"Heaven Help Me" by Eleanor Guillford

You did WHAT at dance last night?

This is a question I am asked very frequently by my friends and family as I recount the many hours I spend in the dance studio. It may sound crazy to the average person, but dance is my outlet to pour all my stress into! As a high schooler, it may not seem like I should have a lot of worries in my life, right? Well that’s not necessarily true. The world has certainly changed, and we all have to find ways to cope with it. My two favorite ways are dancing and singing. I’ve been participating in each of these activities from a very young age, and I truly do love each of them. Even though dance practices may sometimes seem like a chore, I forget all of those feelings as soon as I step out on that stage to compete a number I’ve put so much hard work into.

What is your outlet? In today’s world, we should have a way to process. After all, it isn’t healthy to stress your life away. I remember going to a dance competition last year in April about 30 minutes away from my hometown. Our competition team had a large group (11-12 of us) competing that day. It was to the song “Heaven Help Me” by Zach Williams. If you haven’t listened to that song, I strongly encourage you to. That song had touched my heart every other time I danced to it, but I was emotionally raw that day. I remember very vividly being on that stage, and completing the steps and hearing the musical cues that told me what to do next. That particular day, the song was ringing true as I was reminded of all the things I had overcome along my journey with CF especially. All I could do in that moment was dance to the best of my ability to process all of the emotions I was feeling that day. I was so proud of my group’s performance, since we all poured our hearts out on that stage. It paid off, as we got first place overall! 

I ended up in tears after performing that dance, as the words about knowing you can’t do this alone washed over me. Those words are absolutely true, we can’t do this alone! Whether that be finding people to talk about or an activity to help you process whatever it is you may be going through. For me, it’s dancing to praise music like “Heaven Help Me”, or singing belty, emotional songs with Maren (my sINgSPIRE teacher). So sure, when people ask me what exactly I did at dance last night, I may answer with a smile or some laughter. However, in my heart I know that it was necessary to help me process whatever is going on around me.

I will leave you with this question. What is it that helps you process your world? How can you share that with others? Happy New Year!  -Eleanor Guilford