Permission to dance

“We don’t need to worry ’Cause when we fall, we know how to land Don’t need to talk the talk, just walk the walk tonight ’Cause we don’t need permission to dance”?—?BTS, Permission to?Dance

I showed to a club way too early the other day, which meant there was no one on the dance floor yet.?

There was this palpable, awkward energy where everyone?—?including me, someone who loves dancing?—?is visibly circling the dance floor while apparently waiting for more people to enter before going in themselves. It’s as if they’re waiting for permission to dance.?

Eventually a much wiser friend first acknowledged the awkward, self-consciousness that I must have been feeling and then directed me to just try to go to the middle, close my eyes, feel the music, and start dancing.?

I took her advice reluctantly and felt super awkward at first. But after 10-or-so minutes, I was having the time of my life.?

The whole evening turned into an interesting metaphor for how we sometimes waste our limited time waiting for other people to do something first before giving ourselves permission to do it?—?this could be anything from doing something you’ve always wanted to do, changing jobs or relationships, or moving cities.

The decision to do something or to make a change sometimes, somehow, feels more OK when we’ve seen at least one other person do it.?

Here’s the thing:?

The DJ’s set was limited to 2 hours.?

All the time spent waiting for permission and hesitating to go dance is less time available to enjoy the DJ’s set.?

We hesitate to do things in life like there’s all the time in the world to hesitate when there isn’t.?

More often than not, we actually have a very good sense of what we really want or need to do.

One of the most liberating realizations available to you is that you don’t need anyone’s permission to do them, you just need yours.?

And you can give it to yourself now.?

The Daily Spark exists for two reasons:

1. To document one idea every day that I've found helpful in my life.
2. To inspire you to discover what matters most and to take action towards it.

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About me:

I'm a second-generation Taiwanese American trying to find life’s greatest sources of meaning and make the most out of it.