How many times over the last ten years have I noticed that I was off-centered? My waistline has expanded along with the expansion of my job description. The more I work, the more my body spreads and the more I spread, the more I have lost that power of centrality that should exist in my body. The first time I noticed was when I was visiting relatives that had both a pool table and a ping-pong table. These two games were my favorites as I grew up. I could lean into a serve or crash back a return with ease. On the day I paddled away at this table, the more I realized I couldn’t twist and turn with the same ease anymore because my stomach wouldn’t let me. I had the same problem with my aim at the pool table. I tried to blame my eyesight, but it was my flexibility or the fact that my arms kept hitting the pockets of fat. Oh, woe is me I thought. I have got to lose weight. But, that focus was lost easily as I went back to long hours at a desk and on a phone and in meetings, and on airplanes squeezed into small spaces with no place to exercise. But, life went on.
And now this, I discovered Zumba. I love Zumba, because I love to dance. In retrospect, before my children, I was in a constant state of movement, dancing. I could hustle, freak, shimmy, jerk, twist, four-corners, all of those wonderful dance moves with such ease. And I weighed just enough not to get tipped over by a feather. Everyone used to comment on how small (skinny) I was, and there was definitely a reason for that. I wasn’t eating out of frustration and sitting, sitting, sitting trying to meet the latest deadline which could mean absolutely nothing sometimes only a week later. But, that’s changed. Deadlines or no deadlines, I want the center of my universe to return strong and powerful. I want to find that core of who I really am and that core exists in my waistline.
It took a bit of lathering to open my mind to changing my lifestyle from a sedentary to active lifestyle. It didn’t take a rocket science or a ton of books to make me assess (rinse) my waistline and the journey I would be taking if I took no action. All it took was the sight of me in the mirror in a gym, trying to keep up with my Zumba instructor when I decided to make the right choice, the choice to live a vibrant, healthy active life and to follow my core to a longer, more prosperous life.
Dilsa Saunders Bailey, author of Dreams Thrown Away, a suspense novel available on Kindle.
