Growth, gratitude, and reflection
Might be overselling this post right now... but Saturday was hands down one of the best things I have ever done. I'm still not entirely sure what happened (or even if it happen), but I'll do my best.
I am now officially an FLS academy graduate. What does that mean? Well, it means that for 8 weeks I learned the foundations of freestyle. If you've ever been to FLS, you may know what this means. If not... why haven't you been to see FLS? What are you waiting for?!
Ok sorry, sorry... the class teaches you the very basics of what they do at FLS, but it's so much more than that. 8 weeks ago I walked into a room with a group of strangers, all with different skill levels, and all there for different reasons. At the culmination of this class, and finishing with our show this past Saturday, we walked out of that room a family.
We made our instructors cry. We made Anthony, Andrew, and Chris cry (though only Anthony admitted to it). We made each other cry. It was the most beautiful, wonderful, scary, adrenaline-inducing thing I've ever done in my entire life and I wouldn't trade a minute of it for anything.
A year ago I was lost. I knew I was moving to NYC, but had no idea what would come of it. I had no real plans for what my life would look like, only dreams of what I wanted it to be. Lots
of people move to NY with dreams, but at 34 it felt weird to be starting my life from scratch. Now I'm almost a year in, I have people I can genuinely call friends and friends I call family. I've completely brought myself out of my comfort zone, concurred my fears, overcome my social anxiety, and feel like I can genuinely say I like my life. Is it perfect? No. Are there things I want to change? Of course, but we're constantly growing, constantly learning.
The growth of these wonderful people that I've come to love is amazing. The growth in myself is something I didn't think was possible. I am so eternally grateful for everything right now.
-Danielle
I am now officially an FLS academy graduate. What does that mean? Well, it means that for 8 weeks I learned the foundations of freestyle. If you've ever been to FLS, you may know what this means. If not... why haven't you been to see FLS? What are you waiting for?!
Ok sorry, sorry... the class teaches you the very basics of what they do at FLS, but it's so much more than that. 8 weeks ago I walked into a room with a group of strangers, all with different skill levels, and all there for different reasons. At the culmination of this class, and finishing with our show this past Saturday, we walked out of that room a family.
I applied for the class not knowing what I would get out of it. I figured it would be something fun to do on a Saturday afternoon, maybe learn a new skill, and possibly make some friends. At the start of class, oh man, it was bad. The first two classes I could barely say words. I don't know if I had higher expectations for myself or if it wasn't clicking or what happened, but I was so angry and had a full-on meltdown halfway through the 2nd class. After many pep talks from my instructors something just... clicked. By the end of the 2nd class I was able to string some nonsense together and never looked back.
As the weeks went on we all grew so much. Not just in our skill sets, but we grew as a crew... as a family. The more comfortable we all became with each other, the better things turned out. It's easy to make a mistake in something you say or say complete nonsense when you know that the people around you have your back 100%.
One of the games that we did that is also done on stage at FLS (Booth Theater through January 12th... go now), is called True. The only rule in True is that you, well, tell the truth. Some kind of true story related to the word that is pulled from the audience. My group was the last to go and our word was "respect". I went 2nd and had no idea where it was going to end up... but that's the whole point. I ended up talking about the struggles I had throughout the weeks and my family on stage with me and how much respect I have for them. These two beautiful humans below are the reason I was able to even get through that because I had them on either side of me... my True boys as I will refer to them always and forever from now on.
A year ago I was lost. I knew I was moving to NYC, but had no idea what would come of it. I had no real plans for what my life would look like, only dreams of what I wanted it to be. Lots
of people move to NY with dreams, but at 34 it felt weird to be starting my life from scratch. Now I'm almost a year in, I have people I can genuinely call friends and friends I call family. I've completely brought myself out of my comfort zone, concurred my fears, overcome my social anxiety, and feel like I can genuinely say I like my life. Is it perfect? No. Are there things I want to change? Of course, but we're constantly growing, constantly learning.
The growth of these wonderful people that I've come to love is amazing. The growth in myself is something I didn't think was possible. I am so eternally grateful for everything right now.
-Danielle
