THIS TIME I DANCE!
I just
finished reading THIS TIME I DANCE! Creating the Work You Love (How One Harvard
Lawyer Left It All to Have It All!) by Tama J. Kieves and I must say I feel
more refreshed and hopeful than I’ve felt in a long, long time. This kind of
surprised me to be honest because with so many self-help, motivational and
inspirational- type books at our disposal these days I was pretty hesitant to
dive in to reading this one for fear of reading the same ol’ words and phrases
and analogies we’ve all heard before.
But talk about
“judging a book by its cover!” I’m so thankful that the little voice inside
gave me the trusting nudge and I opened the book anyway. Had I not, I would
have missed out on having Tama as my own personal co-pilot into my true life.
I am still
very young (24 years old), but already I’ve become so sick and tired of
limiting myself to fit someone else’s definition (to borrow one of my favorite
Incubus lyrics). I’ve seen my parents (well, my Mom) come home day after day
living through leftover, sifted energy that remained after days and years of
10-12 hour workdays. Living for the weekends and then come Sunday evening, OHHH
the perilous Sunday-night-doldrums. I never wanted that life and I never
understood why so many people would allow themselves to lead their lives in
such a wasteful manner.
But then I
got older and the bills began calling, especially after college, and I felt the
tension belt tighten and the vacuum into the corporate world sucking me in
evermore. After all I had to make ends meet right? I had responsibilities, yes?
So for the past 4-5 years I let myself weaken and become pulled in to the
dreaded cubicle arena… bleh.
Then one
day, while doing my daily yoga routine, something inside of me welled up. It
was my inner voice- the part of me that I had been ignoring and suppressing for
so long. I didn’t quite make out what it was trying to say but I knew that it
was calling to the free spirit inside of me. “Where did you go? What is this
all for? The life you are leading isn’t supplementing your TRUE self, Jillian!”
So little by
little, day by day, yoga routine after yoga routine, the voice became louder
and clearer and I knew I couldn’t hold on to this illusion of a life for much
longer. But what would I do? I had no clue.
Then as if
by a miracle THIS TIME I DANCE! landed in my possession and the little voice
inside returned. It knew I needed to have this book, this lone book amongst a
sea of- follow your passion, learn to live your best life, make your dreams
come true- books. For some reason, this particular book fatefully landed in my
hands. Apparently, I was meant to read it.
With each
page I turned, I felt as though the author, Tama J. Kieves personally reached
out from the print and wiped the fog from my hazy reading glasses. She spoke
directly to that voice inside, my true
self. I felt like I was coming home again. My childlike joy and wonder began to
seep through the cracks and back into my awareness. And what is wonderful is
that through the entire time I spent reading, I wasn’t alone, Tama was right
there beside me, experiencing it with
me.
She really brings warmth,
realness, and humor into each page and so willingly shares her own personal and
practical stories of overcoming insecurities. It takes gumption to share your inner
struggles with the world! She explores the fears and doubts that I know were
definitely deterring me in my search for a new career path. She asks the question “If you’re this
successful doing work you don’t love, what could you do with work you do love?”
and I just wanted to share that with everyone when I read it.
As I neared the end of
the book, I felt both delighted and sad. Delighted because I had discovered how
to trust the unparalleled power of my own true work in this world. And sad
because I didn’t want the book to end =) I am now equipped with solid hope and
the willful determination to follow my joy and live my best life!
If you’re interested, you
can find THIS TIME I DANCE! here
and you can read excerpts, comments and reviews here. Tama Kieves
also has a great monthly newsletter she sends out and it’s free and really gets
you inspired. here.
Jillian Petersen
