Yesterday I completed one entire month on the mat. I’m preparing for my first kyu exam, which will be this Saturday, so I’ve been training even more than usual. I did it just because I could, and because it seemed to help me keep up the proper momentum, and stay loose physically. The nerve problem I was having with my neck and arm has been improving with constant activity, and I’m generally feeling very good. So why stop?
I trained every day, even Sundays. Every class, even the kids classes, and every open mat session. :-)
When I shared that milestone with my friends, one suggested that I must be experiencing an “awesome growth spurt."
Actually, no. Although I have been enjoying training and having a lot of fun preparing for exams with my dojo mates, I’ve actually been fairly perturbed by my lack of progress. Sometimes it’s felt like I’m going backward. It’s been discouraging. For for each new "aha” moment there are three more things I see I seriously need to work on.
Here’s what I said to him:
“Not really feeling like it… Well actually, yeah… But the kind of growth where you become more acutely aware of where the holes are, and what needs work. Humbling – in the classic sense of the word.”
In writing that answer I saw the situation in a new light, and suddenly felt a lot better about things. I really was making progress, it just didn’t look the way I had been thinking it should. So I guess that does still count as an “awesome growth spurt.”
- Opening my eyes to a thousand details and endless room for refinement still counts as opening my eyes.
- Discovering how I process and remember information (or fail to) still counts as discovery.
- Becoming more aware of the holes in my technique still counts as becoming more aware.
- Starting to see some of the bigger picture — the patterns and relationships in techniques — still counts as starting to see.
- Learning where my blind spots are still counts as learning.
- Knowing what I need to work on still counts as knowing.
I will do my best on Saturday, and I’m sure I won’t be satisfied with that. But I will be moving into the next phase of my training better equipped to learn and develop further, with a broadened perspective on the art, and deeper appreciation for what’s available through training in it. And that still counts as progress.
