The year was 1977. The movie: Saturday Night Fever. I probably didn’t see it until the early 80s, but that movie shaped my dance moves for all time. When Travolta goes down into the splits and wins over the crowd, he inadvertently planted the seed in my brain: splits = dance floor success. With one move, I get the girl, the trophy and the street cred to take my mad skills to Broadway (wait, that’s not me…that’s Tony Manero). I get the “best dancer” title in my high school yearbook (which so did not happen, LMAO!)
I have employed that move with great success over the years. But it has come to my attention that it might be time to give it up. In 2008, I was dancing myself into a frenzy at my friend Pete’s lake house up north. As I dropped into the full splits, I heard an audible pop. Not one to be a quitter, I kept going, unable to hear the cries of pain coming from my leg over the pulsing dance music and my own determination.
I woke in the morning barely able to move with a torn ligament in the back of my thigh. (I feel like Travolta just might stretch before he lays out our signature move). With three months of recovery ahead of me, I proceeded to torture my wife, my family and all my friends with daily photos of the rainbow of bruising and swelling I experienced. It was a veritable sunrise of purple to red to yellow, and no one could escape my oversharing. It’s gross, and it’s true, and everyone should remember that I am the original “what you see is what you get.” NO FILTER, authentic Farbz, 24-7.
Flash forward to the HealthRise Holiday Party 2015: me, Travolta and the band were all back together again! This time, I only went half-splits (my wife was thrilled), and I felt it all the way down to my Achilles. Half-tear! And this is when it finally hit me: the splits are not the answer. The move has to be left behind to gather dust alongside the things I managed to leave in the 80s, like skateboards and MTV, Hot Pockets and Mountain Dew. It’s all yours, Tony Manero, because, unlike me, I think Travolta left the move behind long ago.
All of this brings me to this point: how much of the past are we carrying into the present causing pain and discomfort? In 2016, I challenge you to let go of whatever old behavior no longer suits you. We are hunters, looking for our next trophy, not relics stuck in the past revisiting old ground. 2016 is going to be a breakthrough year for all of us and the only way to breakthrough is to try something new and be present and aware, able to accept what comes our way.
As far as my dance moves are concerned, I’m going to work on improving my classic moves, holding my wife close and leading her around the dance floor. She can take center stage while I nurse that Achilles’ tear back to health.
