Dancing fools

We’re fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance.

Japanese proverb


This is one of those quotes that I want to carry with me to remind me of the risk of not dancing, of not allowing myself to be foolish, to make mistakes, to take big scary steps, rather than safe ones.

We always have choices - we can sit at home where it's safe, we can do the things we know are safe, we don't have to take the scary step into the unknown. Because the unknown might make us look like fools. We won't know what's going to happen, we won't know how to do that new thing, we'll look like idiots.

But I want to be the man in this sculpture, smiling a huge smile and making a fool of myself.

I want to live a life full of risks - maybe not physical ones, but the kinds of risks that make me a more interesting person, a more creative writer, someone who steps right out onto that swaying bridge over the raging rapids whether or not she's scared to death.

I'm pretty sure I'll be a better person if I dance a dance I don't know how to do. If I take belly dancing lessons and make a fool of myself. If I take sword fighting lessons or try to learn how to paint. If I go somewhere I've never been, do something I've never done.

So that's what I'm going to try to do this week - I'm going to dance.

Kate