Shut Up and Dance

by

During my first dinner at my new house, one of my housemates asked as an impromptu icebreaker, “What song would you say was your summer anthem?” I thought a moment and said, “Shut Up and Dance” (by Walk the Moon). Now looking back at my first week, I’ve decided that the popular song has also been this week’s anthem (only in part because it’s been sung acapella or played a couple times in the past few days).

It has become a ritual of sorts for me to turn up the volume as high as possible and dance to the best of my abilities when this song comes on my car radio. Whether I’m alone or not (my boyfriend has been subjected to this ritual twice). I mumble sing along to the verses, but I can quite confidently deliver the chorus:

“Oh don’t you dare look back
Just keep your eyes on me
I said you’re holding back
She said shut up and dance with me
This woman is my destiny
She said oh oh oh
Shut up and dance with me”

This week has been tiring. I’ve met and bonded with six new brilliant housemates and our director, been warmly welcomed by members of the community, gone boating, cleaned onions on a farm, and taken walking tours of a new city with a different culture than my own. While I have been exhausted and busy, I have welcomed every opportunity instead of closing down or refusing. Because this year will challenge me and offer me experiences that I wouldn’t have had otherwise, experiences that will change me for good. And I think I should let myself be changed.
This year is like the woman in this song. It says to me, “quiet your anxieties”. It says, “just dive in.” It says, “you may not know what’s coming, but you can do it.” It says, “shut up and dance.”

 

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