We are all afraid of something at times. Anyone who tells you that they’ve never been afraid is lying.
For some people it’s Spiders (Arachnephobia or Arachnophobia) or Clowns (Coulrophobia) or Heights (Hypsiphobia) or Flying (Pteromerhanophobia) or Darkness (Lygophobia) There is even Fear of being laughed at (Gelotophobia) and Fear of Knees (Genuphobia.) Some people have even invented fear of new things like Bridges (Bridgophobia ;->)
What’s this go to do with Martial Arts? As successful Martial Artists we constantly place ourselves into positions where we are afraid or at the very least out of our comfort zone. If we stay within our self imposed boundaries, we simply won’t improve, in fact we’ll stagnate and often our skills will degrade.
This ‘fear’ can be from many things
- Moving up a class in your club
- Taking a grading
- Training against someone much higher (in belt terms)
- Taking part in a competition
- Losing at a competition
- Learning a new form or Kata.
- Fear of being mugged/beaten up
Within our syllabus we progressively encourage people to push those boundaries to develop their skills, knowledge and themselves. It’s not easy to do, it can be challenging mentally and physically but the sense of achievement when that barrier is overcome is palpable. When someone is ready to take their Black belt, we give them a specific challenge that is pertinent to them and relevant to them improving their skills, they are definitely not easy to complete, but those that have risen to the challenge have come out of the other end as much more accomplished Martial Artists .
Einstein puts it quite well ” Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.” So do something differently.
- Identify what you want to achieve
- Understand why you want to do that thing
- Plan how your are going to achieve it
- Work through your plan and any set backs
- Measure your success
- Adapt your plan
- Be accountable to yourself
- Be positive
A good Martial Arts coach, will all been there and worn the T Shirt and is in fact still doing it, so you are not alone on the journey. A good Martial Artist will keep pushing their own boundaries to improve and enrich themselves.
“Everyone gets knocked down.
Champions get back up again.”