Revised | Originally Published: July 22, 2021 @ 9:34 am

A dance habit is something I never imagined wanting, but now I have one.

Over the last year, I’ve been building new habits–mostly around fitness and productivity. It has gone well. I’ve lost LBs, added muscle, and lowered my resting pulse. I’ve also built work habits that save time and increase productivity. With that history of success, I decided to branch out and try something just for fun, a daily dance habit.

I’m no big fan of dancing. I’m one of those freaks that usually finds music more annoying than soul-soothing or refreshing. My dancing tends to look a bit like this–without the enthusiasm and rhythmic movement:

I move with all the grace and fluidity of a LEGO person.

But the new dance habit wasn’t intended to make me a better dancer or nudge me to appreciate dancing or music more. I decided to embrace dance for…romance. I envisioned it as a chance to connect with my One True Love, Tasha, for a few moments daily—the dance habit I wanted to build focused on dancing with her daily.

She was receptive to the idea. She likes music, she likes to dance, and she likes me. She’s also very forgiving of my lack of skill.

We gave it a go. We decided to make it a Morning Thing–that’s when it fits best into our day. I started a Spotify playlist. The process is simple: 1) Press play. 2) Dance.

We just finished day 27. It’s been delightful. We hold each other; we smile at each other; we sync. Sometimes we talk. Mostly, we don’t. We sway and groove together. It’s nice–calming, pleasant, and refreshing. The only downside–sometimes the dogs want to join the dance party. Two 70+ pound Labrador Retriever-based pups leaping about dampens the calm. I expect that our daily dance habit will stick. The research into habit building is clear that enjoyable and easy habits tend to last.

A daily dance habit may not be for you, but doing something similar with your sweetie is worth consideration.

A few books to consider if you want to learn more about habit change: Atomic Habits, The Power Of Habit, and Making Habits, Breaking Habits.

The Daily Dance Habit Update

03/28/2023–Today is dance habit day 643. Lately, we’ve been dancing in the evenings. My dance skills have not improved. In all this time, only one day has slipped by without a dance–Halloween 2022. It was a busy day. We went out that evening and forgot to dance.

The next day we were sad about breaking our streak for a moment–then started again. We danced twice that day.

Our dance habit has been a pleasant addition to our life together. I see it going on and on.

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