Barre None: A Lot Can Happen In A Year...

A Lot Can Happen In A Year...
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Welcome to Barre None, my new video blog exclusively on Huffington Post. I'm Sara Mearns and I hope to be your tour guide into the world of classical ballet. You might ask yourself, "Why a video blog that goes behind the scenes of a classical ballet dancer's daily life?" Because what you see on the stage does not begin to capture what ballet or our lives are all about. You see the performance, but what you don't see -- the rehearsals, the costume designs, the frazzled nerves, the learning of a new ballet, the constant travels around the world, the injuries and the oftentimes long, painful road to recovery that lead us to wonder if this is the injury that can end a career -- it's all a part of what we do and who we are.

I'm only one dancer, but I hope that by giving you a window into my life as a principal ballerina at New York City Ballet, a door will be opened to more interest, curiosity, and enthusiasm for this artform that I, and so many others, love and work so hard for. So come on in, pull up a seat, and join me every Friday. You'll have a great time. I promise. Barre None.

A Lot Can Happen In A Year...

It's hard to think about this time last year, the pain I was in emotionally and physically. So many unanswered questions swirling around me like a hurricane and feeling like I didn't have the answers to any of them. No one had the answers. Everywhere I looked, no one could help me but me. I had many people to reach out to, who supported me with everything they had, but I had to be the one to change. I had to be the one to accept my injury, to listen to my body screaming, "Stop!!!" A year later, I am in absolute shock of how far I've come, how far beyond any of my expectations I have gone. I have learned many life lessons, as well as artistic and athletic lessons, but the one thing I know to be true is that time gives you everything.

Learning that phrase "only time will tell" and really truly understanding it has been my biggest lesson. This can be used in every part of your life. I had too many things to list happening at once, and I wasn't giving myself the time to understand it all. So the universe forced me to face it and take away the most precious thing in my life: dance. It wasn't until I took the time to work on myself as a human being did the universe bring dance back to me.

This all might sound completely naive and impractical, but until one can truly accept who they are and bring love to others, you won't ever really get what you want out of life. Here I am, a year later, feeling like the luckiest girl on the planet because I get to wear pointe shoes everyday and play dress up every night and listen to the most beautiful music. But it took a long time to get to this point. And if it wasn't for that, I would not be the person or dancer I am today.

Never wish tomorrow was here; you never know what the rest of today could bring you. Time is the most valuable thing we have in our lives and never take it for granted. I don't regret a day that I was injured. It was the most valuable time I have ever had for myself and for my body. I am so excited for what the rest of this year brings me and I won't rush a minute of it!

See you next week...

You can find Sara Mearns on twitter here: @nycbstar2b. Follow her on Instagram here: @saramearns.

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