The Reluctant Instructor
Was it a mid-life crisis? I’m not sure but the road to finding me again came with a hop, skip and a pas de basque.
An army wife of 25 years, a mum to two amazing boys, who have autism – my life happily centred round my family… but eventually you realise you need something for you.
And I know many of you will know exactly what I mean.
I always enjoyed all sorts of types of dancing, Highland dancing for many years as a child/teen, a bit of ballroom, Ceroc, Salsa, and lots of Scottish Country Dancing.
The “happy high” you get from dancing is difficult to pin down – but I always missed my dance classes.
A great friend of mine spotted a post on Facebook about Highland Hustle – train to be an instructor!
After a lot, and I mean a lot of wondering if my now nearly 50 mind and body could keep up, and have the confidence to teach others I signed up for the course.
What a revelation – dancing that I loved and exercise that I could do – Gillian (the founder of Highland Hustle) was so positive and encouraging, she kept telling me I could do it.
And so… it really was a dark night in November when I did a taster class as the final part of my training – with a group of my fellow military wives. I did it – I actually stood in front of people and a class.
I decided to stay with friendly faces and offer the class just to the military families.
Fast forward three years – I’m no longer an army wife ( we are now on civvy street) but I’ve taken the plunge, hired a hall and had my first class of “strangers” this week – scary but in a good way and I’ve got some lovely ladies in the class.
One or two were dancers as children as well and said exactly the same thing, “I miss the buzz that Highland Dancing used to give me” – I hope I keep them all buzzing every week from now on.
I guess I’m no longer The Reluctant Instructor – I love my time with my fellow Hustlers – Team Hustle made that happen.
Next instalment
What’s the formula for getting one instructor (mum) to a Hustle Conference – all I need is 36 hours out of the house – how hard can that be?