Sarah was a gifted dancer. From the age of three, her world revolved around ballet and she wanted nothing more from life than to dance each and every day.
As she grew older Sarah received numerous ballet awards and when she was fourteen she was awarded a prestigious scholarship to study at the National College of the Arts.
Sarah continued to work hard at her dancing. Her teachers recognized both her talent and her work ethic and encouraged her to audition for the Australian Ballet.
Three days before her audition, Sarah was involved in a car accident and broke her ankle. While the hospital classified this as a ‘minor injury’, for Sarah it was a life changing incident. Although her ankle healed, she found that she no longer had the extension required to be an elite dancer. In the blink of an eye her life long dream of dancing with the Australian Ballet was over.
Sarah became very depressed and all she could think about was how unfair life was. For two long and miserable years Sarah was lost in a personal world of anger and disappointment.
Then one afternoon, one of Sarah’s friends sent her a link to this video clip on YouTube.
(If you can’t see the video, click here to go to YouTube. Please note that some companies block their employees from watching YouTube videos at work.)
In the space of 5 minutes, Sarah learned a lesson that changed her life forever. The lesson she learned was this:
Sarah realized that by spending all her time thinking about what she could no longer do she had been making herself miserable.
With a new outlook on life, Sarah made a change and began focusing instead on what she could do. While she could no longer be a professional ballerina, she was still a talented dancer.
Sarah began to persue contemporary, jazz, and swing dancing and to her delight she discovered that her years of classical training meant that she picked things up very quickly. She also discovered a passion for teaching and over time, Sarah’s life was once again filled with the joy of music and dancing.
Today I’d like to encourage you to turn your focus away from the things you can’t do and instead focus on the things you can do. When you make this transition, like Sarah you’ll discover whole new worlds of opportunity and experience waiting for you to explore.
Until next time,
Dare to Dream!
Anthony
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