Teaching should be a two-way exchange. I come in and give everything I have, and when that energy is matched, there’s nothing better. When it’s not, the hour feels like three. That’s just the reality of what I do.
I don’t teach for a paycheck. I teach because I love it. The moment it stops being fun, despite me giving my all, is the moment I’d rather step back. I can’t fake it, and I won’t. That’s always been my one condition as an instructor.
I also deal with anxiety — diagnosed and medicated — so if I’m not in a flow state, I become hyper aware of everything, and it makes for a miserable hour. Even when I lost my dog four months ago and cried through class, I stayed locked in because the energy in the room carried me. But when the energy is consistently off, it affects everything.
After several weeks in a row where the exchange just wasn’t there, I made the decision to take two weeks off. It wasn’t a punishment for anyone — it was a reset. We needed to miss each other. When I came back, we were right back in sync. Sometimes consistency makes people take things for granted, and a little distance reminded us both what we had.
That’s energy exchange in Zumba.
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