I’m so glad I didn’t quit

I’ve been thinking a lot about how I considered quitting martial arts, and how glad I am that I didn’t.

I was thinking of quitting because it was getting hard, and it didn’t feel as fun. I would commit to going, then convince myself I shouldn’t go over small scheduling complications, because I didn’t really want to go. I avoided the classes that taught the harder stuff, because they left me feeling mentally drained. I got stuck, and stopped making meaningful progress.

Then I committed to testing, so I had to show up. And when I showed up, and worked on the hard stuff, it got easier. The high belt class stopped feeling so draining. As I gained confidence, it even started to feel fun. It was rewarding to see myself progress. Skills that I struggle so long to master finally started to click. It started to make sense.

Now that I’m a blue belt I’m working on skills that come more intuitively. I feel so comfortable being taken to the ground that sometimes it’s exhilarating. Moves that used to furrow my brow with concentration now come naturally. It’s a lot of fun.

I used to show up begrudgingly to assist every other week. Now I’m happy to assist every week. Last Friday I taught my first kids’ class. I’m just really happy at the dojo now. My experience there has totally changed.

I’m really glad I stuck with it. That I not only decided to test but committed to really knowing my stuff and testing well. When I was prepping I assumed I’d just hang out at this level for a long time, but I’m already interested in learning the new stuff. I’m going to be attending the high belt and grappling classes from the get go, not just waiting until I want to test to go to them.

Who woulda thought that if I showed up even when it got hard, that eventually it would get easier? So weird how that happened. 🤣🤦‍♀️😉