Me and my buddy...

Me and my buddy

Chances are that if you see me out and about, I am accompanied by my "Ellen Bag" and my buddy Erin. She is my buddy because she is more than just my friend. She is a friend with benefits, but not in the way you are thinking. I have calculated that I am approximately a 30% stronger and better dancer because of her.

We both have the same goal to become better dancers, and we do this together. Psychologists call the increase in performance because of the presence of another person social facilitation. Erin is my social facilitator. We carpool together, we do our personal training sessions together, we help each other with our mental workouts, we go see shows together, we review choreography together, we complain to each other, we encourage each other, and the list goes on and on....
 

If I want to sleep in and skip a morning training session, I don't because I know Erin will be there improving, and I will feel behind. If trainer Tom hands Erin a heavier weight than me, I kindly ask him for the heavier one and pretend that I am not about to fall over with it. If I am feeling frustrated, I vent to Erin while she nods her head until I start to realize how ridiculous I sound.

It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to do what I do without my buddy. I hope that you have a buddy, too. The best things in life are usually really freaking hard to achieve, and the road to them is usually filled with blood, sweat, tears, disappointment, frustration, anxiety... I can't imagine having to persevere through all of that to get to the good stuff without my social facilitator and wine and my husband Patrick, of course. Patrick is also a friend with benefits, but in the way you were thinking...