One of the best things I didn’t expect to gain from training in martial arts is an increased mentality regarding my abilities. When I first started, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do the same things my instructors did. I just assumed that they knew everything, and were the best at it all because they were just those types of people who were naturally athletic and strong. However, the husband and wife team that are my instructors would always encourage us that we can do anything that they can. He would lovingly point out the best students he had trained to be at the highest caliber, and say “they’re not special!”. He would say this to point out that all of us can achieve greatness, we just have to listen to their instruction, try as hard as possible, and never give up.
It is with this mentality I began to go through life, not just at the karate school, but everywhere I went. If there was something presented to me that I was intimidated of, I’d take a moment to reassess and motivate myself to persevere and try anyway. This helped if I had an exam coming up in school that I thought was impossible (majoring in math helped make this a somewhat frequent occurrence), I’d make sure to figure out a study plan and do what I could to prepare myself as best as possible. If I was shown a technique in martial arts that I didn’t think I’d be able to do or had difficulty learning, I would spend extra time trying to figure out the intricacies of the skill to try and succeed.
When I first started training in martial arts, I remember being told that the standard for black belts was to be able to do a minimum of 35 pushups at any time. I’m not a very big person, so I didn’t ever think this could be achievable for me; not to mention all of the discouraging requirements in gym class (girls weren’t required to do as many as the boys) which made my disbelief in myself grow stronger. Thankfully, I had some amazing female role models in my karate class, starting with my instructor. She’s smaller than I am, and can still do more pushups than most of our young adult class. I’ve seen her take down men twice, even three times her size, and never let her size or gender get in the way of achieving great success in martial arts. She helped me realize a lot of what was holding me back, was myself. I defeated myself in my head before even trying, so naturally it’s going to be harder. When I had this mindset change, I began to achieve the things I never thought possible.
It’s easy to dismiss a challenge and give up, however it is the most rewarding to keep trying so eventually you can prove yourself wrong. Of course you must take into account injuries or limitations you may have, but don’t get fatigue confused with injury. There will be times you think you can’t go on because you’re tired or uncomfortable, but unless you know continuing will lead to injury, push yourself past this doubt plateau. You can do anything you set your mind to.
