Being comfortable is not good. Life isn’t about being comfortable. To grow it is imperative that you choose to be uncomfortable. This is a realization that I wasn’t expecting as new opportunities arose this year. I hadn’t realized how comfortable I had become with the status quo.
This past month, I challenged myself to do something I was not comfortable doing…dancing. Specifically, salsa dancing.
I am the most rhythmically challenged Latina out there. I am certain my ancestors are weeping (or laughing). As I joined my friend at her salsa dance class, I had grave reservations. I signed up for six classes because if I did not, I knew I wouldn’t go a second time.
Needless to say, I was not good at the dances we were learning. Not even close to what would pass as dancing. What I did add to the class was an amount of levity that I am sure the instructor was not prepared for.
I have resigned myself to dancing never being one of my skills. Frankly, I had become rather comfortable in being ‘good’ at what I did do. I have been a teacher, ahem, for a long time. I have been an SAT coach for long enough that my clients have made consistent gains in their scores. Both these positions have become ‘comfortable.’ I don’t want to say *whispers* ‘easy’ because that isn’t true. Neither is easy, but I’ve done them for so long that I had become complacent.
Comfort leads to complacency. Complacency leads to mediocrity. That’s not where I want to be, not where anyone should want to be.
I realized that I am okay with failing. I readily recognize that it is not easy to choose to fail, but I have learned more about myself and what I can accomplish by choosing to do so.
Failing isn’t about failure. Failing is about learning how to overcome. How to get back up and try again, even when the embarrassment as your ‘hips don’t lie’ a la Shakira, show that salsa dancing was not going to be in my repertoire, not something I would brag about…. ever.
I am not sure what my next failure will be, but I will push myself to try something new and challenging, even if I have to laugh at myself. It just might end up that what I thought I would fail at I end up excelling.
Rebecca Orona
College Coach and (Bad but Improving) Dancer
