Making Sense of Exercise

I never really got into the concept of "exercise," at least the idea of lying on the floor and waving your arms and legs about. It was supposed to be good for you, but it wasn't fun and I didn't see much real point in it. Now that I've seen the Dancer taking ballet, jazz and tap, I've seen her incredible growth as a dancer, and all of the exercise she does makes sense. I prefer ballet barre work to the warm-up exercises she does in jazz, but it's all preparation for a greater end: the beauty of dancing.

I see now that this was probably my real problem all along. I had no greater end to work toward. I was not good at sports; could never have been good at sports. Not only am I under 5'4", but I also have relatively short legs (27" inseam.) And relatively short arms, and small hands. No one ever told me this stuff, though. I knew I wasn't tall, but for the rest, I just felt clumsy and awkward. Without a specific activity to pursue, my interest in exercise merely for exercise's sake decreased rapidly as I grew older.

However, after taking mother-daughter dance classes with the Dancer, I realize that I enjoy dance. Of course, I'll never be "good" at it, but it's something that I can do on my own, as opposed to a group sport, and much less expensive than something where you have to join, like a YMCA for swimming. (Not that I am a good swimmer, either.) And you can do it all year long, which matters in northeast Ohio! The real break-through for me, though, is why I hated exercise, and why it seems to make sense now.

BTW, my daughter's dance studio has started offering Zumba for adults, but I don't think I'm up to that, yet!!