Reflection

  My year in I Ho Chaun has been one heck of a roller coaster. The highs and lows were very educational about myself and how kung fu serves me and me to it. This year was about bringing aspects of kung fu back into my life. Training and the mental side of things as well.

  Hiding from responsibilities is easy, procrastinating is easy, thinking negatively is also easy for me. I certainly did not accomplish everything I wanted to accomplish, but I did get to see some results out of this year.

   Blogging every week kept me from giving up and just going into hiding. It kept my issues I had at the forefront to let me know what I need to continuously work on. It helped me stay engaged not only in kung fu, but my life as well. I can confidently say I have not missed my blogs this year ( maybe some a little late) blogging has been one of the most important tools I could use this year. MVP

  The acts of kindness were the easiest thing in the world for me to accomplish. I have always tried to be kind when I can, but what I like about the challenge is it helps me see who else in my life is kind as well, and acknowledge when someone else is being kind to me. It’s very easy to become absorbed into what I am doing for others, but then miss what others are doing as well. I feel lucky that I have a lot of kind people in my life.

   The fitness aspect of it has always been a challenge. I have had better years with the fitness aspect of it, but it helps me feel some sense of accomplishment even if I was not able to complete the fitness. I will and can do better. I did learn to be proud of not zero, but still knowing I can do better. I am not trying to justify to put in bare minimum effort, but instead try to reinforce the aspect of I can do better, but I did not do zero. 

  I have had to many years of zero, and  the years where I had low numbers I used it as fuel to be a showcase of how big of a failure I am and deserve the worst things because of it. I re-introduced of looking at it as more positive and saying I can do better and not give up.

  The forms have always been a lot of fun to do and sometimes the biggest frustrations. I have been enjoying Da mu hsing as for me it was the first form I got to learn. You would think I am an expert at this form now, but I’m not. That is probably the best part. I get to keep learning about Da mu hsing even knowing it’s the oldest form I know. There will always be more to learn and I love it.

  The weapon form I have this year is my drum stick form. It has  been my little project for quite a few years. It has brought me more than enough frustrations, but also a sense of pride for how far this form has come for me. It is a form that helped me define every beat in the drumming sequence and make my moves and the drum one. When I am able to have a drum beat and my form together it makes me extremely happy when I can pull it off.

    I would not say this year for me was a huge success, but at least a step in the right direction. If I’m looking at just that then this was a successful year. I will continue to make poor decisions, but I will also be more active about doing the good ones as well. Me specifically trying to focus more on the positive has always been one of my biggest hurdles in life, but I have been practicing.

  Anyways thank you all for joining me on my I ho chuan journey. It has been a crazy ride and this years I ho chuan is coming closer to the end. I do have some numbers:

Acts of kindness: 2000

Km: 1600

Sit ups: 7550

Push ups: 7550

Da mu hsing: 159

Drum stick form: 264

Spar: 108