Choose your hard

                I was having a conversation a little while ago, and though the context was geared towards growth in relationships and friendships, it still very much applies to Kung Fu.  The topic was about “Choosing your hard”.

               The conversation I was having was about grow the in relationships, and that some people choose to grow as a person, where other don’t, or are not ready too.  Some will grow with you hopefully, but sometimes people get left behind.  So choose your hard.  Like our training, and like Kung Fu- Hard Work, it’s a choice we make.  It is hard to train, hard to grow, hard to set boundaries; however, it is also hard to stay the same.  Mastery is hard, but so is mediocrity.

               Obviously we know why choosing mastery is hard.  It takes a lot of discipline, lots of training, lots of creating new habits and shedding old ones, and lots of choosing how we spend our time.  Guess what, mediocrity is the same.  It may not look it, but remaining in the same place is hard too.  Why?  It’s hard to stay content and grateful in a place where you’re not growing, especially when others around you are.  It’s like a job you don’t like, but stay at because of the money.  Choose your hard.  You either stay, knowing you hate where you are, but okay with the paycheque; or you find something new that resonates more with your soul, but financially is less stable.  Choose your hard.

              We all chose Kung Fu and the IHC for a reason.  We already chose our hard. So why aren’t all of us happy or accepting of our choice?  Did the grass look greener on the other side?  I think when you choose your hard, you have to understand what it is you’re committing too.  When we choose mediocrity, we already know what the hard is, because we’ve been living it for however long.  When you choose mastery, you don’t know what challenges lie ahead yet, and that can be scary.  Part of choosing mastery is courageously meeting and going past our perceived limits.  That’s really the only difference.

             So choose your hard.