Life Isn't A Dance

The Daily Stoic for September 20th, “Life Isn’t A Dance”.

“The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing, because an artful life requires being prepared to meet and withstand sudden and unexpected attacks.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 7.61

I have to agree with today’s stoic meditation. Who wouldn’t? Life is not a dance. Not at least for the vast majority of us… or is it?

Life Isn’t A Dance, Or Is It?

I’ve never been good at dancing. My early attempts have been described as: “a monkey with a disjointed hip trying to keep a hula-hoop moving”. I was that bad.

Dancing with someone was always a challenge for me. I either ended up stepping on the other person’s feet or frustrating them with my asynchronous movements.

So yes, there’s nobody choking you to death when you are dancing, but I found Taekwondo or Boxing much easier. Dancing requires you not only to know your steps, have a good sense of balance and equilibrium, it also requires you to feel the music and be able to move along with it. It requires you to be aware of your role in the couple, whether you should lead or not, and how to react to the other person’s gestures.

So in a way, I do think life it’s like a dance. Both in your personal life and in your business or work, you need to know your place, you need some practice, and you need a connection with what you are doing and the people you are interacting with. Ok, there’s no opponent warrior, but perhaps you are your most dangerous adversary, the one that’s harder to beat.

So while I agree that life may be a fight, being a dance for me is a good enough metaphor.

Conclusion

Today’s Daily Stoic, “Life Isn’t A Dance”, suggests that life is not a dance, but a fight. While I may agree with that, I think dancing is difficult enough to justify the other metaphor as well.