Dance Doldrums

The last two weeks were almost total s***. There is no better way to put it, even I have a hard time with putting a positive spin on things right now.

I've got COVID again, and while I'm being a spoiled bitch complaining about it (I feel perfectly fine and should be grateful for that), I HATE it that I cannot dance at the studio, do CrossFit, do anything. I started an 8-Weeks online Calisthenics program which is awesome (that's why I used the word "almost" in my first sentence), but as much as it is very interesting and challenging and, I can already tell, extremely beneficial, it cannot make up for dancing.

Because I simply couldn't tolerate sitting at home any longer, I went for a solitary run yesterday. As you may recall, I'm not supposed to run right now because of my plantar fasciitis, so I woke up this morning with my right hip hurting like crazy. I felt fine while running, but I guess I don't distribute weight properly while running because of my foot, and so my hip got hurt. Yes, I know, it serves me right.

And, what really gets me the most, my narcissistic, father-of-the-year ex, who has been dating for a year a Thai girl with no paperwork who is 18 years his junior (and by dating, I mean Zoom meetings and a couple of holidays at either in Thailand or other locations she can get to without a US Visa), decided that the girl was the "love of his life" and he would start a new family and abruptly and without warning, on the day of our daughter's birthday, canceled his phone, deleted all our daughter's pictures from his Facebook profile, and cancelled Vivi's medical insurance as well as her Roblox account, without so much as a parting text. Vivi cannot reach her father over the phone since the phone was cancelled, and he does not answer her emails at all. The last communication between them was him publicly shaming his 9-year-old daughter in front of her Roblox friends for being a bad daughter, and him "deserving better." (All Viola did was complain to her father in private that he went on three different fancy holidays this summer but didn't take her on a single one. My ex's response was that she shouldn't be so materialistic and that she was a bad daughter and he deserved better. I nearly exploded when I read his Roblox comments).

Viola cried for three days straight and then decided to eliminate her father from her memory altogether. Occasionally at night she still cries, and she refuses to sleep alone, and it kills me that I cannot do anything but hold her and tell her that she is loved.

And to top the list, because of a work-related responsibility I cannot get out of, I must stay in the States for Christmas, even though I haven't been back to Hungary in five years. My stepmom has cancer that just returned, and my younger sister is dying of MS, still in her 30s and bedridden. There are days when I wake up rigid with terror and rage.

To take my mind off of all this, I'm watching on DSI TV old Blackpool and International comps and try to learn what I can via videos from the world's best dancers. I realized that I have probably vastly underestimated the importance of balance, for example. I always understood it in simple terms, like you fall or stumble or at least wobble, so you are out of balance, or you can do your steps without a problem, so you must be in balance. But I understand now that there is SO much more to balance than that! Nearly all depends on it, from self-confidence and presence through rootedness and proper hip action and our ability to have time and fill movements with life. The best dancers have the best balance; therefore, they have all the time in the world to really dance, which is everything.
 
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I'm so sorry for all you and your family are going through. I hope things improve, and that you and your girls can get back to Hungary to be with family sometime soon. I hope as wounds heal, that you and your daughters' lives are more peaceful with your ex more completely out of the picture. Hugs.
 
I'm so sorry for all you and your family are going through. I hope things improve, and that you and your girls can get back to Hungary to be with family sometime soon. I hope as wounds heal, that you and your daughters' lives are more peaceful with your ex more completely out of the picture. Hugs.
Thank you so much, Raindance.
 
I go through this every so often. Just feeling like I need a break from dancing, but also trying to get ready for a comp so I am not sure I want to take time off. Decisions, decisions.
Maybe schedule a short break (cancel a lesson or practice or two), and see how that feels. If you're ready to go back, go back, if not, cancel a couple more. I rarely found it helpful to push through when I felt like I needed a break, though I often pushed through. So try taking my advice, not following my example, sigh. :rolleyes:
 
My pro said something to me recently that resonated with me. It was in regards to a friend of mine who runs hot and cold with her lessons. He said that some people get really motivated and dive in and then their interest wanes for a while (he did his hand up and down and compared it to a bright flame that then burns out). This is called motivation by inspiration. Others burn more like embers and keep going on more even keel and when they are feeling not as interested keep going. That is motivation by discipline. You can also have inspiring moments though. If you are just before a comp, it may be getting not as fun. My advice is to keep going and see if it shifts back for you. Sometimes I have to avoid asking myself what I want in the moment and just do what I need to do (go to a lesson or practice or workout on my own) because I know what I want long term.
 
I am SO “motivated by discipline” (in case anyone had any doubts about that!:rolleyes:).

I have to say, that I’ve been doing this for so long, that I know that even when I am in the throes of frustration/disappointment/discouragement (just read my entry in the “how are your lessons going” thread from last week) – it’s just something that I cycle through periodically, and it will lift.

And, for me, if I take a break from working on the things that are the then-current components of the frustration, it will actually prolong my sense of discouragement, because if I don’t work on them, I know they will still be trouble spots after my mood lifts and then I'll be mad with myself for having lost time in trying to fix them. So, sure, I’ll sometimes lick my wounds, but, in the long-run I need to reassure myself that I’m trying to work on the troublesome stuff.
 
It isn't that my interest wanes, but I was disappointed with my dancing at the last comp. I just didn't like what I saw on the videos. I have been working so hard, and just wasn't happy with what I was seeing. Pro said I danced well and showed good improvement, and he never says that. But when working hard and feeling like I am failing, it is hard not to feel the doldrums.

Somewhat like you described Cal, but in a lesson it doesn't bother me, I just figure I will work harder for the next lesson, but comps drive me crazy.
 
Definitely feeling the dance doldrums - I still look forward to lessons and classes but I feel very negative about my dancing and my progress.

This has been a really tough year at work and my constant fear of losing my job plus other stress has really sapped any extra motivation I have to practice on my own. Plus I’m in the normal stage of getting past the low hanging fruit and any changes are going to take real time to fix to go from baby dancer to more serious dancing.

The other really negative part of me sees other people my age getting married, buying houses, having kids, whatever and thinks “you’re spending all your money on a hobby that you aren’t even good at and you have none of those other things going for you”. But that’s just my really cynical side.
 

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