“Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.”
Thomas Mertin
I must say that getting back into Martial Arts/ Functional Fitness is proving to be very humbling. Why you may ask? Well, due to the enormous amounts of inflated perceptions of my ability. Growing up and being the eldest I have always pushed myself to be the best and I excelled when it came to pushing through pain to reach my goals especially when it came to wrestling or physical activity. My high school wrestling coach went to the Olympics while he was coaching us which gave me an Olympic style work ethic.
The gym I use to “roll” at had a quote:
“It’s not how hard you act…it’s how hard you train.”
I am now seeing that my pride in years past because of work as a bouncer and being able to handle myself when it came to fighting, pride has crept in. It has been hard at times to reconcile that I am not the best and I obviously know now I never was, yet I do desire to be one of the top 5% that has put in the time and effort to be the elite.
Where do I go from here? How do I keep myself from repeating my mistakes? There is only one option from this perspective…get back to the basics and train like HELL!
CS LEWIS said, "A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”
If there is one thing I know, pride robs you from learning. Training will make me look at my skill level and give me the ability to look up, furthermore; to see that I am not on top of the mountain, to simply enjoy my own progress, and not worry if I am not the best. Here's to being humble and giving myself time to grow into who I want to become!
