I've been a dancer since I was two years old, and let me tell you something - I will never stop being one. It was painful saying goodbye to my teachers and classmates at our last recital, and yes, plenty of tears were shed, but I will forever be thankful for the life dance has given me and I will always be a dancer, classes or not.

With that being said, I probably didn't even have to tell you I'm a dancer for you to know, because I put a little bit of it into everything I do.

Thanks to dance, I choreograph every song I hear. 5-6-7-8 Prep, Pirouette and tilt!

Thanks to dance, I count 5-6-7-8 instead of the standard 3-2-1-Go and everything needs to be done in twos, fours, or eights.

Thanks to dance, I impatiently tap dance while waiting in line, and then end up loving the combo I made up.

Thanks to dance, I can change my clothes and shoes, even if they're double knotted, in under 20 seconds.

Thanks to dance, I'm not embarrassed to wear weird outfits.

Thanks to dance, I look like a walking punching bag with the amount of bruises covering my body.

Thanks to dance, I can take criticism and critique and turn it into something beautiful.

Thanks to dance, I am obsessed with glitter.

Thanks to dance, I push myself past my limits.

Thanks to dance I walk on demi-point randomly throughout the day without even noticing.

Thanks to dance, I do turns down the aisles of Home Depot because their floors are just that perfect.

Thanks to dance, I'm not afraid to speak in the front of a classroom, because I've expressed myself in an even more personal way in front of hundreds of strangers at every dance competition.

Thanks to dance, I plie to pick things up off the ground.

Thanks to dance, I stand in fourth or fifth position when I've been in the same spot for too long because it's just so much comfier, even though it doesn't look like it.

Thanks to dance, I don't say "I can't" because it's engraved in my head that it will result in push-ups and an attitude adjustment. Instead, "I can do that after I practice a little" is what comes out.

Thanks to dance, I love the smell of hairspray - a little too much.

Thanks to dance, I have a list of songs that I can't listen to without performing the old routine in my head.

Thanks to dance, I stretch constantly and will randomly start doing isolations if I'm working out to music.

Thanks to dance, I correct everyone who calls a straddle a split. They are not the same.

Lastly, thanks to dance, I have confidence in myself. I know that with hard work and determination, I can do what I thought was impossible. I have strength in many forms of the word and I am not afraid of getting up after I've fallen. Thanks to dance, I am the person that I am today.