Emily’s Philosophy on Life
Last week I was facing one of the hardest weeks of my life emotionally. My brother was not well and we were waiting on results of what was wrong. The fear and the what ifs, the brain chatter was just too much. I had to keep myself occupied. A friend of mine asked me to go along and support her disability students. She teaches dance to children and adults with disabilities ranging from cerebral palsy, to autism, downs syndrome and other brain injuries. She is an inspiration and so are the students. Some of the most amazing human beings and souls I have ever come across.
While I was standing waiting for the dance number to come on, one of the students approached me and another colleague. Her name was Emily. She looked straight at me and said “Hello, lovely lady. I really like your shirt.” I said thank you. I then asked her if she was excited about performing and her response was “Yes, I’m always excited and happy, I live every day like this, its the only way to be” I smiled and said thank you, and I needed to take her example. She then walked away dancing and being care free. A couple of minutes passed and she returned back to me again. She said “Hello, lovely lady, how are you today? I said “I’m good thankyou” again. She then looked straight into my eyes and said “So, would you like to hear my philosophy on life?” I said “Absolutely, I would” She said “Ok, let me tell you, my philosophy on life is this… Live your life without any fear. Don’t let anything hold you back. Don’t let that fear control you. Just love, love every minute of life and enjoy everything.” Well it was a good thing I had sunglasses on as the tears were welling in my eyes. I am normally the teacher, but today I was the student. And I had the most inspiring and amazing soul in front of me as my teacher. She then said to me “And please feel free to share my philosophy on life with all of your family and friends so that they can learn to love life and be happy too” I promised her I would share the information with my family.
She then left to perform, as she was dancing the tears were welling in my eyes again. She was just happy and present in every moment of her being. Laughing, enjoying herself and definitely fearless.
She made me realised that you take away fear and there is only love. LOVE…
If you would like more information on the disability dance services please contact Kelete Theatre and Performing Arts Company. You can also visit the Kelete facebook page and the DAPAK facebook page.