Shirley Davis
Jul 30, 2017 · 3 min read

ZUMBA Families are Like Real Families

Zumba is a great way to meet new people and gain confidence that might be lacking in your everyday life. It’s a way to connect with people on the dance floor and off. Most Zumba instructors develop a social media page where there participants can engage in class news, vent, and talk about things that worry them in a safe environment. Most social media websites are no longer performing an envisaged function of creating a battleground, where insults fly from the human quiver, damaging lives, destroying self-esteem and a persons sense of self-worth. (Carmona, 2017) Zumba does just the opposite of that. By creating secret groups with people who can relate to you helps get you out of that negative space and into a positive one while building your self-esteem. Using social media as a way to connect with classmates is desirable and needed.

Never let someone bring you down.

Comparing and gossiping about other, putting others first, even excessive Facebooking are all signs of low self-esteem. You may say you do these things to stay connected or because “I want to.” The truth is when one is content with themselves, they have health self-esteem; external validation is simply an addictive, not a necessity to their lives. A person with a healthy self-esteem spends the bulk of their time doing things that promote positivity within themselves and exude this in life. (Roberts, 2012) You don’t need social media to survive, you need a health self-esteem to.

Zumba and Homophily

For women who are looking to build their self esteem, they sometimes look for groups and activities where they can feel like they belong. For myself, standing at 283lbs, I needed to find a specific group of women who wouldn’t judge me but would praise me for wanting to take control of my life and that is what I found with Zumba. Having the support of the women on the dance floor and on social media helped me through some rough times. I developed a sisterhood that was different from any other friendship I have ever had. Sometimes you Zumba family show you more support than your real family and in times where we experience depression, we need support and an outlet and that’s exactly what my Zumba family and Facebook book support group did for me. We hold each other accountable while empowering each other at the same time during class and on Facebook.

My Zumba Family and I

We are all women who are going through our own self-esteem issues who use our fitness class and social media as a way to bring us out of depression. Not all social media is negative. Not all social media focuses on the models, music, and trending topics. There are groups that focus on the betterment of yourself and focuses also on building a strong foundation on relationships and friendships. I definitely believe that if it wasn’t for the support of my Zumba girls, I would have hit depression hard. I would have hit it hard because I had no escape. No escape from the stressed environment I was in, no escape to just cry if I needed to and no one to really turn to that wasn’t going to judge me. I am thankful for our Support group on Facebook as well as the class.

References:

Carmona, Anthony. (2017) Self-Esteem. HTTPS://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/anthonycar715456.html?src+self-esteem

Roberts, Emily. (2012) What is Low Self-Esteem? HTTPS://www.healthyplace.com/blogs/building self esteem/2012/05/what-is-low-self-esteem/

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