things are like dancing.

Have you ever partner danced? Like salsa, waltz, or swing? It is lovely. I have loved swing dancing for years, but it is only within the last few months that I have started getting good. I decided to commit every Wednesday night to swing dance lessons and practice. One of the biggest things I have gotten better at that has DRASTICALLY improved my dancing is my ability to follow.

When you follow in dancing, you don't have in your head a sequence or step or try to anticipate what is coming next. If you do that, you screw up, plain and simple. No, a good follow is completely in tune with her* partner and very much in the moment. She feels the shifting of his weight, subtle movements of his hands, and subconsciously finds herself feeding off of his energy, his rhythm. In summary, she is extremely connected to him. In the past weeks, I have realized that life is (or should be) very much the same way.

One benefits the most from life when he or she is connected to everything around. To nature. To other people. To work. To questions. And not only is connected to everything, but is affected and guided in the moment by these people and things and the Other. Life is not a plan, it is a dance. And the upcoming steps cannot be planned at this time, but must be felt and followed, being led by those around in this moment. Not led by things you were once connected to but no longer are, nor by things that one has not encountered.

All this in mind, there is certainly something to be said for maintaining stability within oneself and not becoming a vessel that is tossed by the wind and easily overturned by circumstances, people or things. But there is a difference between being tossed by and moved by. From being overturned and affected. From being reliant on and "in tune with."

As I have been pondering the significance of following in life, I have been realizing more and more things that fall into this "like a dance" category. Things like walking routes. Afternoon plans. Conversations. Kissing. Adventures. And I plan to keep walking, conversing, kissing, and adventuring my way through life with my shoes kicked off, my heart ready to follow, and feet ready to dance.

*Note: Yes, I realize that follows can be men. But when I dance, I am a follow, and I am a she. And this is about me and my experience that I am taking liberty to generalize. No sexism or gender expectations intended.