Zumba Convention 2011

I have written about how Zumba has changed my life and helped me find myself.  http://onehappybitch.blogspot.com/2010/09/zumba.html

In 90 minutes I will head to the airport and fly to my first zumba convention.  Then I will spend the next 5 days with 6000 people who love zumba as much as I do.  I am excited about making new friends and learning new things that I can bring back to my classes.  But I am also very nervous.  There are a few things that I need to keep in mind to make sure that I have a good time:

1. Do not play a role.  It is never a conscious thing but I have a tendency to "act out" when I meet new people.  I am an obnoxious, outgoing person but sometimes it can be over the top.  I don't want to establish myself as the crazy one right off the bat and then spend the rest of the weekend living up to that.  Plus, I'm going to turn a lot of people off if I get out of hand.

2.  Do not compare yourself to other people.  This is the hardest one for me.  There will always be someone who is prettier, funnier, thinner, a better dancer, etc. than I am.  That doesn't mean that I am none of those things.  That doesn't mean that people are looking at me and saying "Oh, she's not as pretty/funny/etc. as this person".  I need to get out of my own head and just relax.  I have lost 20 lbs since I started teaching zumba 7 months ago.  I wear more fitted clothes and sometimes I genuinely love the way I look in the mirror.  I can't let the anxiety of a large group of people take that away from me.

3. Don't let rude/obnoxious people ruin my time.  This is not high school.  I don't have to hang out with people that get on my nerves.  I do not have to gossip about someone who is obviously not making a great impression. 

4.  Also part of the not high school thing- don't give in to peer pressure.  There is always a tendency for hard drinking and partying and overall ridiculous behavior at these sorts of things.  It happens at my corporate functions for my day job so I know it will happen here!  I'm not going to be partying until 2 am just so the youngest/party animal people think I'm cool.  I want to meet people that I have things in common with.  I want to make friends and not just crazy YouTube videos.

5. Make sure I have some me time.  I worry that my friends that I am traveling with might be a little clingy out of nervousness and suffocate me if they don't loosen up once we get there.  I am staying by myself in a different hotel than people I know.  I need to make sure I take the time to write, meditate, walk, and do other non-zumba things that keep me sane.  There will be mostly women at this convention and I have a tendency to tire of women very quickly if I'm not careful.  I need to set myself up to be as successful at being me as possible!

I will try to blog once a day and write in my journal.  I am very excited about this weekend.  I hope this is the first of many zumba conventions and other events that will take me out of my comfort zone (in a good way).