Thanks for the comments yesterday, Buddies! Here are some answers to questions you had.
Contradancing: it's a cross between square dancing and line dancing. You can see lots of examples on youtube. Generally, the culture is that you go to the dance whenever there is one - many people come alone, some are married and their partner does not dance. Where I go, there are 3 dances a week, 3 different organizations. We usually have a live band (piano, fiddle, and then some 3rd instrument). Someone calls the dance - a paid caller who will walk you through each dance. It is repetitive - each couple will start in a group of 4, do the set parts of the dance and then move to the next couple as part of the dance. You move from start to finish, dances last about 10 or 15 minutes each, and when you are done you leave that partner and find another one. Everyone dances with everyone - if there are more men for example, men will dance with men. Dances I go to last 3 hours with a 30 minute break in the middle and have about 50 people or more. The people where I go are very nice, very happy because we are all dancing! And friendly.
There are some characters where I go - that one guy who never can remember the dances, the sweet blonde woman in her fifties who wears Victoria Secret outfits, the young professional guys and gals who wear colorful swinging skirts all made by the same person, the gay couple who always wear matching beards, shirts and skirts. People dress in t-shirts and shorts or other workout clothes because dancing makes one sweat!
Stress: my stress comes from a lot of different things. I don't know about you, but new things upset my status - definitely different anxiety than bad things, but stressful nonetheless. Change is harder than staying the same BUT as my dad points out, the only guarantee in life is change! No one stays the same. I try to talk things out, but you all know more about me than everyone else in my world, even my BFF, so sometimes I feel major stress til I can figure out what to do about it. Like: my older daughter wants to transfer colleges, which means she might be living with me next fall. Argh! New boyfriend is great, but so different from anything I am used to in basically every way that I have a lot of mental adjusting to do - Argh! Roommate is great, pets are great, but new job and new boyfriend take time away from both that I feel guilty about - Argh! But then I read about Portia de Rossi being so messed up on K8tyk's blog and I realize, gee whiz, I have it pretty good and I am not that messed up so I think I'll be ok!
I have lots to be grateful for, so here is my list for today:
I am grateful for:
A sensible personality
Good friends
Having too much and not too little
Being in an area that has lots of resources - apparently, I could contradance every night of the week if I was willing to drive less than an hour each night!
Got this from Weight Watchers - guess everyone is getting on the kindness bandwagon!
Tip of the Week: Success comes from the ability to know & like yourself. How do you learn to like yourself more? The same way you befriend anyone else - get acquainted, be supportive and non-judgmental. Try our 7 tips for self-love and find how to like yourself to make for more successful you. Here is the link:
BestfriendHope you are having a great Monday!