The empty-minded dancer

During my college years and the start of my career, I’ve met… people. Like… lots of people.

And some of them like to see dancers at a club (and maybe do something more to get a happy ending).

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I like some occassional nightlife experiences with friends to drink and dance. Nothing too crazy though, ask my friends (src: just trust me bro).

And for a couple of occassions, sometimes these clubs have their little dance… Segments. I’ve seen different choreographies, styles, and clothes (and sometimes the lack of them).

Of all those different performances, at least here in where I live, I noticed one unforgetable similarity.

Their facial expression: all the same flat redundant smile, sometimes even openly frown.

Maybe they’re thinking “They’re only looking at my body anyway so why bother?”

At first, there’s judgement. I firmly believe others would judge too. But then I learn so much stuff about the fact that not everyone gets to do what they want (or at least what they think is decent).

But regardless of whether they chose the dancing gigs or the gigs chose them, I also believe one other thing:

We’re no different than them

Unless you’re a trophy wife spending your weekdays at a Padel or Tennis courts or an entrepreneur with a safety net as wide as the Java island, you’re probably not that different from them.

We wake up every morning, we take a shower, eat/skip breakfast, and proceed to swim in an ocean of cars, bikes, or people if you take public transport.

Then we arrive at our offices, studios, or any place where we will hop on a possibly meaningless online meeting that could’ve been a WhatsApp chat.

Or maybe we’re “fortunate” enough to sit in a fancy meeting room with some online remote participants eagerly waiting to see/share screens of decks.

And that’s when we’re no different than the night club dancers: we put on a smile, saying “yes sir/ma’am” to instructions we barely understand, pretending to fully grasp those spreadsheets and decks.

Then we realize, it doesn’t matter if we’re smiling or not, as long as the job’s done.

“They’re only looking at my work anyway so why bother?”

Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that my current job doesn’t involve pleasing people too much through fake smiles and buzzwords masked as competence.

Once I realize that we’re no different than those dancers, I can chill a bit more at work. Maybe the HR lady who frowns all the time is thinking about her son’s school tuition. Maybe the legal team are tired of scrambling through pointless MoUs. Maybe the sales team doesn’t care that much about the sentimental value of the things they’re selling as long as they close deals.

Maybe, we’re just getting through our days without completely losing our minds.