We dance in my family. We love to celebrate big and small things with a dance party. Sometimes we dance just because it is Friday. Other times we might dance to celebrate a job well done at work, or school or some other achievement.
The other day I was picking up pizza at a local take and bake shop. While I waited I noticed a little girl and her dad come in after me. The little girl was about 5 years old and was wearing a Superman costume with a cape. Secretly I was jealous. I wanted a cape. A few minutes later another little girl, similar in age and dressed in a bright pink tutu, again, I was secretly jealous of her outfit as well, came in with her mom. It only took the girls 30 seconds until they joined forces and started dancing around the shop. As I stood there the girls began to dance around me. As they paraded around me in a circle I was struck most by the pure joy the girls were experiencing. It didn’t take long for the parents to try and stop them from dancing circles around me. I happily replied, “No worries! I love a good dance party,” and followed up by busting out a few moves of my own with the girls.
Dancing is also a way to relieve stress when something is not going as planned. It is my favorite way to regulate. I keep playlists on my phone to energize me when I need to up-regulate and dance out stress as well as soothing playlists when I need to calm down and just sway to release stress. When I am in a funk I will crank up the music and just move. It doesn’t take long till I am dancing like those little girls and have found my joy again. How do you find your joy?
