Energy conservation

Last night after my Zumba class, someone who had never taken my class stayed after to give me some feedback. He told me that I was not swiveling my hips enough when I danced the merengue, and not standing straight enough during my samba. As he said it, I didn't have the correct form for the various latin dances. As he is classically trained he recognized what good form is in latin dance. He took about 10 minutes to explain his concern that I was misleading my students. Even though I wanted to explain to him that Zumba Fitness is not a dance class, I listened and thanked him for his feedback. This interaction was quite upsetting to me.

I decided not to let it throw off my confidence and not to worry much about it. Of course this didn't quite work. I take pride in what I do, so the idea that I was misleading my students was very unsettling. After thinking through it some more, I realized that I was obsessing.  It's okay for him to voice his concerns, though unfounded, but there's no reason to take it on.

Our words are often like arrows and can have lasting effects on others. I remember many hurtful things that have been said to me that I've held onto for years. The few times I've confronted the person, they barely remember uttering them. It's like when someone cuts you off on the road and you get upset. You might try to "show" them by riding close to them or by even gesturing obscenities. Oftentimes they are lost in their own world, oblivious to your ire. A friend once told me "you can not control other's actions,but you can control your own reactions".

I have been doing pretty well not thinking about my interaction with the student. Whenever I would think about it, I would remind myself of what I else could be using that energy for. It is very easy to give credence to people and things that are not very important to us. Those people or things in turn suck the energy right out of us.

I am fairly conscious about the environment and energy conservation. I do my best to turn off lights, be mindful of how much water I use and I even recycle paper, bottles and plastic...all in attempts to conserve some energy. In that same way, I must conserve my own energy. It takes so much of it to think through a problem, think about someone who is not even concerned with me, or just plain stress out about a situation. In as much as life requires our attention, our attention is often a wasted effort. Most of us have higher heights that we are trying to attain but instead find ourselves expending precious energy on trivial matters that will never take us to those heights. In setting our eyes on the prize, we must also refrain from being pulled down by those energy zappers that are there only to wreck havoc.

So I choose not to obsess about this criticism I received. Instead, I've decided to use it as an inspiration to remind us that words do hurt, another's perception does not have to ever become our reality and above all, we must put our optimal energy towards things that will elevate us, our life and that of the people around us.

Half-stepping diva