To Change Your Life, Change Your Dance!

To Change Your Life, Change Your Dance
by John Alston, CSP, CPAE

Tom came home from work one afternoon to find total mayhem in his house. His three children were outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house.

Proceeding into the entryway, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the television was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, dog food was all over the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.

Tom quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she may be ill or that something else serious had happened. He found her lounging in the bedroom, still curled up in bed in her pajamas, reading a novel.

She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. Bewildered, he looked at her and asked, "What happened here today?"

She smiled again and answered, "You know every day when you come home from work and ask me what in the world I did all day?"

"Yes," was Tom's incredulous reply.

"Well," she said, "today I didn't do it."

Tom's wife wanted to change her dance. Do you want to learn something? Just look around. You will see people doing their dances in many different ways. There are some people who come to work and they're very uptight. They agonize over every step of their dance. Then, there are those who love to dance their dance. They're happy. They love their jobs. They feel lucky just to be alive.

If your dance isn't working for you, it's time to make that change. It's time to change your story; change your dance. Take that first step.

(This excerpt is taken from the book entitled, Stuff Happens (and then you fix it!) by John Alston.)