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?
