Don't lose your sanity: Make yourself a priority

Time.  It’s a battle we all struggle with, especially when we have other people depending on us.  It seems there is a million places we need to go every day and a million things that need to be done before noon.  Sometimes it seems we never get a break and the question on whether or not we can spread ourselves any thinner consumes our mind.  Do we deserve a break?  Probably.  Are we going to get one?  Probably not; at least not until that vacation we’ve all been dreaming about comes along.  Chances are, that right when you feel like you can’t handle anything else something new will be added to your plate.  So, what do you do?

Take some time to clear your head.  Whatever you need to do so that you can think logically, do it.  No one makes wise decisions in the midst of shit hitting the fan.  Go for a walk, take a nap, and scream into a pillow if you need to.  The first step is to release the negative feelings that are keeping you from taking positive action.

Pay attention to your plate.  You know the old saying that we can handle anything put in front of us?  I call that bullshit.  If you are continuously adding to your plate and not clearing anything from it, you will eventually crack.  People see us frantically living life, stressed to the max and don’t understand why their request of lasagna for dinner is enough to make us question our sanity. Remember, it’s okay to take a break sometimes.   If you don’t, the stress will build and you will eventually have a major breakdown.

Dance.  Physical exercise is great for lowering stress levels.  It lets off happy endorphin's in your body and allows your mind to focus beyond your daily struggles.  This is very important; this allows you to view the “whole picture” and not only your stressor.  Dance is a great form of exercise; it leaves you feeling confident and sexy.  Compare it to hitting a home run, not only are you scoring points for your team, you also boost your confidence by achieving the highest glory.  Everyone is proud of you and you are proud of yourself.  When placed in stressful situations the best medicine is to do things that remind you how important you are.

 

Don’t deny yourself “your time”.  When our plate is full, it is easy to make excuses why we don’t make time for ourselves.  Somehow we muster up the energy to take care of everyone else, and at the end of the day we feel there’s just not enough time or energy for ourselves.  Again, I call bullshit; there is time, you just have to make it a priority.  If you don’t do things that make you happy you will begin to resent taking care of others, and that is no way to live a happy and fulfilled life.  Reflect on the last week; you can’t convince me that there is not one night that you can’t take an hour for “you time”.

 

Take action.  It’s time to stop reading about improving yourself and start doing it.  Sign up for a DanceWithMiranda dance class and start experiencing a whole new way of exercise and self-improvement.  Get a friend to join you and come have a great time and make some new friends.  Trust me, you deserve it!

Classes start the first week in June.  For more information check dancebymiranda.com

A Strong woman is a Sexy woman

There are certain things in life that women want and need to feel good; appreciation, a sense of accomplishment and the feeling that our presence makes everything better.  We want to feel desirable to our significant others and needed by our families.  Life can be hard. We all go through tough times and many of us find ourselves stuck behind a wall; a wall that we build to keep pain and insecurities out.   With each rough patch of our life, this wall becomes higher and thicker.  In theory, it seems like a good idea. It is protecting us from the dangers on the other side, but in reality it is trapping us.  We can fight the battle on the other side of the wall, and we can win.  I don’t know about you, but I am tired of hiding.  I’m ready to be free of fear and live my life with no limitations.  I am loved, and I deserve to be loved, and so do you.  It’s days like this, when I have to remind myself that I am beautiful, inside and out, and I am loved.  We are strong.  We are women. We create, inspire, love, give, feel and bring so much happiness to others, that it’s time we inspire ourselves.

That’s right, it’s time to face the demons of your past with every ounce of fight in your body; and trust me it’s not easy, but it is worth it.  You’re going to stumble and doubt yourself at times, but you are strong, and you have the capability to learn from your mistakes and continue fighting.  The demons that haunt you don’t have that luxury of self-growth.  They are stuck in the past, and over the years they have lost their purpose and their strength has diminished.

Lean on your loved ones: If there was ever a time to let your loved ones into your head, it’s now.  Although it’s difficult to do the concept is simple: If you want your spouse to care and support you, you have to talk to them about what’s going on.  Sometimes I think the hardest thing to do is ask for a hug.  We expect people to know what we need, and that’s not fair to anyone including ourselves.  When you appreciate others, they will appreciate you.

Keep adding to you good memories:  Remember the feelings you had when you first fell in love?  They are a little short story tucked away in our memory catalog, and when we look back at them we can’t help but smile.  But over time relationships evolve, and this book is layered with new unorganized memories.  And for some reason, the fight over who forgot to put the milk away (that lasted for 5 minutes) seems more important than the weekend away from the kids.  It doesn’t have to be this way. That short story can become a novel by simply moving it to the front of your catalog and adding to it regularly.  Whether they are simple or elaborate, it should be a priority to create new, good memories.  Want some help cleaning the kitchen?  Try doing the dishes wearing nothing but underwear; it usually works for me, and it makes it so much more enjoyable doing it with my love. 

Always remember: You are strong.


dancebymiranda.com

Confidence is Sexy

It is not unknown that dance is a good form of exercise; it is good for joint strength, balance and posture, gives you a tight core and a bouncy booty.  But beyond physical enhancements dance is proven to lower stress, increase energy and give you a major confidence makeover.  Many people, including myself consider self-confidence to be the sexiest element a person can have.  How we view ourselves sets the stage for what others think about us and when we focus on our positive attributes, we exude sexiness. 

Confidence is a journey; it is not something that comes to you over night and after years of having a negative attitude about our-self it will take time to change that behavior permanently.  And as life goes on we will all encounter others parts of our life that need adjusting, so always be ready and prepared for change.  

“Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.”

-Judy Garland

Gaining self-confidence starts here:

Acceptance:  Accept your body, accept what you like and what you don’t like.  Accept others; their differences are what make them beautiful.  When you become truly accepting you will broaden your horizon of what’s possible and gain the strength to change things you may not like about yourself.  Want to lose weight?  In order for this to happen you must fully accept yourself and your flaws and have the confidence to keep pushing yourself towards your goal.  

Believe in yourself!  You are what you say you are.  Tell yourself you’re beautiful! Compliment yourself!  Our mind holds ultimate power over our well-being.  While it is always nice to hear you are beautiful from someone else, it is most important and powerful for you to say it to yourself.  Start telling yourself you are beautiful every day (and really mean it) and you will see that other people begin to compliment you.  These compliments will add to your self-confidence but it is important not to rely on them. 

Join a class!  Dance provides the perfect opportunity to meet other women who are on the same journey as you.  Don’t deny the support!!  It’s a fun way to get in shape and meet women with similar interests (we all know it’s not as easy making friends as an adult). Don't be shy, it's time to gain the confidence you deserve! 

For more information about classes please visit

www.dancebymiranda.com

The Power of being "Superwoman"

     Many of us woman consider ourselves to be the modern day version of superwoman.  We work hard from the moment our eyes open to the moment we go to sleep.  We manage to get the kids feed, dog walked, lunches pack, garbage out to the road and the kids to school before its even 9 o’clock in the morning.  We go to work, bust our asses till 5 o’clock, come home to cook our families’ dinner, clean up after dinner, work on laundry, help little ones with their homework, maybe sneak in a few kisses from our man, get the kids bathed and ready for bed and by this time is 9 o’clock at night.  Sound familiar?  Probably, because that is the normal “routine” that many of us find ourselves doing on a daily basis. 

       Now, don’t get me wrong there is nothing I love more than being a mother but there is something missing from the routine I spoke of above and that missing piece leaves a rather negative tone to our daily lives.  Any idea of what the missing piece is?  It’s you.  You are missing from your daily routine and without your presence your days are incomplete.  As mothers, lovers and providers we tend to focus so much energy on taking care of everyone else in our lives that we neglect to take care of ourselves.  There is a catastrophic problem with this however, our love is what holds our family together and when we do not take time to love and appreciate ourselves we often do not feel that others are appreciating us either.  Do you follow where I’m going with this?  Other’s appreciate us as much as we appreciate ourselves.  Need some TLC from your one and only?  Ditch the sweats, put on something sexy and remind him of how much he wants you.

       We've all seen Superwoman, she’s sexy as hell so to truly consider ourselves “Superwoman” we must take care of ourselves.  This is what I imagine Superwoman’s daily routine looking like.  Wake up, look in the mirror and tell yourself you’re beautiful and nothing can stand in your way.  Kiss your man good morning and remind him of why there’s nothing better than waking up next to you.  Have breakfast with the kids, walk the dog while the kids take the garbage to the road before school.  Take the kids to school and go to work knowing that your hard work supports your household.  Come home after work, have dinner with your family, contemplate folding the laundry and decide it can wait until tomorrow.  Give the kids a bath and have some play time before bed.  Cuddle on the couch with your one and only and unwind from your busy day.  Shower, maybe get a little frisky and go to bed feeling productive, appreciated and more than anything loved.  Do you see what I did just there?  I took the same daily routine that you were doing before and I added you to it.  Sound’s a lot more appealing doesn't it?  It should, you work hard to give your family a good life and you deserve to cash in on the fun as well.  Take some time to appreciate your mind, body and spirit and carry your new found confidence throughout your daily life.

Where it all started

   It wasn't even a year ago that I was raising my boys, working at the salon (something I love doing) and going to school full-time.  We lived with my mom and little sister, who thankfully helped me take care of my kids the first few years and life was good.  A year ago, I could not have imagined being here, in my kitchen of the home that I share with my forever love.  I met Joseph last July, and we fell in deep, mad, passionate love in about five minutes flat.  A love full of midnight adventures, breathtaking moments and 3 hour sessions in bed.  A love I am never looking back upon.  I've worked in South Estero for the last 5 ½ years and after only 2 ½ months Joseph and I got a house together and my boys and I moved to Sarasota (something that is 100% out of my character).  Everything was incredible except one thing; work was now an hour and fifteen minutes away from home.  Nicely put, it sucked. 

  One night, we were up late talking about our dreams and what our future together held and my Sexy Dance class was born.  An opportunity to teach women how to dance in a sexy yet sophisticated manner and give them tools to feel great mentally and physically; I was so excited I could hardly contain myself. I love to dance and I have always loved teaching dance (which I did for years) but one thing I love about the salon is that I get to be out and around other woman.  It’s a good feeling knowing I make someone else smile and feel good about themselves.  I began brainstorming and putting together class ideas so that Sexy Dance could be the most beneficial in an hours’ time and decided to split the class in two and Stretch & Tone was established (a more relaxing class that allows women to stretch and tighten muscles in a peaceful environment).

  One of the greatest benefits I get from dance is that I feel amazing about myself when I’m finished.  This confidence gives me the power to take on the world, go after my dreams and live my life to the absolute fullest.  People are always telling me they wish they had my child like spirit, spontaneity and most of all post-baby body but it wasn't until someone pointed it out to me that I realized that many of these qualities come from the benefits and confidence I have gained from dance.  Dance by Miranda classes are my way of sharing all the secrets I have learned to feeling great, looking sexy and having a blast, so I encourage any and all women over the age of 18 to come try a Sexy Dance class or Stretch and Tone class.  Classes begin June 2^nd in downtown Sarasota, located in Room 1 of Rosemary Court Yoga. 

Find more class information at dancebymiranda.com