When in doubt, dance it out!  This is a new mantra for me.  I am not a dance mom or trained dancer.  In fact when I was little I was told I lacked rhythm.   Well, that doesn’t matter anymore because I dance anyway.

Last week I started dance parties during that stressful time of 5-7 pm.  Dancing in the kitchen isn’t unusual around here, but this was a very intentional effort to turn around what has been a series of rough evenings at home.    My husband travels a lot.  After a while the loneliness sinks in, the grump factor increases, and my kids and I are both on edge more than normal.  Solution ? To dance.  Instead of turning to wine to “calm me down” (it doesn’t) I went to music.   And being the “need information” type of girl I googled the benefits of dancing.  I was not surprised to find  out that dancing helps our brains– someone smart at Harvard said that dance is a double pleasure punch b/c music + dance. Healthy, new neural pathways for the win! My instinct was true.That glass I of wine I was reaching for couldn’t really deliver long-term on what I wanted but dancing could.

Now my personal project is to fill my evenings with other activities that increase the happy hormones and slay the irritability for us all.

PS:  Here’s my dance playlist.  What’s on yours?