Don’t give up.

Today, I am going to express why it is important to never give up.  When you know deep down that you want to do something, don’t regret not trying.  Whatever it is that you decide you want to do, you will have 1001 people telling you their viewpoint and perspective on it.  Regardless of what anyone else has to say, when you are working towards a goal that you have for yourself, how you feel about it is the most important aspect.  You have to want it.  You have to really want it, and you have to continuously remind yourself that you want it.  If the wanting it doesn’t emotionally drive you in a positive direction of action towards it then what I am about to talk about will completely derail you from the life you want to live, from the life you get to live.  On your pursuit, you are going to be challenged mentally, physically, emotionally, and in ways that you could never imagine as you start to climb towards a higher path of accomplishment.  Competition is real and in my opinion healthy, but the trick to competing successfully is to block out the doubt that creeps into your mind because of the external world.  While it is extremely important to know the reality of what is happening around you, and to study the external world for clues, lessons, and guidance, that should never be your main point of focus.  Your mindset development should be your main point of focus.

Develop and hold strongly onto your faith.  The faith in yourself.  During moments of challenge your faith will be rocked.  During times of accomplishment your faith will feel invincible, but sometimes neglected.  No matter what is going on around you, you have to hold on so strongly to how you believe in yourself and work towards strengthening it everyday.  Through all of the doubts around you, through all of the outside criticism, through all of the hurt and failure, through all of the soul crushing rejection.  It is all just training.  It is all in how you get your mind to see it and use it to strengthen you.  Creating and developing a mindset to look at the advantages you can create for yourself in times of hardship will help you thrive in times of great achievement.  It is inevitable to experience both in your life.  So knowing this, how you learn to react to these different situations will hold the key to what your life turns into.  

Your current way of thinking will dictate the direction you are headed.  The more aware you are of this direction, the quicker and more effectively you can stay consistent with your chosen path and the faith in yourself.  You have to believe in what you dream about in your imagination.  You have to see the things for yourself as happening.  You have to stick to a consistent self image so that you have clarity in your direction.  Because when those challenges come, you can’t start looking the other way.  You have to look the challenge right in the face and stand firm in your belief that you will overcome anything.

I almost gave up.  Many times.  I almost gave up during high points in my career.  I had moments of complete self doubt, imposter syndrome type feelings because of everything that was happening around me.  I knew the amount of hours I had put into practice.  I knew the park benches I had slept in overnight in the snow just to take class from some of the best choreographers in the world the next day.  I knew the constant bathroom sessions I had at 2am where my parents would knock on the door telling me I was keeping them awake because I was practicing to loudly.  I knew the sacrifices I was making everyday.  And anytime I felt like giving up, I reminded myself of the life I was going to live, and that I would not settle for anything else because I believed in myself so deeply. I didn’t need other people to see me practice.  I needed to see me practice.  I needed to see that I was willing to do the work when no one was watching.  When no one was clapping for me, when no one was supporting me, when people actually were against me, I had to clap and support myself.  I had to stand so strong in my conviction of what I was trying to accomplish that I put myself through hell, willingly.  I knew that if I could get through times with all of the cards stacked against me, I could do anything.

I literally believe that I can do anything.  If I woke up tomorrow and wanted to be a doctor, I could go through the stages of what it would take to be a doctor and accomplish it.  If I wanted to be a pilot, I could do it.  If I wanted to climb Mount Everest, I could do it.  I don’t care what you think about those ideas.  I never have.  I care about what I think.  Does doubt and public opinion disrupt my strength and make me question what I am doing, of course it does.  But I quickly flip my mind to look at it from the point of understanding what it can teach me in order to improve rather than how it makes me feel.

I know how I feel when I finish a practice session and I know I have improved.  I know how I feel when I get off stage after being in front of 100,000 people.  I know what it feels like to watch a student take something I have taught them and then be able to execute it, even better than myself.  I know what I can do, and I know what I am willing and able to do to always get better.  This mindset of not just thinking but knowing that I was able to do anything and everything I wanted to do is the most important puzzle piece for me in accomplishing what I have been able to.  I programmed myself daily to push past every single barrier that could be put in front of me.  I welcomed those barriers and created them in my training.  I wanted it to be more difficult, the more difficult the better.  I knew that if I came across the most difficult situations in my training and I was relentless in my pursuit of being able to cope with them, I knew in real life I would be able to handle anything.

At certain points in my training, my thoughts of giving up were very apparent, even after years of massive achievement.  But those thoughts were constantly pushed back by my mindset training.  It became so ingrained in me that I rarely ever entertain a thought of not being able to do something.  The main thought that comes into my mind is “How and what do I need to do to figure this out?”.  I practiced this mindset and said this to myself so many times that it is an automatic response now and I can’t tell you the power that it makes me feel from the pit of my stomach to what seems to vibrate through my entire body.  These thoughts followed by consistent action make me feel so powerful and I realize that I can turn this on in a blink of an eye in any situation, because I have trained it. 

Today I will be crossing something off my list that feels surreal.  It is actually the last goal I had left on my list of dream jobs.  Even though I have fourteen years of professional dance experience, and checked off monumental accomplishments in my field, today, February 13th, 2022 I get to perform at SuperBowl LVI.  I am forever grateful for not letting those moments of doubt stop me from moving forward.

Don’t ever give up on yourself.  Don’t ever stop yourself from imagining that you can create beautiful experiences that you can enjoy in this life.  They will come with the challenges, but those challenges are simply that, just challenges.  Push through all of the no’s.  Focus through all of the noise.  Find what you want to do in this world, and go do it.