‘Dance switched off the worrying voice in my brain – now it’s my job!’
Afaf Belcaid, 44, left her senior-management career and became a Zumba instructor
‘On paper, I’d been ticking all the “success” boxes in life. I’d been an engineer, had an MBA from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and was a senior business manager at Amazon, not to mention being a mum. However, at the end of 2016 when I had my second child, I decided to leave my job to devote more time to my children. Far from being a rest, it was a taxing year looking after my new baby while supporting my elder son who was six and was finding school a challenge.
‘I didn’t know why at the time but, after trying desperately to get to the bottom of it, he was diagnosed with dyspraxia (developmental co-ordination disorder). From the minute I woke up to when I got to bed (and often during the night),
I was managing the kids’ needs. I was exhausted. I sometimes joke that managing 12 million items at Amazon was less stressful than parenting full time!
I was admitted to hospital with continuous nausea, dizziness and extreme fatigue in April 2018. I thought I had a chronic disease, but was told my nervous system had become deregulated due to stress overload.
‘After my nervous breakdown, I tried a number of things such as acupuncture, chiropractor sessions, massage and anxiety medication to help me recover. Then I started dancing. I’d taken it up when I was a student and loved it and, this time, I found it switched off the worrying voice in my brain. I had to be present in the moment for it, and it gave me an emotional release. I also felt happier afterwards. Dance helped me realise that experiencing moments of presence during my day was key to bringing my nervous system back to normal. I stopped using anxiety medication and have never looked back.
‘By 2019, I realised how powerful these benefits were, and trained as a Zumba teacher (zumba.com) so I could help others reap the rewards of dance. I started teaching as soon as I could, and launched my own business dance2happy (dance2happy.com) in Chiswick, London, in May 2021. Two other teachers and I run several in-studio and online classes a week.
‘Running my own business gives me more flexibility than my old job would have, but my new work also gives me energy rather than draining it out of me. I can finally be the parent I wanted to be. I’m planning to launch kids’ classes and my dream is to launch dance2happy branded studios to help inspire more people to take ownership over their own happiness through dance.’
‘Do what makes your heart sing! You’re likely to be more successful when you love what you do’