Bouncing Back: The Power of Resilience for Irish Dancers

Irish Dancing is a tough sport, physically, mentally, and emotionally, which is why working on your resilience as an Irish Dancer is powerful. Resilience means the ability to bounce back from disappointments time and time again - it means being able to continue moving towards your goals with determination without giving up when things get hard. 

As Irish Dancers, we have all had times when we have felt like we have been faced with hurdles and disappointments. For example, it could be:

• When we have Danced poorly at a Feis
• When we are injured 
• When we place lower than we expected to at the Feis
• When our Dance Teachers are very hard on us
• If our Dance School closes
• If our mindset gets in the way of our performance on stage 
• If we have arguments with our Dance friends 
• If we don’t qualify or just miss that recall  
• And there are many more occasions…

Every Dancer will have experienced a situation when they have felt challenged and like they wanted to give up - but that is where our resilience comes in. 

Our resilience is the key thing inside of us that is going to help us to continue to work hard in the face of hardship. 

There is a quote that says ‘Courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says ‘I will try again tomorrow’ - but I think this is also what resilience is too. It is being able to try again one more time, even when things seem impossible. 

How resilience helps us as Irish dancers 

Our resilience is what is going to help us to have long and happy Irish Dance careers! Our resilience is the key mindset ingredient that is going to propel you forward towards your goals. This doesn’t mean that you can’t be disappointed anymore or sad when hurdles are unexpectedly placed in our way, but rather it means that we can find a way to dust ourselves off and continue past the disappointment, finding the lesson in the challenge and facing it head on. 

If you are someone who struggles with resilience we want you to try this…

1. Think of a time when you faced a hurdle and felt like giving up. 
2. Why didn't you give up? Did you find the strength to continue on? Did you reconnect with your love for Irish Dancing? Did you take some time off to heal from an injury and then come back with a more resilient and determined mindset?
3. What has this lesson taught you? 
4. If you faced this situation again, would you feel more capable of dealing with it? 

If your answer to question 4 is yes, then you have worked on your resilience without even knowing it or giving yourself credit for it! If you have learned from a previous hurdle, and you feel like you would feel more capable of dealing with it a second time, then that is a sign of resilience improvement. 

A great example Annabelle often talks about is when she experienced three different injuries within 10 months during Covid. When the first injury hit, it took her a long time to find the motivation, right mindset and start using her time wisely to work on other areas of her dancing. The second time she was injured, she came to this realisation quicker, and by the final time she was injured she only spent a day or two before she was back working on her goals with a healthy, resilient, and determined mindset! 

If you need help with your resilience, this is the type of topic Annabelle covers on a weekly basis in her Thursday morning Mindset class in the MWM Gold Club. But if you feel like you’d need more personalised Mindset Coaching, then you can work with Annabelle on a 1:1 basis.