“Don’t just live
life, show it who is boss!”
That’s what I read on the t-shirt of the German Zumba dancer
tonight.
I like that quote particularly because as I was sitting there
watching the Zumba class shake, shake, shake to the Latin fusion beats, I began
to realize that I have become complacent in my daily life. I can sit in front
of a computer and read articles, write blog posts, strategize, research, and do
a whole host of other things all day long without hardly walking away from the
screen.
Is this living life?
Well, let me tell you a little story before you answer that
question. A few days ago, one of our friends from the US came to visit. We went
out to a Tex-Mex restaurant (yes, a Tex-Mex restaurant in Germany!).
Our waiter was a very nice girl and I started chatting with her (like I
sometimes do when waiters are nice!). It turns out that her father is American
and she was born in Texas but has spent most of her life here in Germany. We struck
up a great, little convo. Towards the end of our meal, our visiting friend asked
where can we go to dance salsa in Kassel (the Tex-Mex restaurant was playing
some salsa songs…umm, yeah, I know). Anyway, she told us about a place that has
a salsa night every Thursday. She also told us that she’s on an award-winning
hip-hop dance team in Germany and invited me to her practice.
Tonight, I watched my new-found-waitress-friend Angela do her thing in her dance class. After her class was over, I stayed around to
watch the Zumba class start. It was high-powered Zumba fun….dictated in German.
I thought to myself, “Wow, this is the first time that I feel am participating
in German society without the comfort of my family/friends nearby and it feels
great! Why haven’t I been getting out and doing more things like this already?”
I realized that I had
not really been living life to its full potential.
I love dancing. I love meeting people. Why did it take someone else asking about
dancing in the city I live in for me to realize I could be dancing my little
Mississippi toes off right here in Kassel, Germany every Tuesday night?
Complacency is the answer, I believe.
Sometimes, we get comfortable and we forget why we love
living and what we are living for. For me, I like exploring the world, other
cultures, and languages but I also enjoy dancing, hiking, dining, and more. My
friend who is visiting is only in Germany for a little while but he’s got that tourist energy. He is getting out there
and seeing the most of the city that he can in his 7 days here. That’s
fantastic! Before he arrived, I more or less felt as if I’d already seen everything
there is in Kassel during my first few weeks here but of course, there’s so
much more to do, even if it’s Zumba!
Tonight’s message is clear to me, “Get up, get out, and really
live life!”
What about you? How does the life you’re living compare to
the life you want to live? Sometimes,
we just need a little reminder to get out
and do it!
Get your tourist energy
going wherever you are. GO! GET IT! NOW!…LIFE ISN’T WAITING!
ACTION:
Here’s how you can put this into action. We all have things
that we have been meaning to do. But sometimes, we get caught up with life (or
what we think is life).
- Think about something you
likelove doing that you are not doing. Whatever it is: hiking, reading, knitting, yoga, talking to your mom, movie night, dancing, working out, etc. Tip: It doesn’t have to cost anything.
- Put it on your calendar. Find a way to make it happen.
- Make the commitment to yourself to just do it. You deserve it! It’s your life.
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