When Feeling Pressured to Do More, You Could Benefit From Doing Less

Yesterday evening, as I sat in front of my laptop, I felt overwhelmed by the thought of all that I could’ve been doing — I could’ve completed another module of a course I’m taking. I could’ve recorded a video for my business. I could’ve read another chapter from my current book. Work felt endless.

Instead of getting caught up in the never-ending amount of things I could’ve been doing, I decided to take a different route. My intuition told me to drop the work and go take a contemporary dance class instead.

Logically, it didn’t make sense to go dance — I had all these things I wanted to cross off my to-do list. Intuitively, it did.

I’m glad I listened to my intuition. Here are the 3 things I learned from choosing contemporary dance (vs. focusing on my to-do list).

1)?The to-do list is endless whilst some opportunities can be far and few in between

I don’t think I’ll ever reach a point where there won’t be something on my to-do list. There will always be an available avenue for me to improve my craft, do more inner work, etc. However, this isn’t the case with other things in life. For example: Contemporary dance class only takes place once a week. If I miss it, I have to wait another week. On the other hand, if I choose to attend dance class, I have more flexibility to find time to make up for the work I didn’t do.

2)?Moving the body can lead to transmutation of energies

Did you know that when animals experience trauma, they will shake their bodies? They literally shake things off. In a similar fashion, when we move our bodies, we’re able to transmute stuck emotions in our bodies. It’s no wonder I left the contemporary dance class feeling lighter — it was through dancing that I was able to get out of my head and be in my body.

3)?There’s no right or wrong way of dancing nor is there a right or wrong way to live

During the class, the instructor gave us the opportunity to engage in free-form dance and it was incredibly liberating — to know that there isn’t a right or wrong way to dance and that what’s important instead, is to just go with what the body feels at any given moment.

This experience reminded me that there’s no right or wrong way to live life either (as long as you’re not hurting anyone else in the process).?It’s okay to make different choices and do things differently, even if everyone else around you is doing something a certain way.

Chances are, when you feel like you should be doing more, you could probably benefit from doing less. I encourage you to get out of your head and into your body through movement — whether that’s through dancing, walking or exercising. It may seem counterintuitive to stall on your to-do list to engage in these activities, but I promise you’ll come back feeling refreshed and that’s what will propel you forward.

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