Our mindset around aging has a very real affect on how we age.
Most dancers are afraid to age. Fearful that as their bodies mature, their abilities will decrease as injuries increase, opportunities will cease, and their careers will come to an end. But these beliefs are not doing us any favors.
We know from decades of research that what affects our physical health is not only what we put into our bodies, but also what we put into our minds. And the very things we feed our brains have the power to not only make us feel better, but, among other things, to actually slow down the aging process.
Studies show that those of us who look forward to aging, and see it as something positive, rather than negative, actually live longer and healthier lives. When we view getting older as a gift, instead of a curse, we tend to make better choices in our lives. We also tend to feel more in control of our journey, rather than feeling like a victim to circumstances beyond our power, which helps us steer clear of what researchers call a failure mindset. This failure mindset can lead to feelings of hopelessness and despair and often results in a lack of longevity, the very thing we are all after in our dance careers.
These mindset shifts have also been shown to decrease inflammation and cellular damage (both huge drivers of aging), while also increasing telomere length (the small cuffs that protect our chromosomes and erode as we age).
In a very real way then, our minds have the power to slow how quickly we age.
But this mindset shift to embrace aging can be extremely difficult to achieve in an industry that tends to celebrate youth. More and more we are seeing both dancers and choreographers having careers much longer than their predecessors, indicating that there is a shift happening in the industry as a whole. And it’s so important that we each individually continue to contribute to that shift.
Let’s all start celebrating the incredible wisdom and vibrancy that comes with experience both inside the studio and out, beginning with ourselves. With those years come amazing insight that we luckily get to share with our students.
Sources:
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00067/full
https://academic.oup.com/abm/article-abstract/51/3/348/4564107?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false
https://time.com/3706720/how-your-mindset-can-change-how-you-age/
https://danscend.teachable.com/
