"How Generous Are You Willing to Be?"

I read this beautiful article, and needless to say, I was moved.

For 15 years of my life (ages 5-20), I did ballet. For over half of it, I trained seriously to become a professional ballet dancer.

I arrived at the goal line after a wealth of sweat, blood, and tears, only to finally admit to myself that I could not fulfill my life's potential if my spirit was continuously confined by the physical limitations of the dance world.

If I was really going to grow, I needed to stop hearing "You're so short", "You're too short", "You're so small."

Physically, I might be small, but my spirit within often feels so large that I am concerned my body might burst.

And I HAVE to do something with that. I HAVE to give all of my energy to the world. I would rather not exist than live without fully giving my spirit, mind, body, and self to the world to make a positive impact on the lives of others.


I'll write about this more another time, but the article!!

                                                              Google images: modern dance

The author went through some serious health problems and decided to take modern dance in college one semester.
(By the way, modern dance is VERY different than ballet. Both are quite foundational, but they are NOT the same at all. Google Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, Alvin Ailey, or Lester Horton modern dance and then Google American Ballet Theatre performance and you'll see the clear differences in the movement).

Her teacher finally called her out in class for dancing underneath herself when she has such long limbs and the ability to travel and move with greater expansion.

She says,

"How generous are you willing to be? How generous are you willing to be with your whole life? Will you share yourself with us? With the world? Do you dare? Or are you just going to hold yourself tightly in, hold these long arms and legs all to yourself?

Are you just going to be stingy? Just keep yourself to yourself for the rest of your life? In case you fall? In case you fail? In case you make a fool of yourself? In case we see how imperfect you are?

OR: are you going to choose to just be generous anyway? To just take up as much space as you actually take up? To be as big, as graceful, as long, as gorgeous, as enormous as you actually are?"

This my friends, is what I call beautiful.  You deserve to exist in the total and complete fullness that you are. Be willing to take a risk. Be willing to take a bigger step and do not fear losing your balance. Do not fear falling, "failing", or embarrassing yourself.

It's only failing if you do not try again, if you do not learn, if you do not open yourself to life.

Today, open yourself. Seek opportunities to expand yourself, to experience life, to live a little bigger, to live beyond what you've known, to get outside of your bubble of comfort. It is a disservice to yourself and to the world to play small. Life is a gift--get out there and live it.