Over the last few years when I was training I couldn’t give a 100% in my martial arts classes, barely even 80%. I had suffered from a lot of crazy injuries over time, from chest injuries to shoulder injuries to ankle injuries, I experienced a lot. Even after I recovered though I realized I was not giving 100%. I had let the past injuries I suffered from take me to a place of comfort in my training where I shouldn’t have been. I had gotten used to not giving it my all in class and doing surpar techniques. I had gotten complacent. I allowed myself to slip into a habit of not giving it my all, all the time.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying I should have given a 100% in training while I was injured, that would have only resulted in more injuries, and I wouldn’t have recovered from my previous injuries. However, once I had recovered I should have pushed myself to get back in shape like I was before the injuries. Though I had been experiencing these injuries back to back to back to back over the course of 6 years or so, that gave me no right to not try to push myself when I had gotten better.
I realized by not attempting to push myself that I was not only doing myself an injustice but also an injustice to the people I had been training with in the classes. By falling into the habit of just doing enough to get by in class, I was not training with them the best way I could have been which would have also helped them improve in the arts. Getting comfortable with how I have been the last few years and not pushing myself, not only caused my growth in the martial arts to slow but also inevitably caused others around me to not grow as much as they could have while training with me.
After thinking about this for some time, I also came to a realization that when we as people think our decisions affect us and us alone we are wrong. When we aren’t giving our all at work our co workers suffer because they don’t have the best possible teammate they could have from us. When we don’t give our all when maintaining friendships, our friends suffer because they don’t have the best possible friend from us that they could have. When we don’t give our all to our families, they suffer because they don’t experience the best father or best mother or best son or best daughter or brother or sister they could have. When we know we can do better but continue to get by with just enough we are doing the world around us an injustice by not letting the world experience the best we are.
I made the decision a few weeks ago to give my best when training from now on and I tell you I feel a lot better already. I have already become more flexible, I have watched my stances and kicks get better, and I feel like I am on track to being how I was before my injuries, if not better. After making this realization about how I should give my best all the time, I decided I will be evaluating my life soon and find areas of my life where I am not giving a 100% of who I am and make the change to do it. I should build myself into becoming the best person I can so all the world can experience the best I am, and you should allow the world to experience the best you are as well.
