Dance with darkness:

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Dance with darkness.

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Darkness is all around us.

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In our minds.

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In our relationships.

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In our environments.

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Everywhere.

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It’s not hard to find darkness.

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The hardest is internal.

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It’s dealing with the biggest issues of life.

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Struggle.

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Insecurity.

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Anxiety.

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Hopelessness.

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Heartbreak.

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Despair.

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Grief.

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Death.

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All of us deal with it.

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Everyone.

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You don’t escape life without it.

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Darkness is universal.

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For some, it’s more than others.

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For others, it’s all-consuming.

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It’s everything.

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Before and after that moment will never be the same.

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Death does that to you.

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It has a way of waking you up.

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As Confucious said ‘Man lives two lives. The second begins when we realize we only have one.’

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One day this person you’ve known your whole life is here.

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The next day they’re gone.

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Just like that.

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We don’t want to accept death.

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None of us do.

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But only through acceptance can you understand what it means to live.

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People wake up after they dance with death.

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Heard a story this week from my mom.

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One of her friends had a difficult relationship with one of her sons.

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Didn’t talk for many years.

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He ended up in hospital recently.

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And no one was there next to him.

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It made him realize how much he missed family.

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It’s not worth your pride and ego to lose your family.

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But it’s only in those moments of darkness do you get clarity.

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Clarity on what matters.

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Clarity on what’s important to you.

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Clarity on living the life you want.

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I wish more people didn’t have to deal with it.

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Sadly we all do.

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You can’t understand what I mean unless you’ve gone through it yourself.

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Nothing prepares you like real life experiences.

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Only in those moments of darkness do you find out who you really are.

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So embrace darkness.

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Embrace failure.

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Embrace the biggest issues of life.

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Face them head-on.

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Don’t be scared.

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Don’t run away.

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Don’t make excuses.

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Accept reality for what it is and do your best with what you have.

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Show up one day at a time.

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Show up and dance.

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Dance your heart out.

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Dance to whatever you like.

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As a meta-analysis recently showed, dancing is literally the best treatment for depression.

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Yes you read that right.

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Dancing.

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Link to the study here.

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So dance when you can.

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Even when you think you can’t.

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Move your body.

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Sing your heart out.

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We could all use a little more dance in our lives.

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Dance more.

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Dance with darkness.

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