You Can Dance Through the Pain

Summary

The author finds solace and healing in dance as a means to process personal grief and collective sorrow, despite initial struggles with numbness and overconsumption of media.

Abstract

Faced with an overwhelming mix of personal and collective grief, the author initially resorts to escapism through excessive media consumption, which leads to a sense of mental clutter and inability to contribute meaningfully. Upon recognizing this vicious cycle, the author turns to dance, guided by a healing song, to safely express and process emotions. The dance, recorded as an experiment, doesn't immediately resolve the grief but opens up the author to vulnerability and the courage to seek help from friends who are healers and life coaches. The author, embracing the role of a Gentleness Ambassador, shares this personal journey despite feeling clumsy with words, and expresses gratitude to a supportive reader, Camille Grady, who encourages continued writing through pain.

Opinions

The author believes in the power of movement and music as tools for emotional healing and self-expression.
There is an acknowledgment of the ineffectiveness of distraction and passive entertainment as long-term strategies for coping with grief.
The act of dancing is seen as a way to connect with deeper emotions and facilitate a sense of openness and authenticity.
Vulnerability is embraced as a necessary and positive step towards personal growth and emotional processing.
The author values the support and encouragement received from friends and the reader community, particularly highlighting the impact of Camille Grady's encouragement.
Sharing personal experiences, even when challenging, is viewed as an important part of the author's role as a Gentleness Ambassador.

When words fail you

When words fail to describe this collective grief mixed in with some personal sorrow, I tried numbing it out. Plonking my body on my bed, bingeing on a Netflix series I just had to finish. The consequence — feeling too cluttered in my energy to contribute anything of value, and so I continue to consume entertainment conveniently accessed with a few taps on my phone…mindlessly.

A vicious cycle, where I kept strangling myself, till my Gentleness instinct asked me to dance it out.

Using the song as a soft container to allow my feelings to emerge safely.

I sobbed so much right at the start of my dance that I felt so exposed. But it was interesting how I continued to let my movements and the song instill more faith and healing within me.

All of this was recorded on a tripod. It was a crazy experiment and I was curious to know if this worked in helping me process my grief.

It didn’t. Not with just one dance. But I felt so much more open and real.

I felt vulnerable, but it felt right to be vulnerable. To not appear as happy-go-lucky all the time. I made peace with my feelings, even those that I didn’t want to feel. Dancing this way helped me feel braver in asking for help. I reached out to a few of my healer and life coach friends, and I felt so much better.

I have no idea if this might be helpful for you, readers, but I’m following my heart to share this, even as I’m feeling quite clumsy with my words. I want to keep honoring my work as a Gentleness Ambassador here.

Thank you for reading and for supporting this publication. And thank you, dear Camille Grady, for encouraging me to keep writing. I’m grateful for your prompt :)

Here’s what Camille wrote about writing through the pain.

With gratitude, Bingz

You Can Dance Through the Pain

When words fail you

Somehow I Just Know

It will all be okay