Life Update: 5AM Club, High School, Dating

Dearest readers,

Top of the morn’! It is 6:27am and I am happy to report that I am officially a new member of the 5am club!

I woke up bright and early at 4:45am after getting a restful 6 hours of sleep. While I usually need my requisite 9 hours of sleep each night, I was somehow able to wake up this morning without the help of an alarm clock. Must be because I slept a hefty 12 hours the night before. Why did I sleep so much, you may ask?

Well, my work schedule has seen a significant uptick, amounting to an additional 15 hours a week of teaching. Starting this week, I am once again at the high school teaching for their Intersession program: students get 2 weeks off of academics and take 2 elective courses of their choosing. I’ve been teaching Intersession since 2023, which happens 3 times a year. I have offered dance and yoga in past sessions, and this round, I’m offering something different: RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS! My first true love, and a sport I devoted 10 years of my life to. I made it to the Junior Olympic level, but sustained a knee injury at age 15 that ended my career. While I never achieved my dream of competing at the Olympics, I am grateful for the professional training that shaped me into the dancer I am today.

It is day 3 of Intersession, and the past 2 days have been nothing short of magical. I get to introduce a group of 14 – 16 year-olds to this vastly underrated, achingly beautiful sport that is the perfect blend of dance, artistry, acrobatics, object-manipulation, and contortion. It’s the Olympic sport with the ribbons, if anyone doesn’t know.

I have 3 hours with the kids every day, and thus far, I’ve been teaching them stretching, body elements (jumps, pivots, balances), conditioning, and apparatus training (ribbons, balls, hoops). The apparatus work is especially fun– it essentially amounts to “play-time”. My students learn how to twirl ribbons, roll balls, throw hoops, and I love how enthusiastic my students are with learning. It’s also really fun when teacher and admin staff watch our class and are eager to participate (a couple staff members asked me to show them moves with the hoop and ribbon, and I happily taught them some tricks!).

This round at the high school is significantly stressful than previous sessions. When I taught dance, the pressure was on– I was tasked with teaching a group of teenagers, many of them non-dancers, a 3-4 minute choreography in the span of 9 days. On the 10th day, they performed the choreography to parents and teachers. It was a tall task and a challenge I was up for, but dance Intersessions WIPE ME OUT. The stress would often lead me to turn to unhealthy coping skills to manage, and my mental health would suffer as a result. I didn’t want to put myself through the ordeal this time around, so I opted for rhythmic gymnastics instead. Empowering kids with skills and confidence in movement has been one of the most fulfilling things I’ve ever done, and I am eternally grateful to have the opportunity to teach at this local high school. It’s what I was meant to do.

In other news, I am dating a new guy, and he is wonderful. This is by far the healthiest relationship I have ever been in, and I’ve learned from all my past dating plights and failures and am really connecting with this guy not only physically, but an intellectual, emotional, and spiritual level. I’m excited and hopeful to see where this leads. The way we met was something out of a Hallmark movie. It happened on New Year’s Eve 2025, and though we’ve only been dating for less than a month, it feels as if we’ve known each other for much longer. More on the story of how we met, later!

It’s 6:58am and I spent all morning doing outreach for my wedding dance choreography business. Being a part of a couple’s celebration of love is one of my greatest joys, and if I can grow my wedding dance business and make this into a full-time gig, I’d die a happy woman. The job is fun, creative, positive, and filled with love. Many couples I’ve worked with said that learning their first dance was the most fun part of their wedding planning journey, and I’m grateful to be a part of their love story.

It’s time to get my day started. Teaching a pilates class at 8am, high school 12:30-3:30pm, personal training client 4:15-5pm, and wedding dance couple 6-6:45pm. I am proud of the career I’ve built for myself as a multi-hyphenate fitness, dance, and movement teacher. No day looks the same, and I derive a lot of joy from what I do. It’s a dynamic, busy, creative, stimulating, and fun-filled life, and I’m excited to continuing growing my skills as a teacher and making a decent living in the process. Finishing this post with immense gratitude. I wish you all a wonderful Wednesday.