Do Not Overanalyse
My pub
During the, what seemed like countless lockdown months, many people took on home projects, such as putting up shelves, refitting a kitchen, converting vans to campers etc. me, I turned my outbuilding into a pub.
Why not?
As it used to be a training space, I decided to call it ‘The Sticking Arms‘, the sign above was a Christmas present from my brother, who doesn’t train in Wing Chun but made a good effort considering, I particularly like the idea of the guy defending against Corona (in this case, not the virus but the bottle!).
Anyway, over the last couple of years this space has seen some fun times, still housing elements of its past such as the knives, poles and a wall bag, although the Jong did need to be moved to the garage to make space for the dart board.
The pub has seen a LOT of darts thrown at that board, although not for some time, and this is where the blog really begins.
Yesterday I decided to pop in to the pub and throw a few darts as I had a spare couple of minutes, and to my surprise, I couldn’t miss!
Within my first five go’s, I’d hit a treble twenty at least once, on each approach! WHAT?!
I am absolutely not that good, and yet I’d scored two 100’s, a 120 and even a 140!
Then disaster stuck, I started to think about it, about my stance, my throw, my finish etc. and everything was flushed away, not to be seen again.
Why was this?
Well the answer to that was in something I have written before, in my ‘8 ball of Wing Chun‘ theory’.
It’s a very easy thing for a student to miss a class or two, and, provided they get back to class fairly soon, no harm done.
However, when this continues and the absence grows longer, that person can start to feel as though they have missed too much to return, or even feel embarrassment toward walking back through the door.
This is a dangerous thing as you are VERY likely to be missing out on a wonderful part of your life, and remember, no teacher of any worth is going make you feel bad for having time off, and you know what, sometimes taking a break (Break, get it?) can even be a good thing.
Let me explain.
If you’ve ever played pool (or any game for that matter), and then not played for a while, have you ever noticed how when you do have another crack at it, you seem to be awesome and not miss a shot, just like me with the darts.
Maybe you’re in a bar playing ‘Winner stays on’ and yet there you are, game after game, still winning.
The reason for this is that you have nothing to loose, you don’t care, before you even started the game you’d already told them you’d not played for years, so there is no pressure.
Now there’s a word, Pressure, this is what makes us make mistakes.
You can bet your bottom dollar that the moment you start thinking of your shots, planning you strategy and how you’re going to win, perhaps even thinking of the next game, THAT is when it will start to go bell-up, why, because you’ve now started to put pressure on yourself.
Now let’s imagine you’re back in that bar, you’ve only had a few games and the whole thing was lots of fun, everyone is about to leave for the next venue and all you have to do is pot the easy black and grab your coat.
Easy yes, but imagine that just at the moment you are about to take your shot someone drops $500 on the table that you will miss it, a passing TV crew just happen to see this and quickly set up camera and lighting (it could happen, you never know!).
The point is, that this previously easy black, has suddenly become very tricky and you begin to doubt your abilities.
This can be the same for Chi Sau.
When you were at class before you tried and tried, week after week to get it right, and without knowing it, the more pressure you put on yourself the more you may make mistakes, through tension and over-eagerness.
Remember I say may, do not think this is a reason to leave classes, IT IS NOT, all I am saying is that, if you have missed class for a while there are positives to draw from this.
Do not think that all is lost and you’ll never get back to where you were, of course you will, and you know what, it may have even done you some good!
If you have been taught Chi Sau correctly in the first place, it should be like riding a bike, you never forget, you just loose that edge you may have had previously.
And if that is the reason you are not going back to class, you have a problem with ego my friend, so suck it up, go back.
Forget the fact that the students you knew before may now have moved on, of course they have, they didn’t leave!
Don’t deny them their own personal progress but try to see it as an incentive for your, a driving force for your own development and a reason to maybe not leave so easily next time, because the only thing you need to worry about is getting you better tomorrow than YOU were today.
Happy training everyone.
And if you’re not training at the moment for reasons of ‘Having a break’.
SORT IT OUT AND GET BACK ON IT!
You’ll be glad you did.
Cheers everyone!