“I’ll be back in a minute,” Terri says and quickly escapes to her office. Once inside she instantly breaks down in big silent sobs and with a floodgate of pent-up shame.

Just 30 seconds earlier, in the lobby of her own dance studio, the Mom of a competition dancer outright told Terri she should probably decline the opportunity to represent the studio in an upcoming TV spot because “you know, TV adds weight and we really want to make a good impression.”

Shame honestly has no pity. It is a stubborn, unkind, relentless, entangled web of emotion that oozes with anger, embarrassment, and self-loathing. It gags us when we don’t address it.

Hidden in her office, Terri wept to herself, How did this happen? When did I let this happen?

The full-length mirror in her office had long been obscured by bright costumes, a pair of leg warmers, her winter jacket, and some weird green prop that really needed to be taken back to the storage room.

In a...

The front door slammed, and ten years of my life came to an abrupt end. My apartment was suddenly very, very quiet.

For the longest time I stared at the wall and tried to wrap my head around what just happened and what it really meant for my life. Honestly I wasn’t sure if I felt relieved or petrified. All I knew was that my ten-year relationship with Sam had most dramatically and most definitely come to a bitter end.

Eventually my eyes shifted as I noticed the tic-toc-tic-toc of the kitchen clock and the surprisingly loud sound of the ice-maker dropping virgin ice inside the refrigerator. I never noticed how loud that ice was before. I jumped when my phone vibrated with an incoming call from my sister, who, in uncanny synchronicity, could always feel when I needed her.

We talked for hours that night.

I cried, cursed like a sailor, and told her things I had once promised never to tell.

Somehow my chocolate chip ice cream and I made it through my first adult night as a...

Walking out of dance class, drenched in sweat and clutching your water bottle, you smell the aroma from a nearby restaurant and begin your mad dash to get home, shower, and re-emerge as a goddess, ready for your dinner date.

Tonight you are feeling especially exuberant.

In the shower, the sound of your singing voice reminds you of class and how good you feel to finally be dancing again. Why did you wait so long to reunite with your first true love?

Now, as a busy, over-worked adult caring for your family, career, and household, you realize that your recent reintroduction to the dancer inside of you makes you feel excited and happy again, powerful, and grateful that you didn’t let a single additional day go by without dancing again.

Yesterday you even snuck out on your lunch break and bought a new dress.

You couldn’t help it!

Because that morning, for the first time in… years honestly… James had said, “maybe we should get a babysitter and go out to eat...