Pole is great for so many reasons and every person you meet in the pole community will give you another perspective on how pole dancing has helped them grow. For me, pole is – among many other things – a medium to maintain a work-life balance.
I’ve always had a workaholic tendency. Growing up, I got to school early and I’d have been one of the last to leave if it hadn’t been for extra-curriculars including various choirs, acrobatics, and dancing. Similarly, pole fitness is what makes me leave the office at a reasonable hour nowadays. I moved to Boston in January 2017 and started a job in education technology in May. It didn’t take very long until I plunged myself into new projects, spending more and more time at work, and answering messages late at night or early in the morning. Luckily, I had started pole just before I got my job. Pole classes gave me a concrete schedule and deadline for calling it a day when I could have gone on working on lower-priority items that could be handled another day at the expense of mental health.
Working in tech, I sit a lot. I spend most of my day in front of a laptop. And things move very quickly. Software doesn’t sleep; when things go wrong, it feels like there’s not an option to wait and fix things in the morning. So it was absolutely necessary for me to learn to step away.
Pole dancing was a perfect escape.
Physically, it feels fantastic to climb, spin, and build strength after a day of barely moving. My parents both being musicians, I felt that there was some skepticism toward my choice of a “desk job,” so I was very proud when my mom commended me on my posture after I started training!
Many people who work in technology seem to use music as an artistic outlet. (I have no doubt other professions and industries are equally and more stressful.) Making music requires concentration, which distracts from whatever stress may be coming from work. Pole also offers a creative way to express yourself. We dance, we interpret music, and we invent new routines or combinations.
Additionally, pole dancing is a great way to meet people with different interests, backgrounds, and careers, which is one of the best ways to shut out whatever may be on your mind after a day of hard work. At Fly Together Fitness, we emphasize the social aspect of pole and help people become part of a community and network that extends beyond the classroom.
There are many ways to learn to step away from work if you are someone who tends to take their job home and carry professional responsibility outside of the workplace. Pole dancing is a great multi-purpose balancer - meeting needs for fitness, mental distraction, creativity, and socializing, and even boosting confidence to grow in your day job.