Living Lucky® Podcast with Jason and Jana Banana

From Last Place to Lasting Memories

• Jana and Jason Shelfer • Season 7 • Episode 40

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Dance Your Way to Resilience: How Unexpected Setbacks Became Stepping Stones on Living Lucky®

Imagine facing a dance competition where nothing goes according to plan. Sound stressful? On this episode of Living Lucky®, Jason & Jana Banana transform that stress into inspiration! Join them as they recount their exhilarating (and sometimes hilarious) journey at an international dance competition in Detroit. While they may not have snagged first place, they discovered a treasure trove of resilience-building tips that will empower YOU to conquer life's unexpected twists and turns.

Here's a taste of the gold nuggets you'll find inside:

  • The Power of Letting Go: Learn how to ditch crippling expectations and embrace the joy of the journey, even when reality throws you a curveball.
  • Adaptability is Your Superpower: Unexpected dance sequence changes? No problem! Discover how to stay flexible and navigate life's detours with grace.
  • The Positivity Project: Feeling overwhelmed by self-doubt? Jason & Jana share strategies to maintain a positive outlook, even when the pressure's on.
  • Celebrate Every Step: From rocking their first international competition to (hilariously) becoming green-screen floating heads, Jason & Jana remind you to cherish the moments along the way.
  • Resilience: Your Secret Weapon: Learn how to transform setbacks into stepping stones and emerge stronger from every challenge.

This episode is your invitation to rewrite the script on adversity. Living Lucky® isn't just about achieving your dreams; it's about embracing the chaos, celebrating your courage, and finding the rhythm of life, no matter what the music throws your way.

Ready to turn your dance card into a roadmap to success? Press play and let Jason & Jana Banana be your guides!

P.S. Struggling to find your purpose? Don't miss the powerful exercise revealed in this episode – it'll set you on the path to a life of fulfillment!

Keywords: Resilience, Positivity, Overcoming Challenges, Adaptability, Competition, Dance, Living Lucky, Jason and Jana Banana, Living Lucky TV, Living Lucky Podcast
how to overcome challenges
finding joy in the journey
turning setbacks into opportunities
the power of a positive outlook
life lessons from unexpected experiences



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The 4 pillars of Living Lucky
Believe in yourself
Believe in the people around you
Believe in your circumstances and
Believe that God is working through you, for you, and always conspiring in your favor.

*Previously Recorded

Jana Shelfer:

Are you ready to create a life you crave? Let's spin that doom loop of negativity into an upward success cycle and start Living Lucky®. Good morning. I'm Jana Shelfer, I'm Jason Shelfer and we are Living Lucky®.

Jana Shelfer:

You are too. We just returned from our dance competition In Detroit. Now, we've said this many times Let go of the expectations, let go of the expectations, let go of the.

Jason Shelfer:

Expectations Easier said than done.

Jana Shelfer:

Thank you Because Sunday came and in my head, we had won the competition. In my head, everybody was going to be so excited about the new couple in Para Dance.

Jason Shelfer:

Look at Jana Shelfer and Jason Shelfer.

Jana Shelfer:

What? And we were going to have Dancing, with the Stars just itching at our feet wanting us to be on the show.

Jason Shelfer:

Go home and wait for the phone to ring.

Jana Shelfer:

That wasn't our reality, we placed, we placed, we placed last. So here's the thing. We say it so many times you know what you have to focus on, what you did well. You have to just be excited about the fact that we actually got in the arena. We got in the arena, we showed up. We have been practicing the fact that we got five dances together to even compete in the Latin division.

Jason Shelfer:

Yeah, five Latin dances plus a showcase dance Is huge. Freestyle is what they called it here. It's huge.

Jana Shelfer:

And sometimes there is a gap in where you're at in your imagination and your manifestation and where you are in reality. And the problem is is that so many people value the reality more than they value their imagination and where they're going.

Jason Shelfer:

Sometimes you can. I like to put everything into an analogy of like a road trip, because a lot of time it's about the journey.

Jana Shelfer:

Yes, it's about the journey.

Jason Shelfer:

And when you're on a journey, there are exits on a highway right, and sometimes it can look like. This exit leads me to what my imagination, what that vision of my future, what that grand thing looks like. And so we start putting all of our energy and hopes and dreams into what this exit that I'm taking and hoping that that's going to produce this reality of the vision.

Jana Shelfer:

And I got caught up in it, you got caught up in it, I got caught up in it and I'm actually embarrassed of how it affected me so much Like. So, Sunday was the last day of the competition, and so Saturday we had already been placed last in our freestyle dance and they I mean we had a couple judges tell us personally that we were deducted heavily for the baton, which is considered a prop, and then not keeping the prop on me, I actually threw it to Jason during our dance.

Jana Shelfer:

And the second thing was that I had a cape that I started the dance with and then we put the cape to the floor, which again is losing a prop. So we had a couple judges that came over to us and said you know what, you were deducted heavily for those two things and that probably affected the results.

Jason Shelfer:

Your placement yeah.

Jana Shelfer:

However, we were placed last. So I went to bed and I was frustrated that night and I felt defeated. And yet there was something in me that said I'm a, I'm a fierce competitor, I'm going to get up and we're going to go tomorrow and we're going to show them who we are. So on Sunday we came out and again, there's a lot that goes into it. There's hair, there's makeup, there's I mean, we had I had been working for weeks- on our costumes.

Jason Shelfer:

There's taping up body parts.

Jana Shelfer:

We had a spray tan. I mean seriously like we put so much into this, and not only have we put time and energy into this, we've spent a lot of money. I mean the last week, two weeks, it's just resources in general of just preparing. We didn't have a place to practice and because our teacher was on vacation and then we were in Kansas, so I actually invested in like a place that we could go.

Jason Shelfer:

Renting out extra studios.

Jana Shelfer:

And practice, which was $50 an hour, and we would go and we would practice for two hours an hour and we would go and we would practice for two hours. So you know, that's a hundred dollars a pop, and just practicing, just practicing. And you're thinking, oh well, why can't you just practice at home? Well, I'll tell you why.

Jason Shelfer:

There's couches and there's carpet and there's 20 foot by 40 foot floor. Yeah, and it's open, right.

Jana Shelfer:

And then we would go outside and it would be like so hot that we would get frustrated, and so I was just trying to make it as easy as possible for us to get better, yeah, and it's better to practice in an environment that's similar and like the one that you're going to be performing.

Jana Shelfer:

Exactly. We want to practice like we perform, yeah, okay. So Sunday comes and we did the best that we possibly could. It wasn't great. However, I will say, right before we went on stage, I'm like why aren't they doing the dances in the order? That? I had researched and we found out that was an international thing. So Jason Shelfer and I had practiced the cha-cha, then the samba, and in our heads we had come up with a system. The cha-cha is like your first date, where you're just flirting with the person and you're like, hey, let's dance together. And then the samba is the second date, where you're like, let's go out and get wasted.

Jana Shelfer:

Carnival baby, let's dance, let's party together.

Jana Shelfer:

And then the third date is the Rumba, where you're actually like you know what. I think this might work for us. Let's take it to an intimate level. Let's take it to an intimate level. And then the fourth date is the Paso Doble, where you're like you know what? You drive me crazy and I can't live without you, right, there's a passion and a madness and a masculinity to that dance. And then the fifth dance is the jive, which is fun and silly.

Jason Shelfer:

It's almost like. It's like we made it through this. We can make it through anything. Let's just enjoy life.

Jana Shelfer:

Let's just enjoy life. It's like going to the grocery store and bringing out your silly self and saying this is who I really am, so just accept me authentically and let's just be cheesy and fun. That's how we go that's the jive. Okay, so that is the sequence of dances right before we go out. I mean, I'm serious, the dance. Before we go on the floor I look at Jason Shelfer and our coach, , and I say they're not doing the cha-cha, they are starting with the samba. What the heck Right?

Jason Shelfer:

Yeah.

Jana Shelfer:

So Ariana's like okay, let me go check on this. So she I mean has been doing dance competitions for 30 years. She's not 30 years old, but for her 25 years of life she's been doing dance competitions.

Jason Shelfer:

I'm sure she was dancing in the womb.

Jana Shelfer:

Right. And so she's like, okay, let me go check on this. So she's literally going and asking the judges and the executives there okay, what's happening here?

Jason Shelfer:

so in europe they start with the samba so that's what we had to do.

Jana Shelfer:

So in the last minute, we're changing the order of our dances I'm with the only american team there now you think okay, that's not a big deal. Well, it kind of is a big deal, it's a big deal for me. Because, for Jason Shelfer, we had tried to simplify it to the point where, during the cha-cha, you go to this area of the floor and the samba, we're going to walk over to this area of the floor to start the dance.

Jason Shelfer:

And life is a series of patterns, and once you figure out the patterns then it's pattern optimization. So I had kind of formulated my plan for this experience around these patterns.

Jana Shelfer:

Again, it goes back to expectations and being able to adapt in the moment and not veer off into that. This isn't working out the way I want it to yes yeah. Right, because the minute you go into that mindset, then you start building that yes, yeah. Right, because the minute you go into that mindset, Then you start building that evidence, you're going to go down a tunnel and you create that rabbit hole of darkness.

Jana Shelfer:

Okay, so then we go out there and we did our best. It wasn't great, but we came off the floor. We were excited about our performance. We got through it.

Jason Shelfer:

That was me. I was like yes, it's over. We were celebrating, we did well.

Jana Shelfer:

And in fact we went over to the commentator and we actually did a little interview afterwards. We felt like rock stars. We were like, yeah, go us, yeah, boom, woo woo. That is Jana Shelfer and Jason Shelfer, and we just showed you how to dance, baby Right.

Jason Shelfer:

Well, so we took two people or at least me who had not danced in 40-something years.

Jana Shelfer:

Yes.

Jason Shelfer:

And trained them in steps choreographed motion to a beat. Sped it up like got me from zero to 60.

Jana Shelfer:

We did and we were so excited about it.

Jason Shelfer:

We did that in, I think, a short amount of time and we were out there as the only amateur, amateur couple.

Jana Shelfer:

No, this is how excited we were when we got off that floor. We went over and did the interview. We were wearing green and we were in front of a green screen. Floating heads and I didn't care. And that tells you right there how excited I was, because I didn't even care that we I mean Looked like floating heads, if you don't know anything about broadcasting. If you are wearing the same color as the background color, you will literally blend and look like a floating head and I was like, let's do the interview anyway.

Jana Shelfer:

It was funny, we don't even need to go and change our clothes. That's how freaking awesome we are Broadcast to the world. And I know you need to talk to us right now, because we are the champions. That's what we are.

Jason Shelfer:

It's our heads that matter.

Jana Shelfer:

Our big fat heads, it's our heads that matter, our big fat heads. Okay, so then we are ready to go change our clothes, because I need to get out of these high heels and these pantyhose that I'm wearing, which I haven't worn pantyhose in 30 years. We go to change our clothes and I happen to look at the program and I say wait a minute, there's another Latin Combi class one written right here. What does that mean? So again, our coach, ariana, is like I don't know, let me go check it out. So she goes off to talk to the judges and to talk to the executives and she comes back and she says we dancing again.

Jason Shelfer:

We don't need we don't even judge yes, she goes.

Jana Shelfer:

The first one wasn't judged. We don't even need to make the finals, we're in.

Jason Shelfer:

We're in like flynn and I'm like, yeah, baby, I was like it probably for me it probably would have been best if the first one, like I, missed a couple steps and things I didn't I was perfect in the first one and we probably like it.

Jana Shelfer:

Probably for me, it probably would have been best if the first one like I missed a couple steps and things I didn't.

Jason Shelfer:

I was perfect in the first one and we probably, like it probably would have been best for me if that first one had been judged, because then I started really getting in my head when I was like the first one wasn't judged. Now I'm being judged because at first I was so worried about just the dance yeah, I wasn't worried about. Now I'm being judged Because at first I was so worried about just the dance. I wasn't worried about the dance and being judged.

Jana Shelfer:

So we go out for the second dance. Okay, and again it went, it went. Okay. It wasn't great, although our teacher thought we did well.

Jason Shelfer:

She said we did better the second time.

Jana Shelfer:

I didn't feel that. However, we come off and we're celebrating again because we showed up and we played full out. We've been consistent and our goal was really to compete in an international competition.

Jason Shelfer:

Yeah, and the underlying goal was to have more fun in life. Yes, to connect more deeply, yes, to develop a system where we could find the rhythm daily and dance with each other, whether it's with fear, with doubt, with decisions.

Jana Shelfer:

That was the intention. However, there's a little fierce competitor that lives inside Jana Shelfer, and when it came time to announce the winners, and they start with last place, and all of a sudden they're from they say from the united states, and I'm thinking, oh poor cheryl that's what I'm thinking in my head I'm thinking, oh, it's the other couple from the us.

Jason Shelfer:

Like, oh, that's too bad, too bad. They came in, I am sorry for them.

Jana Shelfer:

They really like Jana Shelfer and Jason Shelfer they were like yeah, number 26. Jana Shelfer and Jason Shelfer and I literally was like wait, did they make a freaking mistake?

Jason Shelfer:

We're last.

Jana Shelfer:

That can't be. That totally cannot be. That's how it almost like it was, almost like I had delusional confidence in that moment Because I'm living in my imagination of where we're going. I'm living in where we are going and that's great. When it comes to manifestation, that is exactly what you want to do when you're living in manifestation. However, the problem is sometimes the gap that we face is that we're not experiencing it in reality, and I just want to remind myself, if this podcast is for anyone right now, it is for Jana Shelfer Shelfer in Winter Garden, florida. There is a latency period when you know in your mind and you have the clarity in your mind of where you're going and what you want. That is a positive, that is a positive thing, and you will get there. You will get there. It is universal law, it is physics.

Jason Shelfer:

When you keep taking the steps towards it.

Jana Shelfer:

You just need to continue to show up with consistency, play full out and you need to keep living in where you're going. The problem is when we fall off and say, yeah, but that's not really happening.

Jason Shelfer:

And I think a lot of times as we listen to people on the outside. So, like the judges, they have a set set of criteria that they have to judge against, and we are the only two amateur couple, like we are the amateur amateur couple. Everyone else there was a either professional, professional or professional amateur.

Jana Shelfer:

Which is no excuse.

Jason Shelfer:

It's no excuse, it just means we need to raise our game and the judges say we have to judge on this Doesn't mean that we're not going to the same place we started out to Exactly. We don't need to change our game. But oftentimes in life we feel like we're hearing this judgment from outside and then we start saying I'm not enough, I need to change my goal, I need to change my plan. Yes, no, stay authentically. You, be consistent with your dream and your belief and your reality and just keep taking those steps forward.

Jana Shelfer:

We start valuing or putting more worth more of a heavy. We start valuing the opinion of others, the external world, instead of what we know in our souls. And that really is what it all comes down to in life. When you can connect with your soul and say this is what I want, and then you connect that with your divine design, there is nothing that's going to stop you, except for you.

Jason Shelfer:

Yeah, and that's where, when we talk about our four pillars of believe in yourself, believe in the people around you, you cultivate.

Jana Shelfer:

Believe in your circumstances and believe that God is working through you, for you and always in your favor. I just finished that for you, Thank you.

Jason Shelfer:

But we cultivate the people around us Like there are inherently going to be people around us. But if we have our group, like our cheering section, then they can help us stay attuned to where we're going, Like they see the map.

Jana Shelfer:

I'm going to just tell you I believe, I believe wholeheartedly in our coach. I think she's the best coach on the planet and she needs to believe that because it's true. I believe in the community that we have created around us. We are at Fred Astaire Winter Park and they root for us, they support us and the Living Lucky® Bunch. I believe in, yes, everyone that shows up for virtual coffee and is constantly like go, Jana Shelfer, Jason Shelfer, we are living vicariously. Through you, you can do it. Yes, we have surrounded ourselves with friends, with people. It's a support system. It is.

Jason Shelfer:

It's a team, it's an uplifting support system. It doesn't mean they're going to feed any delusional aspirations. But what they will do is they will say I believe in you and I will hold you accountable to your dreams and your aspirations.

Jana Shelfer:

And you can get better. You can get better. So it's letting go of the expectation and realizing. It's only feedback, it's not failure. It's not failure that we came in last. It is not failure. It's not failure that we came in last. It is not failure, it is only feedback. And feedback just means okay, we might have to pivot a little bit. It doesn't mean to throw our hands up and say you know what this sport isn't for me find a new dream.

Jana Shelfer:

No, no, it's okay, hey, let's just pivot a little bit, let's get better, let's keep working, and it's the universe's way of testing us to say is this what you really want?

Jason Shelfer:

It's like the butterfly getting out of its chrysalis the wings have to get strong and then at the end you just fly away. You're unconquerable.

Jana Shelfer:

All right, let's soar Keep Living Lucky®. Thanks for listening to us. This was a little bit of a vent as well as an educational lesson for us, so I hope it helped you too. Have a great day. Bye-bye, see you next week.

Jana Shelfer:

If the idea of Living Lucky® appeals to you, visit us at www. livinglucky. com.