J is for "Just DO IT"

J is for…. Just Do It

 Hmmmm….guess that “Just Do It” would apply to my getting this blog written on time, too!  Actually, doesn’t it apply to anything that is out of our comfort zone or not something that we don’t actually love to do and do easily?  Really….when was that last time someone had to tell me to ‘get off my butt and Just DO IT’ when it came to eating an ice cream cone?????

 It’s hard enough to get committed to do something that is unfamiliar, seems that it will be difficult or overwhelming, or maybe even embarrassing or painful (as in my favorite excuse for not going back to the gym….it has been months or maybe a year since I have been and I know I am going to be too sore to move after I have been so…why go!) but more often than not, the thought process that we go through to try to justify not doing something unfamiliar is much worse than the actual activity turns out to be (that acknowledgement probably will not get me to the gym tonight because I have several other well worn excuses)!

 Dancing can be a really tough activity to start, especially if we believe that we are clumsy or uncoordinated or have 2 Left Feet!  I mean…if I go to dance class and can’t dance, I might look bad…right?  Umm….isn’t not being able to dance the point of taking dance class and isn’t it really likely that everyone else in class is equally unsure of themselves and their ability to grasp the new techniques that they are being taught?  So…wouldn’t taking a class be a great way to get started?  And, if a class still seems overwhelming, there are always private lessons….one-on-one attention from an instructor with no concern about the rest of the class watching, pointing and thinking…wow….(s)he does that way better than I do…I wonder what (s)he is doing in this class?

 So…be brave…try something new….JUST DO IT….learn to dance!

Dance of the Day:  Jitterbug 

(Could be Jive…but I think that describing those darned kick/flicks is way too much work….just dancing them!)

Jitterbug is a member of the swing dance family that gained popularity in the mid-1930’s.  Danced to moderate or faster swing music, it can be very energetic, aerobic and acrobatic.  Although a number of different versions of swing have been called “Jitterbug” over the years, what we commonly dance now is ‘rock-step, step-step’ pattern to quick-quick-slow-slow timing.  It’s just that those slows can be pretty darned quick sometimes!  The dance is rotational in nature and mostly stationary although it can “drift” somewhat randomly depending on the patterns danced. 

Interestingly, the term “Jitterbug”  is used to describe the dancer as well as the dance.  It has also been coined as a somewhat derogatory reference to the jerky, uncontrolled movements of a drunk person.  The term has appeared in many songs, including Cab Calloway’s “Call of the Jitterbug” and “Minnie the Moocher”.  And, although it was cut from the final film, a song called “The Jitterbug” was written for a scene in the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz” where the Wicked Witch of the West sent a bug to sidetrack the traveling heroes by causing them to dance the “Jitterbug”!  Ah….and dancing is still a great distraction today!