I have been expecting this day for a while now, but I have continued to put it off and pretend that it is a problem for either the past or the future. I have continued to excuse myself by saying, “Oh, I’m just a white belt, I don’t have to be that good”. Or, maybe, “I’m busy right now, I’ll work on that later.” Then, as my numbers fell further and further behind, the amount of work needed to get back on track became insurmountable, and I gave up. I quit. It was easier to just let things go. Ultimately, I let go of my kung fu practice and to be frank it has not been a priority for me over the past several months. I still enjoy the classes, and I love the community but I haven’t been dedicated to reaching the goals that are set pout by the requirements of the I Ho Chuan team. My numbers are abysmal, and this year hasn’t been a stellar performance.
The year isn’t over though, and while I might not make it to the full goals, if I can take this opportunity to refocus and to rally I can still make progress throughout the remainder of the season. I still believe that I can meet some of the requirements if I focus and build a daily habit into my life. If I can deliberately choose to make kung fu a priority, I can still grow this year. True the year won’t be as good as if I was focused the whole time, but there is still time and room for growth. I believe that growth even if it is small is still important to work towards.
On that note, I do want to thank the instructors and the team for making our numbers a weekly requirement. I believe that this will lead to better accountability and motivation in focusing on the work ahead, and I have no doubt that for myself, and likely a few others on the team, that this will help to keep kung fu as a priority.
And so here are my numbers:
| Current | Goal | |
| Pushups | 4405 | 33858 |
| Situps | 4535 | 33858 |
| Hand Forms | 159 | 677 |
| Weapon Forms | 91 | 677 |
| Acts of Kindness | 193 | 677 |
| Distance Travelled | 942 | 1090 |
| Sparring | 187 | 677 |
| Blog Posts | 18 | 37 |
| Yoga Time | 835 | 3386 |
| Language Practice Time | 1225 | 3386 |
The fact that you wrote this blog proves that you have not given up, you have not quit, you are still here, you are still working towards mastery, maybe not as far along as you imagined you would be by now, but the progress you’ve made this year, especially as someone so new to kung fu, has been inspiring to me.
I echo what she said^. Are you joining next year’s team?