I was sitting at our assigned wedding table with my mom, dad, and brother around me; I was in 6th grade. If there is anything that people know about being a middle schooler is that everyone tries to act like they’re really cool. David who was in 5th grade at the time was having a fun time at the wedding asked my parents and I, “Anyone wanna go dance?” And in my mind I’m like who dances at a wedding you’re going to look like a complete fool and I don’t want to be your brother because it was embarrassing, and that’s what little middle school me was like! David was like “okay guys your loss”. All 4’4 of David walks over to the dance floor and he starts to boogie hard, I mean he got down with the beat, and people were taking notice. As time went on people started to gather around David and started to cheer. I peered at him from my table on my phone, and David was smiling, a lot of people were laughing and for the rest of the afterparty David was like ribs at a barbeque, everyone wanted a piece of him while I was stuck being the brother of the cool little kid who decided to take over the dance floor.

I learned that day that you have to bring energy to things so that others can have a good time and so can you. It’s fine to not be super energetic for everything because too much all the time can get on people’s nerves. But sometimes you gotta let loose because truly having a good time means that you be you and not worry about other people and societal pressures (God I sound like a motivational book right now) but seriously, people don’t care about what you do than you think they do. I know it's easier said than done but don’t let you psych yourself out about something that honestly isn’t a big deal, and if it works out, which it probably will, you’ll feel great and confident.

I won’t forget that day and the lesson that it taught me, and although sometimes I go over the top and it’s cringe-worthy, for the most part I’m happy that I’ve decided to try and be myself rather than worrying about being cool, and I’m so much happier now than I was at the wedding. Little did I know I’ll be forever grateful that my brother and his dance moves for teaching me such an important lesson.