My Spanish Experience

Spain was a whirlwind, to say the least. I went there with some big dreams and little to no experience under my belt, ready to take on anything, and determined not to fail. It was almost as if 6 years of experiences were packed in to 6 months. I taught at 3 different gyms, joined a vagabond dance group, and performed a variety show at one of the most famous hotels in Europe. I immersed myself in training, learned all the ins and outs of a new city, and, above all that, gained all the confidence I needed to completely make myself vulnerable and put myself out there to complete strangers, hoping that they would trust me enough to teach their clients.

 I will not be telling you, however, about my experience teaching at the most high end gym in Granada, or how I had floods of people flocking to my classes, and the massive following I subsequently built because of it. In fact, I taught at the smallest places that city could possibly hold, was lucky if I had more than one person show up to my class, and, was also lucky if I actually got paid for those classes. My great performance opportunity at the Alhambra palace was more of a community event, and did not result in me being booked for JLO's worldwide tour.

 But honestly, what great success story starts out with IMMEDIATE success? If that had happened I would have succeeded only in annoying every singe person around me, and only proved a terrible point that you do not have to work hard to achieve your goals, because that drops in to your lap with only 3-6 months of dedication. After all, my point in writing this blog is to show anyone that with enough hard work and resilience you CAN achieve those things you want, but you have to put the time in.

One huge thing I did gain from my experience that I mentioned before, was confidence. I did actually achieve what I set out to do, which was teach in a foreign country. I didn't let myself entertain the idea of failure, which was something I could have done at any step of that journey. That confidence would help me make some pretty key decisions in the coming years that would affect my future as I knew it. I still had a long road ahead.