Showing Up

The night before the Minnesota 2016 caucuses, I attended a session in a “Voting Booth Chronicles” series facilitated by the Citizens’ League. It was a very informative session on the history of caucusing in Minnesota, the nuts and bolts of how a voter participates in a caucus, and how issues get their footing at the grass roots level through “resolutions” at a caucus. It was time well spent, I learned a lot about the process, and how voter turnout impacts each political party. Along those lines, one of the panelists shared a quote, “The world is run by those who show up,” (attribution unknown). Wow – THAT caught my attention; because it is true no matter what we are talking about, what we are doing.

It is a great reminder in our work lives, our personal lives, in our activities across the board – if you are engaged, if you participate, if your strive, if you show up… doesn’t it lead to something more, something better, something bigger?

My mind then quickly wandered to how this applies to my dance life (my thoughts ALWAYS seem to find their way to dance). There is often curiosity about how fast a student will progress, when will they learn a particular piece, when will they be ready for performance, the list goes on. I have to remind people that progress is in part natural talent, but in huge part attributed to practice. To showing up. To taking advantage of every opportunity to absorb, to listen, to observe, to learn. So if we really want to improve, to get better, to progress, to enjoy more… isn’t it to our advantage to “show up” to the best of our ability, every day, and at every opportunity? I loved this reminder to always “show up.”