Beginning Moves

##Knowing When to Quit (or Just Take a Break)

By Eric Dahlman

Managing stress is often one of the biggest obstacles in our lives. Sometimes stress comes in unavoidable terms. We all have to pay taxes even though no one is ever excited to fill out the forms. Other times, stress even invades our hobbies and what we choose to do for fun. It’s strange to think about, but stress inevitably creeps its way into the best parts of our lives.

I personally see this as a very natural occurrence. Blame my Austrian background, but often when I hear stress, I think of German word for passion, Leidenschaft. Taken apart, the term roughly translates to “for what one would suffer.” We feel stress because we are willing to suffer for what we are passionate about. If we are neither obligated to nor passionate about something and we feel stress, we can leave the situation. It is when we have attachment that stress becomes a message.

In many cases, stress shows us that we have been working too hard at something. Think of the times you were putting in your best effort at a long practice and no matter how hard you tried, you just kept failing and feeling frustrated. You feel frustrated because you are determined to improve. The feeling is your mind's way of telling you that you need to take a break though. Pushing too far in one sitting will only make you feel more burnt out and resent practicing.

Often a good way to justify quitting at practice is to think about the law of diminishing returns. In one session, the longer one practices, the less they begin to understand and retain. Many people have heard the advice that it is better to practice a small amount every day than a large chunk once a week. Shorter practices help because it gives your body and mind time to process the information. It allows you rehearse and recall what you have been working on in dance. Longer practices instead lead to more frustration than learning towards the end.

It is perfectly normal to feel angry, stressed, or frustrated, even when it’s towards things you otherwise love. However, when you notice those emotions, it is usually a time to take a step back and think: Is this really the best way to invest my time? Is there a smarter way I could be going about this? Sometimes, the best answer to stress is just to let go a little bit and take a breath. Yeah, you won’t be learning something immediately, but then again, you never really do. Think about if it’s time for you to take that step back for a while. If you really care about something, it will always be waiting for you to return after you do.