Is it weird to be proud of bruises? I didn’t used to think anything of them when I got them but now, I love to show them off.
I think bruises get a bad reputation because they usually only happen when you get hurt, and while I can’t say the methods in which I obtain them from my various classes at Aerial Dance are entirely comfortable, I can say that I had fun getting them. I suppose I should also disclose that I bruise rather easily and have rather pale skin so the bruises that I do have always look really dramatic. My boyfriend jokes that I’ve joined a fight club and I’m obviously not doing well because it seems like I’m showing him new ones every week.
To me it’s not ‘Ow, another bruise?’ It’s ‘Good thing these shoes are loose because the tops of my feet are a bit sore from climbing a lot in pole.’ ‘Hey, look at this cool bruise that I got from trying to do a straddle back in silks class for the first time!’ or ‘Oh yeah, we did a lot of inverted tricks the other day in hammock and that’s why my hips are all fun colored like that.’
I see them as the proof that I was working hard… and most of the time accomplishing what I was trying, but not always. Then throughout the week as either something touches the bruise or I stretch my muscles I feel them burn a little bit, I remember how I got them and feel the same sense of accomplishment that I did while I was in the studio.
We all know that burn of a good workout when you leave the studio and the tightness of your muscles when you wake up the next day. To me, my bruises are just like that, a continuation of my progress with my aerial journey.
The work certainly isn’t always easy but I love the results so very much and know that I will be continuing my Aerial Dance journey for a long time to come and most likely continuing to show off all of my impressive bruises to the rest of my family.
Come try everything at Aerial Dance! Start with Intro to Pole or Intro to Aerial!