Last week I faced a challenge. My coach and I have been working on fluidity in movement for weeks. The goal is to move gracefully, yet with strength, connecting the whole body. Grace is definitely not my middle name! He dared me to take a karate or dance class. I started to panic and make excuses on why I couldn’t do it. It would be too expensive, I don’t have time or I would be the only adult are just some of the excuses I blurted out. My coach did not give in. He kept saying you can keep making excuses, but you haven’t called about the class. At least make a call!
Dance class was immediately out- there was no way I was going to take a dance class. Karate intrigued me though. My boys had been wanting to take karate lessons for a long time. What if I took lessons with them? It took me several hours to work up the courage to make the call. I am a shy person and this was WAY out of my comfort zone. I found out that beginner adults do take karate! Once I found out all of the info, I immediately put it in writing and told a couple of people my plans for taking karate. The reason I did this was so I couldn’t back out! If other people knew, there was no way that I could go back on my word!
The night of my first class, I was extremely nervous. I walk into class with four black belts, a brown belt and one white belt.
Oh. My. Word!
What was I thinking! My mind was racing – I have no clue what I am doing and I am in a class full of experienced people! I wanted to run; this was so far out of my comfort zone that I was in a panic. There was no backing out though.
Thankfully the class started with jumping jacks, push ups and crunches. I could do those! And Shihan Rob actually complimented me on my pushups! I started to feel at ease. The people in this class were extremely nice and patient. By the end of the class, I realized I was actually having fun! Shihan Rob had said several things that my coach had been trying to teach me. I could see that adding karate into my fitness schedule would be a help.
Lesson learned– just because something is out of your comfort zone, doesn’t mean you should avoid it. Challenge yourself. Start running, take a dance class, join a gym, go to yoga, try crossfit, mountain bike, rock climb, go river rafting- the challenges are endless! You might find that it’s not so scary outside of your comfort zone after all. So here I go embarking on a journey of entering martial arts as an adult! It should be an interesting journey!
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