The Taekwondo Struggle – part 1

June 5, 2013

You have probably heard the saying…. “Nothing worthwhile is easy” and it’s true of most things. So if you find that your training is a struggle sometimes, as well as being fun….that is good!

If you jump in your car and drive fifty kilometres along the freeway to your destination is there any feeling of accomplishment in doing it? No of course not, it’s easy.

On the other hand if you drove across the Simpson Desert alone, would you feel you had accomplished something when you completed the trip? Of course you would, it would be a significant achievement.

So what’s the difference?

It’s all the planning and goal setting to reach certain points at particular times… the setbacks during the trip such as mechanical failure and time spent fixing the problem; changing tyres; coping with the dust and heat; being alone and having to rely only on yourself, and many more problems that crop up.

The reason you would feel good about your accomplishment is that you overcame the problems to reach your destination… You had to struggle to succeed. It was the struggle that made it worthwhile. And when you look back you can see that it was enjoyable and something to be proud of too.

Training is the same. As you go up through the coloured belt ranks each successive level has a greater degree of difficulty than the preceding level. It’s struggling to do what you need to in order to reach the goal that builds perseverance and indomitable spirit, and it’s that never give in attitude that builds strong character.

If you find things easy and don’t make yourself look for really challenging methods of training in Taekwondo, you are only practising Taekwon (using the fist and foot). The Do is the way or art, and that’s the difference between strengthening your mental emotional and physical parts as opposed to just the physical aspect… the struggle is essential for you to be a Tae kwon do martial artist.

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