001. Your crippling anxiety doesn’t have you in a chokehold anymore

2025 brought me to my knees and if that wasn’t enough, it dragged me through the mud. Every bone in my body wanted to give up, to succumb to a hoa hoa timelapse (yes, that scene where Bella stares out the window while the seasons change). But there was ONE thing that kept my head above water: dance. For 3600 seconds, my thoughts belonged to the present. Nothing else mattered.

002. You start reclaiming that “yeah I can do anything” belief you had as a kid

At some point, someone told me I “couldn’t.” “You’re too FAt to lOOk graceful.” “You’re too clumsy, you’ll fall.” “You’re too slow, you won’t pick up the choreo.” For a decade (or 2), I believed it. It bled into everything I touched. But through dance, I finally hear the voice that’s been gagged for years. Little Colleen whispering, “you can do it, I believe in you.”

003. You start thinking you’re sexy even when you haven’t hit your “best” weight

For as long as I can remember eating (I KNOWWW), my body grossed me out. Even when I was my thinnest. My body never felt like it belonged to me. I felt like an Airbnb guest desperate to leave but couldn’t. But for the first time this year, I looked at the mirror and thought “heyyyy, I look sexy.” Even though I’m farrrrr from my weight goal.

So the next time your friend gushes about her dance class, LET HER.

You don’t know what it saved her from.

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