Megan loved everything about dance. She had been passionate about it since childhood. After all, her mom was a professional dancer before she stopped performing to have Megan.
Megan eagerly watched dance performances and passionately consumed her mother’s old dance videos. She dreamed of becoming a dancer like her mom and performing to her heart’s content.
But her mother was dead set against it. She believed Megan couldn’t dance. As Megan’s first dance teacher, their lessons always ended in tears and frustration. Her mom’s high expectations made it impossible for Megan to learn from her. Any dance lessons Megan took after that from different teachers were swiftly shut down by her mom, who constantly pointed out the lack of grace or how flawed the performance was.
Other dance teachers couldn’t stand up to her mom’s strong opinions due to her esteemed reputation in the field.
Every time Megan left a dance class unfinished, unable to continue due to her mother’s over-involvement, her dreams were crushed a little more.
Finally, torn between giving up her dreams and stopping her efforts to please her mother, Megan decided to pursue her dreams.
Megan found a teacher without her mother’s knowledge and learned to dance freely. Without restrictions to worry about and expectations to keep up with, she discovered how graceful and elegant she could be.
Megan was happy to be herself, to dance for herself. She learned how to silence the voices of discouragement once and for all.
This fictional piece is written in response to the two hundredth and third edition of Fiction Monday inspired by the above photo prompt hosted by yours truly. Do join in if you have a tale to tell.
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Void Thoughts 
I’m glad there was a happy ending to this store. The pressure of being perfect takes away joy and leaves children feeling constantly inadequate.
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Alas! This sounds like the predicament of so many kids who have to deal with parental pressure even before they have learnt to deal with their learnings! So often, we forget that learning is also about the joy and the upliftment one feels rather than accomplishment alone. It is a journey…to be savoured through the stages.
I feel sad that this happens so often. Very well brought out in your story, Vinitha! Visited your blog after a long time and really enjoyed reading your post. 🙂
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Good for Megan! Often, parents tend to overburden their children with their expectations leaving the children crushed with heartbreaks.
Just the other day, I watched the movie, The Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman. The mother in your story reminded me of her overbearing mother. It was quite a dark story and ends on a sad note. Have you seen it?
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