As the New Year is approaching, it is time to think of your new resolution. For years I have entertained the typical New Year's resolutions: to quit a bad habit, to lose weight, to stop this and not do that. This year, I am going to do the opposite. This year, I am going to start something, and Northrop is going to help.

You see, I used to be a dancer. I used to live it, breathe it.

I slept in tights and leotards and practiced turns in my sleep.

My garage became a dance studio, and I never loved anything more.

Then, life happened.

Slowly but surely, it was taken away.

Strange how that happens, how the thing that matters most takes the back burner to work, family, school, and other responsibilities.  And soon, it is completely removed from your life.

You can feel it too. You can feel it missing. It is a small prick in your heart, just light enough to remind you that you are not fully complete.

But, you let it be. You don't have time for it anymore. You figure that at your age, it is just a part of what happens.

Not anymore.

It is time to take it back.  

Tomorrow, I will dig out the old toe shoes. I will buy tickets to an upcoming show. I will give to Northrop.  I will get rid of that prick in my heart.

Because, I love dance. And because, I deserve to have it in my life.

Now, I know we have never met, but I can bet you have something hiding on the back shelf that you would like to dust off too, something that you lost some time ago, and would like to bring back.

What is it for you? Theater? Art? Reading? Running?

Whatever it is, I think it's time to reclaim that lost love.

And what better time than New Years?

You know, I find it funny how New Years is often a time when people try to fix what they are "bad at" and pick out ways to change themselves. Why not work on what you are already good at? Why not rediscover yourself and your talents?

So as you plan your new goals for the year 2012, join me in the challenge of starting something, instead of stopping it. Go out there, audition for a play, paint a mural, relax with a book, enter a race. Put back into your life what has been lost over the years, because, you deserve it. 

~Allyson Taubenhaim, Marketing Intern

(Image credit: Carla Schleicher)

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