What motivates you?

shortyafter · Orange Belt

Just noticed this thread. I just wanted to say I really enjoyed reading it and getting to know what motivates you all on a deeper level. I don’t know the average age on here but my impression is that I’m a bit younger than most (26), and while I’m not totally lost in life a lot of my older friends remind me that so many of my doubts and struggles come from being young. One thing that I’m learning is that everyone is different, and that my motivations and goals are deeply personal, and that doesn’t make me better or worse than anyone. I think despite all our little quirks and flaws, we’ve all got something beautiful and positive to share with one another. Especially because we’re part of a community that is dedicated to bettering the self and those who surround us.

For me personally, I am not totally interested in the punches and kicks. I wanted and continue to want to learn the techniques just so I feel confident that nobody can push me around. But that’s secondary to me. Karate (my MA of choice but why limit it?) for me is about fighting, but on a level that goes far beyond the punches and kicks. Karate has taught me to be persistent, and to keep my head up when I’m discouraged. It’s taught me discipline, and even if I hate the thought of getting out of bed on a workday, I do it, because that’s just what I need to do to keep my life going (and one day, my family’s life) - nobody is going to do it for me. It’s taught me patience. You all always remind me that this is a journey, and a life long journey, and I don’t have to have all the answers in karate or in life right now. I trust that they will come in time. And it’s taught me humility. I’m not the best at this, in fact physically I’m quite clumsy. But through training I have changed the way I use my body, and have also begun to use it in a way that is uniquely mine. Again, lessons that go beyond just how I move my hips. Finally, it’s taught me to fight for myself and for what makes me happy, and it’s taught me to fight for what’s right - regardless of what anyone else says.

All of these things are what motivate me to train. I honestly believe that I don’t need to be in a dojo to practice my karate - karate is a sort of way of life, and can be applied to everything. But the final thing I want to say - without getting the body involved, I am missing out on one third of the equation (body, mind and spirit). Without the body, I would not be complete. There would be no balance. (Learned this one from Mr. Miyagi

)

Thanks for sharing all and thanks for letting me share.

bushido_man96 · KF Sensei

JR 137 · Black Belt

I was listening to Howard Stern this morning and realized something about myself (yeah I know how that sounds). He had Kevin Nealon on and Howard told him “a thing I’ve always admired about you is how you always want to learn.” He talked about how Nealon took up playing guitar, art, etc.

It dawned on me that that’s one of the biggest allures to karate for me - I’m constantly learning something new. New kata, standardized stuff, different ways of using what I’ve alread got, etc.

I think this is where my previous post comes from. I want to learn it and perfect it. I’ll never perfect anything in karate, but I’ll do everything I can to perfect it.

But if I had only one reason for restarting karate and staying with it, it’s easily the stress relief. The outside world doesn’t exist for that hour and a half. It’s moving meditation. It’s inner peace through violence. It’s therapy. It’s all that and more

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