Still working on the creating a new routine thing – I’m going to give it another couple of days before I make a decision on that.
On another topic – I’m about to head home for the holidays (I’m a college student who spends most of my time at school in Missouri, but my family lives in Boston). I am very excited – it’s been awhile since I’ve seen my high school friends and my family, and my family celebrates Christmas, so there’s that to look forward to. My last week or so here at Mizzou has been crazy enough – finals, papers, final projects, and the odd holiday party, but when I get home, it’s actually going to get crazier. Different branches of my extended family are having holiday parties, there’s a work party, my boyfriend’s family is having a function, I still have gifts to buy, my immediate family will have our Christmas – it’s going to be crazy.
Don’t get me wrong – I love it. Love it love it love it. But it doesn’t leave much time for ballet (you were wondering when I was going to get around to the topic of this blog, weren’t you? 
). I’ve been trying to figure out a)how much ballet I should even try and shove in over winter break and b)when I’m going to practice. Because I really do believe that every now and again, we need a break. If you dance en pointe every day all day for a month, your feet will not like you very much, and they will express this displeasure by turning colors, i.e. bruising, and complaining loudly when you walk. I don’t dance that much, certainly, but I do think the holidays can be a time for taking a time out from regular life and just enjoying yourself (unless you’re in the Nutcracker, of course). At the same time, I don’t want to get back at the end of January and find I’ve lost my right split again and fuete turns. No thank you.
As of right now, my plan is this – I’m going to do a little stretching, on average, every other day, but I’m not going to kill myself. I’m just going to do enough to keep myself loose and make sure I don’t lose any flexibility. If I miss a day, I’m not going to stress about it too much. And every night, before I go to bed, to the extent that I can, I’m going to do some balancing exercises. With any luck, I’ll be just fine when I get back at the end of January, but I’m planning to enjoy a good holiday with my family and friends in the meantime.
I’ll check in once more before I head off to let you know how the routine thing is going!
