Is Our Past Our SuperPOWER? Using our past challenges as inspiration for the future

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Have you ever found yourself in a situation where all your plans fell apart, and you had to think on your feet? That's exactly what happened to me during a fitness class when technology took a left turn, leaving me with no music and a room full of expectant faces. On today's episode, we march to the beat of adaptability, resilience, and the unwavering strength drawn from our own backstories. I'll take you through that pulse-pounding moment, reliving how I transformed a potential disaster into an opportunity to dance to the rhythm of confidence and encourage others to lean into their strengths.

Join us as we celebrate the hurdles we've cleared and the battles we've won, recognizing that these experiences aren't just memories, but the very music that orchestrates our life's most empowering soundtrack. There's no guest today, just an open conversation about trusting ourselves and our histories to light the way. This is more than just a story about a silent dance studio—it's a call to all listeners, from the middle school girl battling self-doubt to the seasoned gym-goer, to turn up the volume on their personal power anthems and embrace every twist and twirl life throws their way.

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Episode Transcript

Danielle la Rose (00:01):
You know how people always say don't look
backwards, you're not going thatway.
I think that's cute and that'sfun, and I know exactly what
they mean.
However, I want to challengethat thought today and remind us
that our past is our superpower.
You know, I'm getting ready atthe time of recording this.

(00:22):
I'm getting ready to go speakto a wonderful room of about 150
girls that are middle schoolage and we're talking about
confidence and how to be.
You know how to turn up thevolume on our playlist.
That will help us be brave andbold and the confident best
version of ourselves.

(00:48):
And as I'm building this, youknow I was thinking about the
time when I went.
So fun fact, if you're new here, I am a fitness instructor who
teaches fun dance, hip hopclasses, and it was a few years
ago, but I was so excited forthis new class.
I walked in, I had a newplaylist, like.
I had my jams, like they oh mygosh, my playlist was fire.

(01:08):
Like the playlist, like, thinkabout your favorite, best
playlist ever.
That was what this was.
And I had new choreography.
So if you're an instructor, youknow that when you have new
choreography, you get reallyexcited also kind of nervous,
but really excited because youjust spent hours upon hours
creating this, for that's onlygoing to be three minutes per
song, but it's so reallyexciting.

(01:29):
And so I show up to class andthere's humans that are standing
there and they're ready for hiphop fitness and I'm like, oh my
gosh, it's going to be so fun.
Hey guys, how's it going?
Are you ready?
Like we're going to crush this,so excited to have you here.
And, by the way, if you'venever taken a group fitness
class number one you should tryit because it's just a whole new

(01:51):
vibe, like it's a whole energy.
There is no other workout thatI will do.
I work out on my own at home,but if I ever am up for a new
workout or want to try somethinglike, it will be group fitness,
because as long as you go to aclass that has a great
instructor, you forget about theoutside world.
Like you're just in a vibe oflike humans that are supportive,

(02:15):
who are just encouraging.
You're pushing each other, butlike, not in a competitive way,
but in a oh my gosh, I'm so gladyou came, because I couldn't do
this without you kind of a vibeand it's just a whole energy.
So I digress.
So I go and I'm like so, and I'mready, right, I am ready, I go
up, I'm plugging in iPod at thetime, you remember those things.

(02:38):
So I had my iPod and I miss myiPod, by the way.
But I go to plug in my iPod andI'm like, okay, great, we're
gonna get started in just asecond.
And I push play on the speakerand I'm like, oh, so I push play
again.
Oh, no music.
Okay, it's really cool, right,because what?

(03:00):
What do we do when somethingdoesn't work?
You just unplug and plug itback in and then it should work,
right, like that's howtechnology is.
So I did that.
It did not work.
I turn it off, turn it on, turnit off, turn it on, change cords
, move things around, change thebuttons up down all the things

(03:21):
that I could possibly think of,okay, and I sit there for a
second and I look behind me andI see humans just staring at me.
Fun fact about group fitnessinstructors we know you stare at
us.
It's okay, we're used to it,but in that moment it was please
don't look at me right now.
But everyone's eyeballs arejust staring into my back, like

(03:44):
we're here for dance fitness andyou're about to tell us that we
don't have music and what ishappening?
And we're already a minute lateand you know, like all these
thoughts, and maybe they weren'teven thinking those things, but
, as an instructor, like that'swhat I was thinking, that they
were thinking.
So I'm sitting there and I'mlike, okay, what can I do?
What can I do right now?
All right, I can just teachwithout music.

(04:07):
Okay, what will make me reallyproud?
All right, what would make meproud is if I follow through.
Right, because if I tell themthat there's no class today just
because I can't figure out themusic, that would not make me
proud.
So I want there to be class.
Okay, have I overcome hardthings before?
Have I done challenging thingsbefore?
Yes, there was a time when Iwas dancing and my whole top

(04:29):
fell down.
This is when I was younger, Iwas a competitive dancer and I
had to pull it up, obviously,and I held onto it the whole
time and I only used one arm thewhole rest of the dance.
So I'm like, okay, yes, I havedone something crazy before, I
can do this again.
Then I started asking myselfokay, can I count?
Beautiful thing about music isyou only had to be able to count

(04:49):
to eight.
I didn't even have to be ableto count to 10.
I think I can do that, but Ionly had to count to eight and I
thought what is the goal here?
The goal is to have a fun class, right?
The goal is to help people feelgood in their bodies.
The goal is to have fun.
The goal is that they walk awayfeeling like they had a great
class.
So I pulled myself up away fromthe speaker and I turned around

(05:11):
to all the humans that wereglaring in my back and I said I
am so excited to have classtonight and I am so grateful
that you are here right now andwe are going to have an epic
class.
Here's what I know my bodymoves and your body moves.
Right, we're good there.

(05:32):
And guess what?
I know the beats in my head ofthe songs that I have ready for
us today, like, I know the beats, and you probably know the
beats too, because a couple ofyou have been here with me for a
while.
So we know the beats.
And again, I can count to eight.
So we're good there, the beats.
And again, I can count to eight.

(05:52):
So we're good there.
And your goal class is just tosweat and have fun, and so
that's exactly what we're goingto do.
And guess what?
If you want to sing, oh sister,you better sing your heart out.
I won't sing, because that'swhy I always loved Britney
Spears, because she wasn't thegreatest singer, she was the
greatest performer.
So I always thought, well, ifthere was any way that I could
ever be famous like Britney,like it would be like that,

(06:12):
because I don't sing, that isnot a strength of mine, that is
not a skill.
You won't ever hear me out inpublic doing that.
But give me some music and adance floor, and your girl is on
, like we're going.
So I told them, though sing,sing your heart out, if that's
what you desire.
And what did we do?
We danced without music for 45minutes, and you may be thinking

(06:41):
that is crazy, and you're right, it absolutely is.
And was it perfect?
No way Did I want to curl up ina bow and cry at first, you bet
.
But did I lean into mysuperpowers and believe in
myself?
Oh, yes, girl.

(07:02):
And so this we have to remindourselves that our past is our
superpower, because so often wego into a new environment, we
try something new or there's ahiccup, there's a bump right,
I'm currently working on a newwebsite and there's always
something new that just hits andI'm like what?
Why?
Why does this have to happen?
And I just remind myself thatit's not a big deal.

(07:25):
I've done hard things in thepast, I've done weird things in
the past, and I can always learnand grow and try something new
and shift and pivot.
And if that means teaching awhole dance fitness class with
no music, that's what we do.
And if that means that thewebsite looks different, that's

(07:47):
what we do.
And if it means that our careerneeds to change, that's what we
do.
And if it means there's all wecan always lean into that
superpower of knowing that wehave done so many things in our
past.
We've accomplished a lot, we'vedealt with challenging times
and come out on top.

(08:07):
We've failed and learned fromthose failures.
And we're here today and so wecan do hard things.
We can be confident in ourabilities.
Right, and the word confidenceall that it means is.
It means a trust and belief inyourself, in yourself and so if

(08:34):
you struggle with beingconfident in yourself, I want
you to use your past as yoursuperpower those funny, weird,
random times, like teaching aclass with no music, or maybe it
was some random thing thathappened to you and you're like,
wow, remember that one timethat that thing happened, like
how crazy and weird.
But remember when we did thisinstead, or we tried this or
whatnot, and it all worked outthe way that it was supposed to.

(08:56):
And so that is our superpoweris knowing that we can trust in
our trust and believe inourselves to figure things out.
We can trust and believe inourselves that we are.
We are smart and intelligent,and when we always keep just
like I did with my class when wekeep the goal in mind right,
the goal wasn't to have the bestplaylist.

(09:16):
The goal for the class wasn'tto, you know, have the loudest
music.
The goal for that group fitnessclass was that they enjoyed a
workout and they sweat, theytook care of their bodies and
they had fun.
Sometimes that means it doesn'thappen the way we expect it to,

(09:38):
but it can become a beautifulstory like this one I'm sharing
right now, to remind ourselvesof what we're capable of.
So I'm sharing this story withyou in hopes that you remember
that your past is yoursuperpower and you can trust and
believe in yourself that youwill always, always figure it

(10:02):
out when you're focused on whatthe real goal is.
So continue using your past asyour superpower.
Lean on those, lean on that,lean on your strengths, lean on
your skills, lean on your fightand your ability to figure
things out.
All right, you are prettypowerful.

(10:25):
I'd love to hear from you andI'll see you on the next episode
or not see you, but I'll talkto you on the next episode.
Bye, friend.