COMPARED TO ALL THOSE TEENAGE DANCERS... I WAS A WHALE!!

Last week, I went to my 10-year-old daughter's dance recital.

Before the recital, I needed to stay in the dance practice room for about 20-minutes to collect my last-minute ticket.

I was surrounded by nothing but 8-to-22-year-old dancers, with their hair and make-up done up, and wearing beautiful popular dance dresses... getting ready for the recital.

And then I caught a glance of myself in one of the FULL-WALL MIRRORS...

And I was like "HOLY F*CK... I LOOK LIKE A WHALE!" 🤣

Everything about me looked HORRIBLE!!! My weight, my clothes, my shoes, my hair... my whole being... I was truly an atrocious eye soar! .

I thought about this experience throughout the 3-hour dance recital... and I realized that THIS is what had occurred:

During the 20-minutes that I was waiting in the dressing room seeing nothing but beautiful dancers, my brain created a "reality" of who human beings ARE.

And when my own image swayed from this image... my mind was SHOCKED TO HELL! .

The extremely SAD thing is that we are often ENCOURAGED to live our lives in the "Dance Practice Room"!

Movies, TV shows, the News, Magazines, and everything else we are exposed to tell our brain that REALITY IS A DANCE PRACTICE... filled with beautiful 18-year-old dancers with beautiful dresses, make-up and hair!

Our brains suck it in... believing every last word... .

When in reality, our brains were created for the VILLAGE... seeing Mary, Pete, Beth, and Hugh going about their daily shenanigans... looking just as shitty as they always do!

Do you think you too could be suffering from "Dance Practice" shame?

Has society been constantly exposing you to the "Dance Practice"... encouraging you to forget about the realities of Mary, Pete, Beth, and Hugh?

Next year, I am going to buy my ticket in advance like I was supposed to do... and go straight to my seat in the theatre... next to Mary, Pete, Beth, and Hugh! <3

To your Real Authentic Life,

Marni Penner. (Social) Anxiety Coach, Connection Coach, Empowerment Coach