I promised myself I would stay consistent with these daily prompts, but weekends are a little harder because of Dad life.
Still, I made it back.
And for me, if it’s not writing, then it’s dancing and singing.
Now that I’m a papi, I love dancing with my girls. My youngest loves music so much that she will bug me for a dance party. It can be six in the morning, and if she hears me playing music, oh, it’s a wrap. We have to boogie on down.
I’m a hip-hop and rap head through and through, but as a father, I respect my children’s space. I don’t play certain music around them until they’re a lot older.
That doesn’t stop the ’80s classics and ’90s big hits from getting played, though. Or whatever my playlist decides to throw at us. We’re talking Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Shakira, and of course, a whole lot of anime openings.
Our favorite right now?
The To Be Hero X opener, “INERTIA.”
Once that comes on, it’s a whole party after that.
My taste for music is simple: if it moves me, I rock with it.
Now, can I dance and sing?
Not for shit.
But to my girls, I’m the best dancer and singer in the world, and honestly, that’s all that matters.
Negative thoughts have a way of making you feel stuck inside your own head. Writing helps me get those thoughts out, but dancing helps me shake them loose. Sometimes healing does not look deep or dramatic. Sometimes it looks like a living room dance party at 6 a.m. with your kids laughing at your terrible moves.
And if that joy can break through the noise in my head, even for a little while, then I’ll take it.
Even in my writing, I always seem to battle the darkness with music and a tune. Silence in my head can get loud, and sometimes that loudness is far scarier than anything I could put on a page. Because in that silence, you start hearing the voices that make you feel worthless.
So I dance.
I sing.
I write.
And now, my children have become part of that light for me. They remind me to protect my joy. They give me a reason to keep choosing it, even when the negative thoughts try to take over.
So maybe the best way to deal with negative thoughts is to find something louder than them.
For me, that’s music.
That’s laughter.
That’s my girls.
That’s joy.
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