We talk about what holds us back but we need to examine what the real issues is—like what is the real obstacle keeping us from living the life we want when we are more than capable of breaking the scenario down and taking it on bit by bit?  Today I want to talk about the pursuit of more in an unconventional way.  Having discussed the purpose of leaving a safe harbor, now I want to dive a bit deeper into the ways we try to leave the harbor.  Lessons pop up in the most unlikely of places and I’m oddly addicted to watching America’s Sweethearts, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.  Sure, a lot of them are 20+ years younger than me and they’re the type of clique-y girls I detested in my younger years—but kind of, sort of, probably wanted to be a part of.  Regardless of personal trauma triggers, there is something captivating about the story these women share.  I feel the institution is such a fine line of what it stands for and supports in what they look for—the aesthetic is important and highly focused on but so is the person and what they contribute to themselves, the team, and the community at large. 

First and foremost, I will say that these are highly intelligent, talented, driven, passionate, well-rounded women.  Not one of them looks at this as a meal ticket to something else—they do it because they love it.  The show captures the amount of dedication and work that goes into the dance aspect of it as far as the discipline and the ability to learn quickly, but it also shows what these girls do outside of that work.  One of the leads works 4 jobs including being a licensed pharmacist running the family business, a Pilates teacher, and an assistant to an executive.  Another is a billing director for a law firm preparing to take the LSATs.  Last season, one of them was a dentist.  I have always wanted to navigate multiple things like that—and that is still a goal of mine because there are so many things to do in this life and I never thought we had to settle on just one thing.  It takes a lot of energy, clarity, and discipline, but it’s doable as all these women demonstrate.  Aside from burnout potential, the multi-faceted focus is absolutely something to strive for.  Life has a lot to offer so take advantage of it.

Which leads to the other side of the story that needs to be addressed: the standards these girls live up to and the fact that if they don’t, there is someone waiting in the wings to take their spot—and they know it.  Dance is a tough industry to begin with but this company throws in crazy timelines to learn the material and is quite unforgiving when it comes to mistakes. One mistake can result in being cut.  Standards like that can set people up for a potential tailspin into darker things.  Many of the girls do deal with various mental health issues and a few of them opened up about eating disorders.  The uniform leaves nothing to the imagination and the requirement to get a makeover to meet the standards of the perfectly-together-woman seem overwhelming for even the most capable.  But these women still take that chance—they love dance and they want to put that skill to use and they put themselves on the line personally and professionally to do it.  They show what it means to deal with the good and the bad of what we love and how to fight for what is right within that.  There are so many layers to what we experience in life that we can’t take things at face value.