I have just taken up an exercise class called “Jazzercise”. And if you know anything about “Jazzercise” then you know it can be incredibly challenging, depending on the instructor you gravitate towards. Even for a former professional dance, I find myself very challenged in this class, especially the classes taught by Marla. Marla is not just any ordinary instructor, she is a super human. With the kind of body that you’d die for and her energy is beyond what I have ever mustered up on my best day. She’s the bomb! Her class is by far the toughest that I have encountered, and that’s precisely the reason that I take it.
In a recent class I was observing all the different levels of physical conditions of all of the participants, and for the most part, in the 40 or so attendees, I do a pretty good job of keeping up, given my lifetime of dance lessons. Now, I don‘t say that to toot my own horn, I am saying it to make a point…why on earth would anyone put themselves through Marla’s class? The level of stress on the body is tremendous, not to mention trying to grasp all of the intricate steps and rhythms. But here these women are day in and day out, lining up at the door to experience her particular class. All ages, all body types, all levels of condition.
What this drives home for me is that as human beings, at the baseline level, we must want to be pushed. It must be a part of our makeup. Not just the desire to survive, but the desire to thrive!! We were meant to get outside our comfort zone. Sometimes we resist that because it usually means we have to change. Change a pattern, change a thought process, change a way of taking action that we are used to, change a way of communicating that we are comfortable with. We are much more interested in other people changing most of the time!
How does this show up in the world? Well, many people have gotten so good at the resistance part that they have slipped into a routine of staying in their comfort zone. There is no accident that the manufacturing and sales of antidepressants are a multibillion dollar industry. We somehow have to find a way to quite that voice that says “why aren’t you living your potential?” which is the reason for most addictions, depression, anxiety, etc. The remedy is simple. Not easy. It requires implementing a routine of risk taking…doing the things that scare you. Doing the things your heart screams out for you to do, and doing something every day. Just like working out on a regular basis has you build up a new set of muscles, so does this routine. And before you know it, you’ll be living the life of your dreams, feeling strong and fulfilled, and loving your life because you will be satisfying that baseline desire to thrive.
I have figured out that life is not about reaching some final destination, but that the way we handle every day of the journey makes all the difference. Now back to my “Jazzercise” class. Marla’s counting.
