I was watching a reality TV. show with my girls last night about ballet dancers. Those of you who know me personally know THIS is an enigma all its own. I hate this kind of TV. show. HOWEVER, I was drawn to this show. Why I was drawn in was the commitment these dancers have to their own personal excellence. In my very limited scope of dancers, I understood them to dance into their early 20's, but that they were done by 25 or so. This is NOT the truth at all! Professional dancers start at a very young age and they work long and hard hours into their 30's and even 40's. They are strong and focused not only on their physical game but their mental game as well. Every move is calculated, each breath counted and every emotion controlled. And why are they so focused? For the moment on stage when it all makes sense. When every movement and every breath and every emotion breathes life into their very being.
You would think this commitment would be for the audience or for their choreographer or their director of their company, but it is not. It is for that one moment in time. They know once they achieve this magical place all the other parts will fall right into place. The synergy that is achieved by each dancer working to at their own personal excellence is eminent and the rest will come effortlessly. This is the true test of personal excellence.
Unfortunately we are all not ballet dancers. This is unfortunate on MANY levels for me! However, the commitment to excellence is in all of us. Excellence is internal, it is born in us and encouraged to grow by those that we surround ourselves with and that we look at for guidance. There are dancers that do not stay focused, that are not committed and they do not dance at the level of excellence of one who is. They eat poorly, complain about their feet hurting and somehow make it someone else's fault they did not get the part they trained so hard for. They rub it in another dancers face when they do get a prized part and then they depend on the rest of the dancers to create the synergy that they need to perform at their personal best. They are energy suckers. I wonder if they ever truly get to experience that moment when everything makes sense. Probably not.
Born in each of us is a talent or a dream that we desire to see come true. Maybe it is a book written or a multi-million dollar business idea. It could be a race to run or a level of achievement at work. It could be anything. But in each of us are two tracks of inner conversation. There is one that says "You should just give up. Why do you try? No one cares about your dreams, your hopes your aspirations. You are just a dreamer with a pie in the sky dream. What did you expect to happen? Did you really think you would make it this time? I thought the bloody knees from the last time you tried would have been enough for you." And then there is the one that says "You can do this. I know you just fell down again for the "nth" time, you are tired, you are bleeding, you cannot see through your tears of frustration, but you can do this. You can. Pull it together, stand up, take a moment and refocus. This time it will work. You can dream big dreams, you can see great achievements and you will have that one moment when everything makes sense." The track that you feed will be the one that survives. The voice that is strongest will be the one that directs you. Choose wisely, stay focused, work hard and be cautious of what you feed into your life. Only then can you achieve the level of excellence that makes it all make sense.
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