Growing Pains

I guess a part of maturing is just a matter of accumulating experiences. For me, first-time experiences generally aren't a complete success, but over time, lessons are learned and added to the knowledge and skill bank. Growing pains come in for example when lessons are learned the hard way, or when they aren't learned the first time, leaving me confused with what's going wrong.

After some time of thinking and processing the past few weeks, I have decided that I am and have been experiencing this semester a good healthy dose of growing pains. I am right smack in the middle of a lot of new roles and experiences, most of which are a good bit outside of my comfort zone (side-note: I willingly chose these things, and don't regret them for a second... just wish I could hit the pause button for a minute). It's not just the new experiences, but the fact that I'm not getting things quite right yet, and have gotten a couple of them quite wrong actually. I generally enjoy new challenges, but the accumulation of so many roles that I'm still figuring out all at once has been making a big mess all over my plate. And the mess of doing so many things "not quite right" in such a short period gets to me every once in a while. It tends to take a toll on the self-esteem. So that is my explanation for my previous, oh-so-dramatic reference to hating life. But after the dust settles, I have to remember that I'm just doing the best I can in situations that I've never been in before.

And the good news is that I am learning so many lessons! I will be so wise. You can just call me Solomon. The top lesson for this week (after coming the all of these realizations) is that I need to not be so hard on myself. And now I will share that lesson with you. Let's all not be so hard on ourselves. We're just doing the best we can with what we know, and when we know better we'll do better. Whew, what a relief.

On another topic, So You Think You Can Dance is BACK! And I've already picked my favorite couple ... [drumroll] ... Legacy and Kathryn. I love them already. Watch for them, you'll see, they're great. This week they had to tell the best thing and the worst thing about their partner (they always do a cheesy intro to their dances), and Legacy's favorite thing about Kathryn was that she's emotional. And the reason he likes this is because he's emotional and it makes him more comfortable that she is too. How precious is that? And I have to admit, Legacy's crying and emotions were part of what won me over, as suuuper-cheesy as that is. But it's not really dramatic or weak or feminine, as you might be picturing. He's definitely male, and he's a breakdancer. It just seems like he can't hold it back. And I find that endearing. So there is my pick. Let's hope my horse wins.

And now I hope you have the theme song to Growing Pains in your head for the rest of the day.
"Show me that smile again (Oooh show me that smile!)... Don't waste another minute on your crying..."