Best of 2009 December 9: Challenge – Something that really made you grow this year. That made you go to your edge and then some. What made it the best challenge of the year for you? [Gwen Bell's Best of 2009 Blog Challenge]

During this past autumn, I stopped dancing.

Not because I wanted to. I stopped taking on-going ballroom lessons and restricted my opportunities to go out salsa dancing. Since I began salsa dancing (7 years ago) and ballroom dancing (2 years ago), I’ve never gone on a break. But I was at a time and space in which I needed to re-prioritize my life projects. [I wrote a post about quitting my job, pausing all of my side-projects and throwing myself fully into school.]

Why is not dancing a “challenge”? It has been my biggest challenge of the year because I’m not good at standing still—figuratively or literally.

Deliberately clearing my dance schedule caused me to stand still and think, reflect, meditate and reassess. It challenged me to embrace the fact that making sacrifices is necessary in order to accomplish dreams. It challenged me to grow outside of my skin and learn to move even as I stand still.

Dance has been the artistic expression that has been my outlet, passion and pure joy. I’ve gone to salsa congresses to dance with & learn from professionals. I’ve competed. I’ve performed. I’ve taught classes. I’ve goofed off.

And the challenge I’m looking forward to for 2010? To figure out how I can bring ballroom lessons and social dancing back into my life in a way that will complement and strengthen all of my life projects. And when I do that, I’ll better know how to dance and how to stand still.