“Dance Like No One is Watching”

I quickly discovered that one of the best parts about my life in 2010 was my ability to truly live in the moment and do what came naturally without second- guessing myself or feeling self-conscious. I was a creepily shy kid, and although I eased out of that and was fairly outgoing throughout high school and college, I always managed to stay out of the spotlight, so to speak. This meant not dancing at my prom much because I wasn’t and still am not a good dancer, getting embarrassed when Dave and I won Cutest Couple our senior year and he swept me off my feet and carried me away, and never, ever picturing myself singing karaoke. I feel like it had something to do with an increased sense of confidence and self-awareness, but whatever it was, I’m so glad it happened. It’s another one of those situations where I always wanted to be the kind of person who sang karaoke and danced around in public like a goofball, but never really made an effort to change. I didn’t make any new year’s resolution to change this, but the first time I was put in a situation where this normally would have been an issue, I found myself dancing around with my girlfriends at a bar one night in January, not caring how silly we looked, just caring about how happy and free I felt.

Now that the curse was lifted, I was out of control. I remember Dave was in Orlando for a weekend in January and we got together for lunch. Aside from me looking completely different, he even commented on the change when we were walking around Winter Garden Village and I grabbed his hand and tried to get him to dance with me in the middle of the street. When March came, and my roommate Laura invited me to karaoke with her friends on a Friday night, there was no question of if I would sing; it was what song and how many we should sing. Let me make it perfectly clear that I have no musical talents, but that is so not the point of karaoke anyway. We sang “Red High Heels” by Kellie Pickler and even had a little bit of choreography to top it off! Now, I love when a girls night at home turns into a random dance party, I dance around my room when I am getting ready, or when I am stressed out. I live life without wondering what anyone is thinking of me at the moment. So far, so absolutely wonderful.