Dancing

If you dance to the music, you'll find yourself... less afraid.  I have been scared to dance in front of others for a long time.  I remember my 6th grade dance, where almost no one was dancing, and I was made fun of for trying to dance.  Yet I went to all the dances in college - dorm dances, APO dances, the school-wide Welcome Back and Spring Fling dances.  I danced a lot in college, with my friends.  Now I dance at home, with my daughter.

Other times, though, my feet become cement blocks glued to the floor and my brain becomes like a deer caught in headlights.  I need to move, want to move, and don't dare move.  Something has got me trapped.  Some fear, and I can't move past it.  I'm afraid of being made fun of, of being ridiculed, of having attention called to me.  I don't want to rock the boat.  I don't want to be singled out.  I don't want to be criticized.  And so I don't do anything.  I don't want the eyes of the world on me, or what feels like the eyes of the world.

I was painfully shy growing up.  And as a grown-up, I've now served in three professions (teacher, missionary, pastor) where you can't be shy.  You have to speak up.  The attention is on you.  You are a public speaker.  You don't have a choice and you can't be shy.  I have come a long way.  I am less afraid than I used to be.