In Aqua Zumba, No One Can See You Jiggle

I look just like this underwater.
(Or maybe not, but unlike Esther, I don't let
photographers follow me down in there.)
Found the picture here. 

I woke up pretty cranky on Friday morning. There was a full moon for one thing, and that always turns me into a werewolf. And I was already lonely for the Michigan part of my family who had flown away the day before.

And then, at the time I could go to the gym near my house, the only class on offer was Aqua Zumba.  I had no idea what that was, and the lizard part brain told me to just go back to bed. But the slightly higher functioning party of my brain - maybe the cocker spaniel part - figured it was better to go have someone tell me what to do for an hour then to mope around the house.

Aqua Zumba turned out to be outside, and it was like, practically negative gazillion degrees out, and I had to walk past other people in the pool, and then the instructor welcomed me as a newcomer to the class and told me it was "your time to be sexy and silly and have fun," so I almost gave up.  But I'm so glad I didn't.  It turns out loud music accompanied by whoops, and doing something called shark arms that make big splashes in the water, and then spinning up and around (exactly like Esther Williams!) with a half dozen hefty strangers is the best cure for crankiness ever. We were no longer overweight housewives, we were mermaids!  Or if we weren't exactly mermaids, no one could tell!  Because our whole bodies were totally underwater!

I don't know about you, but I'm not a big fan of doing new exercises.  At least in my case, the learning curve is so steep, and then the final result is generally...well, let's be kind and say "amateurish." Maybe it's different for you. Maybe you have no problem trying new exercises, but your lizard brain drags you by one leg away from other new things. Maybe for you the new thing is quitting your job, or moving to a new state, or trying some really weird food, or saying a prayer out loud, or going to a rom com for once instead of a serious thriller, or striking up a conversation with the scariest looking dude on the bus. Your lizard brain wants to protect you, but that doesn't mean it always knows what's best for you.  Maybe what's best for you is to cannon ball into the shallow end of the pool and see how it goes.  Who knows?  You may get to splash and make shark arms. You may be a mermaid for an hour instead of a grouchy housewife. You may emerge shivering a bit, but smiling.