The other day I was told off by my mom for shaking my legs. While it’s not something I do all the time, I realize I do it a lot when I’m listening to music with a good drum beat. My legs automatically bounce as though I’m the drummer of the song (even though I have no idea what I’m doing). It’s strange. Anyway, I wanted to figure out why it’s something that my mom has been against since I was a young boy. Turns out there’s a lot of history behind why leg shaking is considered a bad habit (I’m shaking my legs as I write this out, Dance Gavin Dance is playing through my earphones).
In Asia, shaking your legs means you’re being idle and have nothing to do in India, while in Japan it’s something the poor people do (they call it the poorman’s leg). In Chinese culture, if you believe it, you’re shaking your wealth and prosperity away. I didn’t find any scientific reasons that were twisted into grandmother stories. But, for people who shake their leg constantly, it turns out that there’s something called Restless Leg Syndrome. Apparently people who suffer from it have difficulty sleeping (not me, of course). That reminded me of the time when I learned about attention deficit disorder (back in the day, we’d just get punished for not paying attention in class – not prescribed Adderall).
Long story short, I haven’t stopped shaking my legs, but I’ve been more mindful about doing it around my mom since it bothers her. I mean, how do you stop yourself from moving your legs when you’re listening to this jam?
If I could, I’d jump around all the time.
I knew someone who used to shake their legs constantly. But it was an audible sound because it would make the chair squeak. Now that was annoying. Also, it made some other appendages bounce, which was distracting, to put it mildly. I stop shaking my legs if I notice that it’s distracting other people because I can be considerate at times.
Anyway, Dance Gavin Dance’s Artificial Selection drops next week and I can’t wait.