Wednesday, June 6, 2012

My dilemma

Last Wednesday, Jason and I went to a spin class at the YMCA. Before class started the instructor, Melissa (not to be confused with my best friend of the same name), came up to me and said that some of the other instructors had been talking about me recently. Oh boy, what had I done now?

There's a dance class at the Y called Sh'Bam. While the actual Sh'Bam class has been around for a good bit, it's still fairly new to our gym (they just picked up the class in late February). Loving to dance and having no shame, I dove head first into this class. I took dance lessons for many years as a kid and I miss those. It's so hard to find dance classes (at an actual dance studio) for adults around here. This class fulfills my need to shake my moneymaker for all it's worth. My Zumba class did it too, but due to a change in my schedule, I haven't been able to make it to that in forever.

So, why were the instructors talking about me? They are looking to hire some new teachers for this class and they thought of ME! Whaaaa? Really?!?! When Melissa told me this, I was shocked and honored, but I didn't know how serious they were.

Since my brief talk with Melissa, I've been approached by two other instructors saying they think I'd be awesome and I should do it. Did I mention that I'm so honored that they thought of me?

I am leaning toward doing it. Just going for it. Why not? But, I'm faced with some barriers.  As outgoing as I am, I do still battle with self esteem and self doubt issues. My inital reaction when the instructors have talked to me about this is "Yes, sign me up." But, right on the heels of that is "Oh shit. I can't do this. I'm going to be completely off beat and forget the moves and... just look like a big ol' douchebag."

In addition to those fears is the question of "how do I fit this into my schedule?" I'm already so busy with my life in general - between my workout schedule, trying (and failing) to stay on top of reading blogs I like and writing my own (how long has it been since my last post???), and giving myself down time. I'm not one of those people who can gogogogo all the time. I can go for a bit, then I lose steam and want to just sit on my arse with a good book or my TV. I don't know how to balance everything. Sh'Bam is a class that's through a group program called Les Mills. This means you have to go through 2 days of training to get on the path to certification. Then if you pass that ass kicker, you have send in a video tape of you teaching a class. Then, after you become a certified instructor, every few months you have to learn a new set of songs/dances to teach the class. I have no idea how many hours go into those training sessions. Obviously the instructor has to know the new moves before they can release it to the class.

Jason's words of encouragement are to not make a decision now, but to get with the person in charge of setting up the training to discuss everything - how often would they want me to teach, what kind of compensation would I receive, will the Y pay for my training, etc,etc. Just get the facts and then figure out if I want to do it. The issue is - I'm on a deadline to figure this out. The certification programs travel around the country. One is actually going to be in our area next week. So, I need to figure things out asap.

Any thoughts/words of advice/heckling from you guys???

7 comments:

  1. I say do it! Jason's right - ask a few questions and get everything in order so that if the answers to those questions are the ones you want to hear, you are totally ready for it. I'm sure it'll be an awesome experience!! :-) Let me know what you decide!
    ~TCain

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    1. and it looks like I cannot spell....... that should be decide!

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    2. or maybe that is just the way an exclamation point looks around here... either way I know there isn't an L in decide... :-)

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    3. Hahaha! Sorry, yes, this font is a bit weird. I've been thinking lately of changing it (again). Thanks for the advice. I just sent an email to someone at the Y, giving my contact info and asking that he pass my info to Melissa. I have no clue how to get in touch with her, other than randomly running into her at the Y.

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  2. I think your hubby has a good idea...can you meet with them ASAP to go over all your questions? My first thought was you should go for it...just to see if you like/want to do it. If you find out it is not for you then so be it. But then you will have tried it instead of wondering what it could have been like. And it will probably help any self esteem issues ...you can just go out there and have fun. I mean...you rock...who wouldn't want to take a dance class from you.

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    1. You bring up a good point about just trying it out so I won't have to wonder. Thanks for that!! I just sent an email to someone at the Y to see about getting more info. And, definite thanks for the compliment. If I start teaching I'll tell you my schedule to see if I can talk you into coming to try it out (as a non-member of the Y, you can come 3 free times in a calendar year).

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    2. Oh..that might be fun. Definitely let me know.

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