I will just come right out and say it: I took a pole dancing class. Yes that’s right, pole dancing.  No need to scroll down, you will find no pictures here!

Now that I have regained your attention…I went to this pole dancing…I mean “Pole Fitness” class and I thought I would feature it in this blog, but I got cold feet.  I was worried what people would think.  I didn’t have this feeling before I tended bar, or before I learned to arrange flowers.  I was worried I would look back at the post and be embarrassed, but I didn’t have this fear when I hung upside-down with my butt in the air struggling with a trapeze.  Why was this shiny pole any different?

Of course, it is obvious why it was different, but should that matter? As the wise Haitian philosopher Wyclef Jean so eloquently put it, “Just ‘cause she dance the go-go, don’t make her a ho, no.”

I was worried that people, that you who read this blog, would think badly of me for trying pole dancing. I now realize, that a) I shouldn’t care so much what people think of me (although I do want you all to be entertained and invested in my journey) and that b) I created this blog because I was exhausted by always doing the “right” thing, so why take a step back now? Heck, if I want to quit my job tomorrow and get a job at Centerfolds then gosh darn it, I should do that!

What I realized while at the class was that it takes a lot of work, and a lot of strength to pole dance.  These ladies can hold themselves in the air vertically, with the pole clenched between their thighs. They were not dressed like floosies, they were dress the same as me in tank tops and yoga pants, although their pants were a foot or so shorter than mine.

My instructor must have been an athlete at some point in her life, although when I asked her how she learned to dance she offered the suspicious answer of “I just picked it up.”  No matter, she was truly amazing and elegant and at the end of class showed us some tricks…not those kinds of tricks…get your mind out of the gutter!

I was not a good pole dancer; I don’t have the strength.  I landed on my knees with loud thuds and I had bruises for weeks.  When I was a child (and let’s be honest, I still hear it to this day) my mother would often console me by saying, “You can’t be good at everything, Emily,” and I take that to heart now.

I walk away from this experience with the resolution not to hold back on these pages, to trust myself enough to try anything, and trust you, my readers, not to judge.

I took my class at Pole Fitness Boston, and I highly recommend it if you are interested in giving it a try.  I was not compensated in any way for this post.