What is Hooping to me?

Hooping has opened many doors for me and it helped me find myself, not only as a dancer but also as a person. It really gave me a boost of confidence and made me respect myself more and helped me become more of a feminist, so it helped me stand up for myself more and gave me something to love so that I could be happy without a relationship and I didn’t have to prove myself to anyone anymore since I already proved to myself that I’m worth it. I found out that it's not just about shaking your hips, it's more about the art form that you get to share with the world and having fun just being yourself. I've only been in hooping for a year but i already see the changes it put me through. I find myself dancing and singing out in public where i would be scared to even walk. I feel so strong and powerful inside a hoop and it really helps me feel protected as well. Sure people are looking at you but nobody can ever get near you if they don't want to be hit by a hoop. I find myself speaking up in class more instead of sitting in the back and prying nobody would call on me and i'm expressing myself more through my dancing and what i wear. I used to be the girl that hid in the back but was alway trying to show off with how i look and not in a good way. Hooping has helped me change that and gave me something to do with my time and showed me that I don’t need a guy all the time, I can entertain myself with my hoop instead of bending over backward trying to impress someone who doesn’t even like me. People like me for me and I never knew that before, I thought I had to be like someone everyone wants me to be to fit in but now i’m just happy being me. I love to stand out now, i’m not afraid to speak my mind and i’m proud to say i’m different. It has also helped with my depression, life was hard before I found myself in a hoop, I was alway upset and had nothing to live for. I was bored with life and hated it until I found this. This has given me opportunities that I could never imagine, and gave me the mind set that I could do anything. Furthermore, it’s so addicting, after you learn your first trick you keep wanting to learn more. It’s great if you need a distraction to break a bad habit. I could go on and on about this, hooping is the best thing that ever happened to me and I really wished I would have gotten into sooner. Now all I want to do it share it with the world. It’s like finding a great hobby that makes you really happy and all I want to do is try to make everyone else as happy, it’s like giving back everything the hoop gave to you to someone who could really use it because sharing a love like this just widens your smile. :D