The kids have started dance. And almost immediately we suspected the oldest was in the wrong class, that she was ready to move up to beginning ballet instead of pre. So we discussed this with her teacher who agreed and suggested she try out the beginning class right away instead of after the holiday break. Immediately, she expressed all manner of fear. “But I don’t want to perform!” “But I don’t want to be in a different class from my sister!” All the way home it was fear, fear, fear.

So we hauled her off to the trial class after a day of angst. We watched her glow while she put on real ballet slippers. We watched her leap and balance and twirl and work at the barre. We saw a confidence that was new. And when class was over, she gushed. It was fantastic, amazing, she loved it. She didn’t want to leave. She wanted to stay and watch the next class of more advanced students. Finally we dragged her away to eat something, but we knew: she’d found IT.

Sometimes the thing you love most is the thing you fear most. Sometimes fear points you in the very direction you should go. The thing you love, the thing you can’t tear yourself away from, the thing you’ll do all the time because it is its own reward. 

If there’s something you’re afraid of, you don’t have to wait until the New Year to make a resolution to give it a try. Just try. You might love it. You might not want to stop.