My journey to a black belt

[Gail Cribbs]

I have thought a long time about my journey to obtain my black belt and what it means to me now and in the future.  Several times on my journey I came at a crossroads, due to injuries.  Each time I faced the decision, do I hang it up or do I work through it, adjust and continue on. 

It has been a journey!  I look at obtaining my black belt not as the end of the journey but a checkpoint, recognition of the work both mentally and physically and of the growth and achievements. 

I look back at where I started 5 1/2 years ago and am surprised at both the physical and mental changes.  Though I have always been active and athletic, most of my previous activities did not require coordination and grace.  I have learned to harness the power that I have and perform the forms if not with grace certainly with coordination! I have learned to unleash the power when needed. I have learned about channeling my energy and most I have learned focus.  You can't get to black belt without focus!

During training, working through injuries and facing the decision to pick up and keep going I faced some of the most mental challenges of all.  Challenge of getting back on the floor after injuring myself during a test, challenge to mentally start doing jumps, along with the challenge of listening to your body.  Knowing when it is ok to back off because of fatigue or injury, knowing when to continue to push yourself when you might not feel like it(but always feeling better after having pushed myself), the challenge to let yourself know that it is ok to not be the fastest, strongest person in every class and that being the best that you can be is all that is required.

There is so much more that I experienced on the journey, the love and support of ALL the instructors, fellow students, the patience, camaraderie experienced on the floor every class, supporting each other through the highs and lows of training and life.

The black belt I hope to be is one who shares the lessons that I learned with the lower belts, encouraging them through the physical and mental challenges, to take it one step at a time.  Letting them know that it is ok to not be able to do everything that everyone else is doing, but being the best they can be is enough- the rest will come!  Setting goals for yourself and celebrating the achievement of the goals, I hope to be a patient teacher as well as setting an example by continuing to apply courage and focus to training.

WHEW! 

[Claudia Vlcek]

Awesome