The day I danced in front of the crowd

I participated in a Fun Walk yesterday morning sponsored by a school.

While cooling down, I did something terrible and shameful and I’m not embarrassed to share: I danced in front of the crowd!

It’s not because I am a brilliant dancer; it’s the other way around.

I’m not even in the stage but people are looking at me.

It’s not because I am famous but because I am quite known in the school.

(Note: I’m a Marist Brother novice)

People are looking at me because I look terrible when I dance!

The students said “Go Kuya Allen!” and the teachers even called me “The Best in Hataw” (in this context, hataw means Beat It!).

If I did that in high school, I wouldn’t dance like that or even run away and hide.

What did the experience taught me?

I realized that not being able to dance well is part of my imperfection. It’s not my talent.

I am not a good dancer, so what?I don’t need to be someone else.

I just need to be myself.

Well at least I made people smile with my talent-less antics.

How to sleep well?

I long to have a good night sleep. Probably its because I haven’t adjusted yet to my new environment here since from the quiet halls of the convent, I just transferred to a Brothers’ Residence with Brothers who are very much active with their ministries. I think it’s more on the lifestyle and not the people with me here. I love interacting with them during meal times and there’s no really problem with our relationships here.

How can I have a good sleep? Less time in front of the computer maybe. An article in Readers’ Digest wrote about keeping away from the computer 10 pm onward. Its for the body not to be tricked by the synthetic light since the brain might think that it’s still daytime. If I feel like writing, instead of writing a journal with a computer, I’d rather grab a pen and write in a notebook once it’s already time for sleeping.

Another thing that must be done, and what I really long to do, is to have a regular time for exercise. For almost four weeks, I only played four pickup games of basketball. Though not playing that much, at least I can still shoot threes 5 in a row and hang on the rim. Knowing my schedule first and setting up the exercise in my free time will do that. I’m not really the kind of person who plans but if it’s for my own good, then I’ll try. I just don’t know if I’ll do it.

Why should I bother to sleep early? To function properly during the day; To be less irritable; To have a sharp memory; To catch dreams; to make my dreams happen not just in dream world but also in the waking world; and to be energized enough to serve my neighbors.

I just hope that waking up without an alarm will keep on working until I come back to the comforts of our novitiate. I know I can get through this.