A Single Act of Kindness

Hello everyone, good news!  

I’ve felt amazing for the past few days!  Last Thursday was the best day I've had in a really really long time.  It all started with a single act of kindness.  Basically, my ballet teacher complimented me in front of the entire ballet class, and I want to share what happened afterward.

To fill you in, I've been struggling with a bit of a loss of drive with dance.  I’m working on a dance major right now at UWSP, but during my middle school and high school years I was heavily involved in a competitive dance team at a local studio.  Those years defined me; I put all of my focus into dance, even letting it come before friendships.  But like all good or bad times, they came to pass.  I can't do as many cool flips as I used to. I’m not winning awards and trophies anymore. I'm not at the studio I grew up in, where I was respected, loved, and well known.  I always knew that wouldn’t last forever, but it's still a big transition.  Unfortunately, I am used to identifying myself by being “the best” at dance.  That’s made it difficult to   Since coming to college, I’ve been working on finding more to define me, but it's been hard to not exist in that competition dance world with my old studio anymore.  Without being “the best”, I didn’t know who I was anymore.  Lately, due to my discouragement, I've been considering dropping down to a minor, or even... dropping the dance altogether.  It’s a very stressful decision.  I digress. Anyways, that perspective has shifted.

Thursday morning, at ballet, I decided to listen to the music more deeply than usual.  The simple but elegant piano melodies of ballet music are the foundation of my love for the style  When I focus on it, my movements become natural and passionate, and I just enjoy dancing more.  It must’ve shown on my face because toward the end of class, after an across-the-floor combination that I especially liked, my dance teacher told the class how much she loved watching my face.  According to her, my face shows a relaxed energy and love for dance.  This... made me so happy!  It’s been so long since I felt confident in dance, and immediately I felt like my old dance-y self again.  I felt proud, talented, and good enough.  Better yet, I felt appreciated, recognized, and respected, just like the old days.  Astoundingly, I still feel these feelings, a weekend later.  

Anyways, in my jazz class afterward, I was inspired to impress my other teacher.  I had more energy, motivation, drive, and a positive attitude.  Riding the wave of confidence, I then had more motivation Friday morning to go to a make-up pilates class I considered skipping.  I figured I need to stay fit now that I’m happy with dance again.  It’s amazing to step back and view how much of an impact one teacher’s comment had on helping me with my motivation to exercise and eat healthy, too!

That did it! I decided to stick with my dance major.  In making the decision to stick with dance, I now feel a lot of peace.  Even when it gets hard -- which it always will in some aspect -- I now know and believe in my soul that I am talented, recognized, and good enough.  

Speaking of the soul, because I had so much energy and positivity after dance on Thursday, I decided to go on a walk through the nature reserve on my campus.  This walk which ended up touching my soul in a way I didn’t expect it to.  While out there observing and just being in the present, I appreciated nature more than I ever have.  It made me think of God.  Suddenly, in clearing my mind from my stresses about dance, I wanted to have a stronger faith.  I mean, I've always wanted a stronger faith, but this time I was inspired to change.  The beauty that surrounded me was just God's overwhelming presence, and I've rarely felt it that strongly before.  I was so grateful. I wanted to feel it more.  

Faith is something that has been on the back burner of my mind.  Since joining Cru, a Christian group on campus, I've had more opportunities to grow in my faith.  I usually meet with a Cru girl to have one-on-one bible study type meetings on Fridays.  I told her about my feelings the previous day, and how excited I was to focus and grow in my faith.  This inspired her and made her very excited for me.  I am also excited to share this with my family; I know it will make them happy too.  

Overall, one simple act can shift another person’s entire perspective.  It can make their day, and they can go out and make other people’s days.  You may not think much of it.  I’m sure my ballet teacher is not thinking of what she said about me right now, but I still am.  So I hope this post encourages you to put in the extra effort to say something, or do something, for someone else.  It could be giving them a compliment, a helping hand, a listening friendly ear, or telling them how much you appreciate them.  These are easy things to do, but their effects are so vast.  So, let’s make the world a little bit happier, shall we?

If you have any experiences like this that you want to share, comment about it!  I’d be overjoyed to hear more stories about positive influences.