Never think you can't put your Gi back on!

*Taken from a Facebook post. All references and credit owed below.

It seems inevitable for many students – after years of dedicated training (or even just months), the training begins to slow down, particularly during blue belt (it is even written in the meaning of the belts - see here).

Sometimes, it just stops suddenly, and there’s a conspicuous gap where a student used to be. A pocket of quiet where a karate practitioner used to stand. No student slips away unnoticed.

There are a thousand demands on our time, many beyond our control. Money must be earned, marks attained, families require an investment of quality time or sometimes, it’s as simple as an injury that dragged on and suddenly, it’s two months out of the dojo (or more).

One missed class can easily become three. Three classes become a month. Then six. Then a year. And then there’s a day when you open your cupboard and there is your gi, hanging up and gathering dust. Waiting And silently judging you...

“But what will my instructor and the others in the class think?” the student wonders, before slowly closing the door. “I can’t go back after so long.” Oh, but you should. You can always come back. 99% of the time, your instructor will be utterly delighted to see you return. All that matters is that you decide to put your gi on and get to the dojo. Oh, sure, there might be excuses, like...

“But I’m so unfit!” So few people are genuinely fit anyway. If fitness was a precondition for martial arts, very few of us would get to start. It’s not that important.

“I never told my instructor why I left” Look, few instructors are soft and fluffy. But your Sensei is human (very much so) and probably isn’t holding a grudge. Just come back to train again. It sucks to come back after so long but it is also pretty hurtful when students disappear without any explanation.

“I can’t remember it all anymore” You are not starting at the bottom – everything you learned is somewhere in your body. It just needs a gentle reminder and some dusting off, and things will start to flow back again. Losing momentum is the cause of so many failed hobbies, talents, dreams and projects. In trying to get any major goal accomplished, we forget that it is made of a thousand little steps.

A black belt is only the sum of hundreds of hours, not always a special talent. You don’t have to do unworldly things: you just have to go to class every week. Every class you can, except when you really, really can’t. If you have a virus, stay out of the dojo. If you have an exam tomorrow, then study. Big family thing? (My family know not to arrange things on a dojo day, they all know what it means to me, and love and respect me enough to know that's where I will be).

Tired? Busy? But not so busy that you can sit and watch TV for 2 or 3 hours? To me, nothing is worse than having a talent and a passion and letting it go to waste simply because of a stubborn attitude or trying to please others.

"IT’S YOUR LIFE TO LIVE"

Get your gi on and get to a dojo!

*I saw a post on Facebook and it really stuck with me. I had to post this for all those who are in, or have been, stuck in a rut with their training. It happens in the late early stage of training (for me it was around Blue Belt as I stopped twice as an 8th kyu but kept going with Nintai). All the words are taken from this original post but I have edited some elements to resonate more with me and our dojo. All references and credit is given to the original author.

Reference - Lyndsay Moulden, Seitou Ryu Karate (link to the original post here)