DANCING WITH YOURSELF – If you’re not, here’s why you should be!

Given the title of today’s tweet I would be remiss if I didn’t start this blog off with a quick shout out to the great Billy Idol (a musical genius from the 80’s for those who don’t know who that is…but really, shame on you if you don’t know…) for his fantastic song Dancing With Myself which is literally impossible to listen to and not start dancing with yourself. Don’t believe me? Try it! I dare you! Literally impossible not to start dancing…

I bring up that song because hands down, listening to a great, upbeat song is one of the fastest ways to completely improve your mood and brighten your day. Especially if that song is one that gets you up on your feet dancing, and frankly it doesn’t matter if you are dancing with yourself or dancing with others, the positive effect is still the same.

I still remember coming home exhausted from work one day to find my then teenage daughter dancing around our kitchen singing Disney tunes at the top of her lungs, and INSTANTLY my tired self was transformed as I dropped everything and began dancing for joy around the kitchen with my daughter. Amazingly the stress left my mind and body and I felt joyous, happy, and carefree – all from the simple act of dancing around my kitchen. It would have been impossible to not be a in a great mood in that situation. And let’s face it – when you mix dancing and Disney tunes you have the perfect combination for JOY!

Yesterday I shared in my blog how some of my happiest memories as a young mother were of me and my son Dalton (before my little girl was born) dancing around our house while we cleaned it to the Disney Lion King Soundtrack. We would crank up the music, grab our feather duster and paper towels and have a dance party while we cleaned our little townhouse. It took a yucky job of cleaning house and made it into something so fun and memorable, all by adding a little song and dance! There is a lesson in that experience!

Almost every one of the happiest memories in my life include fun music and dancing around to it. From every summer trip my family takes to Lake Powell, to every other family vacation we have ever been on, we remember them by whatever song made us all dance that trip.

Life is so much more joyous when we dance carefree to happy, uplifting music! Every single one of us should do it at least once every day! Seriously! And I decided that the term “Dance for joy” is not accurate…it should be “DANCE TO HAVE JOY”.

For those of you sitting there reading this thinking to yourself, “I would never dance like that, especially in front of people” let me say this – have you ever been to a dance or to an event with dancing where someone is out on the floor who can’t dance at all but they are laughing and having a great time? All of us have been there and seen that, right? Now think of that same dance event and picture the people standing around the edges being “too cool” to join in the fun. When you are standing there in that moment, who do you envy more?  Truly? I can tell you that the person who is out there on the floor having a great time, having the confidence to enjoy life and not care about looking silly to others – THAT is the person that I absolutely admire the most! And never once have I ever looked down on the person having a great time.  I don’t care if they can dance or not! I just love that they are willing to get out there and have a great time and be joyous! It makes the party so much more fun for everyone around them because they were willing to put themselves out there. They make everyone else feel more courageous to get out there themselves! Look how much good those people do in the world!! I saw a great quote about that:

“You have to be brave with your life so others can be brave with theirs.”

It’s so true! Think of it as doing an act of service to get out and dance with joy, no matter how silly you make look, by doing it you are giving others permission to be brave too and therefore you are helping to make their life happier! So get out there and DANCE PEOPLE!

There are no excuses. Everyone needs to spend a little time every single day DANCING TO HAVE JOY! Its good for your heart, its good for your health, its good for your mind. So crank up the tunes in your car and at your home tonight and shake what your mama gave you!

Last Saturday night I captured this quick video of a typical thing you will see any given night at my house when my son Dalton and my daughter Ashley are home and the music starts playing…pure JOY!:

Have an incredible day everyone. And DANCE!

~Amy Rees Anderson

4 Comments

  • Kathy Henry says:

    Hi Amy! I love your blog, but especially this one because that’s how we met, dancing at the Presidential Inauguration Ball!! So very happy we met! I have shared your blog with both of my daughters and many friends and co-workers as well. Thank you, thank you, thank you 🙂

  • Colleen Dick says:

    Oh, Yeah! Thank you.

  • Jane says:

    Love it! Your blog is precious but thanks for adding the fun video.

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