Intro:

@Cozybedbug

Hey there Cozybedbug!  I hear that you feel a lot of pressure with dance. It’s something that you love so much, and there’s a lot of stress around quitting or the fear of not having it in your life anymore.  That’s an incredible amount of stress for anyone to carry!  You mentioned that if you don’t have dance, you have nothing.  I can only imagine how high the stakes have to be to feel the need to keep dance in your life, even when it’s causing a lot of anxiety.  As an athlete, the pressure to improve and maintain that can be overwhelming.  Your message sounded very hurried, and for me at least, when I’m stressed and going a million miles an hour, I can’t process what I’m feeling or thinking as well.  Try to ask, what are the pieces of dance that are making you fear you might quit?  Are there other stressors in your life that might make it harder to maintain dance?  I can hear how urgent and huge this is for you right now, and I think that makes it even more important to breathe for a second.  Even a couple seconds if you can, but if you can only get one in right now, that’s ok.  It sounds like your identity is pretty tight around dance, you have given up everything for it, so to not have it in your life is nearly unimaginable.  That is a lot of pressure.  Try to slow it down, if you can.  You don’t have to decide to quit or not today, or even tomorrow.  This is something that you love so much in your life, you feel it’s who you are, and if you can process some of that stress it might help focus on what you love.  Hey, easier said than done, I totally get that!  And I wouldn’t have written that if I didn’t think it could help. 

That said, you are also more than dance.  You are incredible and brave for posting your fears. You are insightful for reaching out when the stress is getting so high. There are a million things that make you, you, outside of dance.  I know you are worried about that love of dance going away, and yes, that is a scary feeling!  And I hope you are able to look back at why you fell in love with it in the first place, and help find some clarity.  You are capable of so much.  And I’m not going to tell you something that isn’t true.  Take a breath, listen to some music, journal about what you are feeling if that helps you, and get some space.  I don’t think anything is changing today.  You’ve got this, ok? We are here for you.