Dance-related injuries

Before you proceed to the entry, let me set one thing straight: I am not a masochist. I do not enjoy pain in any form or any degree. Please keep that in mind as you read the entirety of this post.
Now that we've got that cleared up, let's get going!

There's honestly something very satisfying about getting injured because of dance—at least that's what I think. Of all the (roughly) 15 years I have been dancing, my bones, muscles, and joints have sustained quite a bit of damage because I tend to overwork them. I am a perfectionist, especially when it comes to my art, and that is (unfortunately) a trait that has landed me in more trouble than it has success. Because of my tendency to literally dance until I drop (or hear something crack), I now have:

• loose hip joints (my Pilates instructor tells me that she can actually hear my pelvic bones coming out of its socket sometimes *shudders*) 
• a dislocated ankle — I actually have no idea if it's still dislocated, but one physiotherapist said that my bone actually shifted or something.........I didn't ask her for more information because I was just that disgusted and scared.
• creaky knee joints 
• loose and creaky shoulder joints
• weak rear end

All of those fun things at the age of 19. Wow, I feel so young o____o

In spite of all of those minor (some of them were actually quite serious at some point, but I think they're okay now...) setbacks, my love for the art of dancing is still as strong as the first day I fell for it. Although my Pilates instructor always advises me against dancing too often because of blatantly obvious reasons (a.k.a. injuries and whatnot), I just can't seem to separate myself from it. I mean, how can a fish stay out of water and live? Cheesy, I know.

The longest time I was strictly told to stay away from dancing—or any kind of strenuous physical activity for that matter—was for 3 whole months when I dislocated my right ankle. There was a school event coming up during that time, and I was soooooooooo frustrated that I couldn't perform because of my ankle injury. I ended up being the choreographer for the performers, and even though it was fun, I still felt horrible for not being able to dance on stage. As I think of it now, I'm pretty sure I actually danced with my students at least once during rehearsals.......maybe that's why my ankle isn't completely healed yet even after a year. Oops.

Things haven't changed that much now, I still haven't learned my lesson even after all these years, and I sometimes get these random attacks of pain during or after dance classes or my regular workout sessions. I've pulled a muscle in my ribs at least four times, I once gave too much of my all in a workshop that I literally couldn't walk for the next few days, I have ugly scars and blisters from dancing in heels, and I just injured my right ankle again about a month or two ago. 

I personally see those "damages" as proof of how hard I worked my booty off to improve in my art. The bruises on my body are my battle scars—they symbolize how much blood, sweat, tears, time, and effort I poured into dancing. The way I see it is that I'm blessed enough to have a talent, and God has constantly been giving me all of these great opportunities and platforms to showcase my love and passion for dance, so why not go the extra mile and work hard to expand and deepen my horizon? No pain, no gain, right? 

Love,
Jennifer

PS: I have no idea whether or not this post is actually coherent, because, I kid you not, my mind was running all over the place the whole time I wrote this. I also don't feel like reading this entry just to proofread. If I managed to transition from one paragraph to another seamlessly, then good! If not, then I apologize, because I sometimes do jump from one topic to another when I talk in real life. Oh well.