Zumba Performance Anxiety

 

You know you are a people-pleaser when you are in the middle of a subbing a Zumba class and someone walks out. It's all I can do to concentrate on cueing and not call out, "Wait, come back! There's 45 more minutes." Subbing feels personal since each and every class is slightly different with it's own dynamic. People may leave for a number of reasons. Maybe the class was too difficult, and they felt intimidated by the choreography. Maybe they prefered hip hop over latin music. Maybe they just threw their back out. Maybe the sitter just called and they were needed back home. Logically I understand, but it's still hard not to feel like, "Rats, they don't like me"...even if 50 other people stayed and each sweated up 750 calories, I'm still thinking about those who left.

I normally teach a smaller crowd in the mornings with many stay-at-home moms and retirees. In that crowd there is often a senior voice that calls out that it's too loud. The night after-work crowd calls out insistently that the music is not loud enough. The same could be said for light preference, and temperature preference and tempo preference. Each group is a little different with different demands.

In the back of the night crowd was a senior lady who looked to be about 65. She was smiling the whole time, hanging in there for the most part. After class I introduced myself to her and told her that I loved her smile and that it looked like she was having a good time. She told me that her name was Heather and that that was her first zumba class ever. My perspective instantly changed. Instead of fretting over the ones who left, I could focus on the one person I could make a difference for.

God, may everything I do honor You, and may I leave the results in your hands. Get my insecurity out of the way.