 

                       discover your strengths,

 

                                      collaborate,

 

                                          push boundaries,

 

                                                  learn from mistakes,

 

                                                       and have the guts to say yes.