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Rallying Resilience


August 12, 2020

At the end of July, we held our annual Member Rally event for More Than Just Great Dancing!® … all virtual. It was like nothing I’d ever produced! Amazing doesn’t feel like a strong enough word.

Pre-pandemic, we were supposed to hold the event in Nashville. But by April this year, I knew that even if things got better quickly, there would still be questions about traveling safely, and the responsible action to take would be to cancel the in-person event and move it online. It was a tough decision but one I haven’t questioned. Especially when things DIDN’T get better quickly!

Pulling off a successful virtual conference was the result of incredible teamwork AND our members’ collective mindset to approach the event with a new attitude. They would be missing each other in person of course, but everyone agreed that with safety as the priority, the virtual event could still be chock-full of the same high-level of professional development and leadership training they were used to.

Many times throughout the event I thought, WOW, here we are—truly rallying. Rallying to support each other. Rallying to learn. Rallying to be beacons of light in our respective communities. Rallying to lead with the right perspective. Rallying to demonstrate our resilience. I mean, if anyone knows the power of bouncing back, it’s my fellow studio owners!

It was during our keynote speaker’s session that the message of resilience hit me hardest. Jason Redman, former Navy Seal and best-selling author of Overcome, shared his story of being wounded in Iraq and his thoughts on finding positivity in the face of negativity. He shared a TON of advice from his experience and at one point he said this: 

“You have to find the perspective that moves you.”

What seemed like such an innocent sentence had an enormous impact—and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one feeling it. The idea that you can CHOOSE your perspective is huge. And that choice is what leads you to action; it literally moves you. 

For me, finding the perspective that moves me has been about pulling back to the reasons I love my work. I love having a positive impact on studio owners’ lives by coaching them through tough decisions. I love leading my employees to achieve whatever success looks like to them. I love bringing opportunities to our dancers at the studio, even if that looks different these days. I love being a part of the industry-wide effort to keep kids healthy and safe in dance.

It’s these reasons WHY that give me my perspective and move me to action. I feel my own resilience muscles growing as I continue to dig in to all of the angles of my perspective. My perseverance, I’ve realized, doesn’t just HAPPEN. It comes from perspective.

Rallying your resilience is probably one of the biggest efforts you’ll continue to make this year. It takes choice. It takes action. So what does that mean for YOUR perspective? How are you choosing to bounce back right now? Where are you taking action?

As the start of the school year launches, I hope I can offer you some encouragement as you uncover your answers: Get back to your WHY. Think about your influence. Remember your worthiness. Honor your creativity. And above all, know you are made for this. 

WE are made for this. We’ll keep rallying. We’ll keep bouncing back!

Love, Misty

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