The last time I went to my dance class by myself I had a terrible time. I became stuck in my classic I’m-unworthy-of-these-people’s-company mindset and couldn’t wrench myself out of it. Since then I’ve avoided the class whenever my dance partner Lynsey’s been away.

Lynsey’s currently on holiday for a couple of weeks, and before she left I didn’t know how I’d feel about going dancing on my own. However, I realised today that I wasn’t particularly worried about it, so I headed down there and had a really good time. I was happily chatting away and stayed far later than normal. Great! That’s exactly how I wanted to be, and it’s hard to say quite what changed. I think the last dancing weekend away helped, as I got to know people much better. Also, a couple of the others actively let me know they’d happily dance with me while Lynsey was away, which was a major confidence booster. Shame it’s taken me eighteen months to begin to relax properly, but at least I’m finally getting there.