I Hope You Dance
by Mariah Burton Nelson  

Lately I've been dancing in the aisles at Safeway. And in front of the free weights at Gold's Gym. I do it because I'm happy -- and also because I'm danceaphobic (I dread making a fool of myself by dancing in public.) I've tried everything else (avoiding dancing, dancing with a bag over my head, calling my friend Rebecca in California and asking for emergency dance lessons) and none of that worked. So I'm implementing my own personal progressive desensitization program (as psychologists would call it.)

Athletes would call it a progression. That's when you learn how to hold the ball, then how to bend your legs, then how to shoot the ball straight up in the air, and before you know the ball is through the hoop.

A progressive desensitization program is similar: Take someone who's afraid of snakes, for instance, and put a plastic snake in the room, then ask her to hold that snake, then take a field trip to a zoo with live snakes, and before you know it she's become a snake charmer.

I'm dancing around town (more subtly than you may imagine, but dancing nevertheless) because despite my obvious athletic coordination and talent I feel intimidated by The Dance Floor, and figure I can loosen up by stepping out in other public settings, then gradually -- progressively -- working up my courage to dance freely, unselfconsciously, among "real" dancers.

It's working! I'm enjoying myself, I daresay I'm improving with practice, and I feel smoother somehow, less like an un-oiled Tin Man. Progress!

If other shoppers or weightlifters think I'm nuts, or even judge me as a Bad Dancer, so what? I've gotten beyond caring. I'm having too much fun.

I hope you are too, whatever your fears may be. As Leann Womack says, "When you get a chance to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance."

Point #1: When you're intimidated by something, try exposing yourself to it in small doses.

Point #2: It's more fun to dance than to worry what people will think of your dancing.

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