Pole dancing saved my life
I'd already started pole dancing before my relationship unexpectedly ended but when that bombshell hit me and my world fell apart, it was Our Little World of Pole that pulled it back together.
Each week was a struggle to get out of bed to plod on with my life back then. I saw no reason to live, no point in it anymore. My ex had left me for someone else. I wasn't good enough. I was second best.
It was a dark place. But every Sunday there was a light that slowly pulled me out from the clouds and back into the sunshine. People who cared about me, missed me and wanted to see me. Pole was, and still is, a place where I am truly me, I am happy, I am alive and free. The demons of the outside world cannot touch me there, for they cannot climb the walls to see my secret place. I can get lost in the music, and the moves. Feel graceful, beautiful and worth something.
People laugh, share and help one another. It's a meeting of minds and a mutual love of an art form that few truly understand. It becomes our lives and a passion, for the empowerment it gives and the confidence it brings. There are no egos here, no false faces and back stabbing like the harsh outside world. In our little cocoon of pole we are all united in our desire to learn, improve and aspire. Everyone genuinely cares for each other. There's an unsaid feeling of love for each other, everyone feels it, we don't need to speak it, you can sense it in the air and see it behind the smiles and the bright eyes. 
It's this happy happy world that kept me going, that brought light back to my eyes and a smile to my lips. People helped me through, strong bonds of friendship have been formed and my life has been changed irrevocably forever. And in such a positive way.
The shadow of my former self is long gone, forgotten. I am stronger, and not just in a physical sense, confident and I know my self worth. I'm a pole dancer. I am pole and pole is me. No man will ever touch that.
Only those in our little pole world will understand it. We all know. It's this knowledge that brings us closer. It's in the little things, the moves we all hate, the ones we love, the silly dances, the music that has us booty shaking, even hoochie pole. The laughter, the fun, the 
support, the exhilaration. It's in nailing a new move or finally getting a stubborn one. It's the smile on the face of a newbie when they do something they never imagined possible. It's looking back and remembering that used to be me and look how far I've come.
That's why pole dancing saved my life. I'm reminded every week when I walk in that room. I smile to myself and stifle a little tear that wells up in me, when a friend in class hugs me after a two week break and says 'we've missed you.'
That's special that is. That's the magic of Our Little World of Pole. When I'm there I'm genuinely happy. There's no fake smile disguising sadness. I'm where I belong. I'm home.
Article by pole dancing student Claire Tupholme.