There are times when you can find yourself in a rut, so to speak, in terms of getting yourself to the dojang to train. Motivation can be hard to find when you have work deadlines to meet, family obligations to fulfill, and the weather outside is horrid. It can be so much easier to just curl up in bed or the sofa, turn on the tv and watch your favorite entertainment; I’ve done exactly that very thing! However, there are times when you need to drag yourself to class despite, or perhaps because, of all the environmental pressures around you. Here are a few reasons why:
- Sweat the trouble away! – Just as watching tv or playing video games is a form of escapism, so is martial arts! When I used to teach more regularly I would say (and was told) that once I stepped foot onto the mat, all of the baggage and worries I had carried with me to the studio were left behind, and that all the focus should be on the training. This allows us to clear our mind and give us a clear objective (listen to the instructor) in an otherwise very complicated world. And sometimes when we step off the mat, we find that the very issues that were plaguing us when we entered weren’t as troublesome as we had previously thought. A little sweat can go a long way in giving us a sense of peace.
- Community – It can be easy to isolate oneself from the world when the world feels threatening, and in some situations we just need some alone time. But keeping ourselves completely secluded is incredibly unhealthy; as humans, we are social creatures, and we crave social interactions and belonging. Those who know me know that I’m not a big fan of hugs, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like to be around people (I just like to have some personal space). Having a community that can affirm you and build you up is an important component in developing into a healthy individual, and can be very therapeutic especially if you’ve had a hard day/week at work.
- Repetition breeds habit – there is a very famous Newtonian equation which states that “objects that are at rest tend to stay at rest, while objects in motion tend to stay in motion”. This describes one’s inertia, and can be applied to one’s lifestyle as well. If you tend to only go to class occasionally or when we get pressured by friend’s or life, then it can be very difficult indeed to find the motivation to go to class. However, if you have a regular cadence of going to class, then even on days when you feel like not going, it’s much less arduous of a task to go to the studio since it was already a habit you had developed. Committing to a schedule, such as going to class every Monday/Wednesday, can help lower the barrier to go to class.
- Finding inspiration – unless you have an incredible instructor or set of instructors that never teach the same class twice, there will be many, many classes that look and/or feel the same or very similar. As martial artists this is to be expected, as many techniques take many years to learn and master. However, despite our best intentions, this routine can become tedious or even boring, especially for younger students. However, every once in a while there will come a time when a technique you had known for years (or decades even) is taught in class and a flash of inspiration will hit you. It’s not that the instructor taught it any differently or that you had somehow mastered some level of awesomeness; it’s just that through your training, you had gained a new perspective. It could be a way a kick is chambered, or a foot that needs to be 5mm shifted in one direction in a stance, but an “A-ha!” moment will happen that miraculously boosts your motivation for training. And the more you go to class, the more likely you will encounter such a moment.
These are only a few reasons why you should train even if you don’t feel like it, and I’m sure many of you have found other reasons and benefits to keep training despite the challenges you face in your daily life. Finding balance in life is vital to a healthy life, and a regular diet of martial arts classes I believe can be an essential part of that diet.
