Zumba vs. Dance ...or Priority Juggling
My friend, Stacy, watered the seed in my head this week that I should get certified to be a Zumba instructor. She wants to do it in the next year just for fun as a personal goal; if I were going to do it, I'd definitely want to teach, (to recoup the certification cost & so I don't have to pay for my own classes anymore! :-D) But she is so fired up about it just for fun, it really got me thinking... I am having a hard time with the idea of teaching dance here. There are TONS of classic, non-competition dance schools in this area = perfect for us. The problem is, NONE of them open to run classes during the school day for younger students, which is what I would want to teach. The whole point of me teaching is to fulfill my passion WITHOUT taking away from my own kids, and with them BOTH in school until 3 PM this coming year, there's no way I'm putting them off for any of the 4 or 5 waking hours a day I *do* have with them.
Plus, at this point I want their extracurriculars to take priority over mine, and I've already got Junior League and hopefully some church singing in the future which will occasionally be in the early evenings that JB will have to get home for. Will's going to play football, which we've discovered is almost every weekday, (games M,W,F & practices off days; glad we had t-ball to break us into this schedule! :-)) and Annelise is going to cheer. (They want me to coach cheer, again - I haven't committed, yet.) Annelise also CRAVES dance & gymnastics, so after 2 years in a row of moving & getting snubbed out of recitals, you better believe she *will* get one this year!!! :-D So that's another thing to add to the list of what we want to do in those precious 4 or 5 post-school hours. [I'm figuring we can put gymnastics on hold until after football season, and then she can replace cheer with that, since they don't have recitals for which you need to be enrolled the complete year. Gym moms - is that a bad call?]
So yeah, even though everyone keeps saying, "You should totally teach dance here!" and my mornings are free, it's not that easy. I'm *not* free when ALL 5 dance schools that I've looked into schedule their classes, and in fact, we are totally (although HAPPILY! :-)) swamped for those hours. [BTW - I would so appreciate any prayers of ordering our schedule you could offer up, that God would make it clear which dance class & school I should enroll Annelise in and whether or not I should coach cheer, and that the cheer & football schedules would be perfectly compatible.]
Soooooo then, this morning I had the most blah Zumba class ever. [It was a sub - our instructor is at convention; but for realz - HOW did she make Zumba BORING?!] ...And that may have just solidified my motivation to get CERTIFIED! If she can call that a class, I'll be a rockstar! :-D Seriously, if certified, I could teach Zumba classes (still getting my dance on! ;-)) in the mornings on my own terms, just like my friend Melissa taught in MI. [I already have an AMAZING plan for a location in need...but I don't want to spill all my ideas, yet! ;-)]
Buuuuut, I'm taking it as a sign that I'm not supposed to hop on this RIGHT NOW, though: there are NO training sessions I can attend that have been scheduled from now into October. :'( The ATL in July is sold out, and the 3 close enough to drive to in August are literally the *ONLY* days I'm busy: Hoover, AL is on Will's birthday and both ATL & Tallahassee are while JB & I will be in Savannah on our *FIRST* adult trip (other than our house-hunting to move down here, but that wasn't vacay-ish) w/o the kids EVER. The hotel is paid, & we're going for a work conference for JB, so we can't go a different weekend.
I'm not discouraged, though - I know I'll get in at the perfect time, and maybe I'm supposed to give in & coach Annelise's cheer squad, again, this fall, anyways and then Zumba afterwards? Thoughts?
Plus, at this point I want their extracurriculars to take priority over mine, and I've already got Junior League and hopefully some church singing in the future which will occasionally be in the early evenings that JB will have to get home for. Will's going to play football, which we've discovered is almost every weekday, (games M,W,F & practices off days; glad we had t-ball to break us into this schedule! :-)) and Annelise is going to cheer. (They want me to coach cheer, again - I haven't committed, yet.) Annelise also CRAVES dance & gymnastics, so after 2 years in a row of moving & getting snubbed out of recitals, you better believe she *will* get one this year!!! :-D So that's another thing to add to the list of what we want to do in those precious 4 or 5 post-school hours. [I'm figuring we can put gymnastics on hold until after football season, and then she can replace cheer with that, since they don't have recitals for which you need to be enrolled the complete year. Gym moms - is that a bad call?]
So yeah, even though everyone keeps saying, "You should totally teach dance here!" and my mornings are free, it's not that easy. I'm *not* free when ALL 5 dance schools that I've looked into schedule their classes, and in fact, we are totally (although HAPPILY! :-)) swamped for those hours. [BTW - I would so appreciate any prayers of ordering our schedule you could offer up, that God would make it clear which dance class & school I should enroll Annelise in and whether or not I should coach cheer, and that the cheer & football schedules would be perfectly compatible.]
Soooooo then, this morning I had the most blah Zumba class ever. [It was a sub - our instructor is at convention; but for realz - HOW did she make Zumba BORING?!] ...And that may have just solidified my motivation to get CERTIFIED! If she can call that a class, I'll be a rockstar! :-D Seriously, if certified, I could teach Zumba classes (still getting my dance on! ;-)) in the mornings on my own terms, just like my friend Melissa taught in MI. [I already have an AMAZING plan for a location in need...but I don't want to spill all my ideas, yet! ;-)]
Buuuuut, I'm taking it as a sign that I'm not supposed to hop on this RIGHT NOW, though: there are NO training sessions I can attend that have been scheduled from now into October. :'( The ATL in July is sold out, and the 3 close enough to drive to in August are literally the *ONLY* days I'm busy: Hoover, AL is on Will's birthday and both ATL & Tallahassee are while JB & I will be in Savannah on our *FIRST* adult trip (other than our house-hunting to move down here, but that wasn't vacay-ish) w/o the kids EVER. The hotel is paid, & we're going for a work conference for JB, so we can't go a different weekend.
I'm not discouraged, though - I know I'll get in at the perfect time, and maybe I'm supposed to give in & coach Annelise's cheer squad, again, this fall, anyways and then Zumba afterwards? Thoughts?
Girl! I needed a cup of coffee to read that. I was worn out halfway through!!! I know your mind has to be with thinking about all of that! LOL!
ReplyDeleteYou know you are the happiest when giving your spirit to others!! I say go for it all!!! Do the rumba course in October...that will be here fast. Absolutely coach annelise's cheer team. We both know how horrified you will be if she ends up with a subpar Mom!!!
ReplyDeleteI really want you to teach Zumba!!! I gave no doubt your class will be a success. Think about it...what do you tackle that's not??? I know you and you are thinking all things through....once you get the schedule sorted out and have the t's crossed. You will focus and prepare for all of the things you want to accomplish!!!! I am really excited for this year for you. It's all coming together. You will not be happy on the sidelines! You are happiest participating in life!!!!!!!!!!
SO TRUE!!! :-D
ReplyDeleteYeah, I do feel OK not rushing the Zumba certification - this year will FLY BY!!! I'm going to find out more about the coaching committment to make sure I won't be missing Will's games and then decide for sure. :-)