Let me give you some updates on what is happening here, in a training camp in Thailand, where you almost won’t notice, that everywhere else it's Winter coming. (Do you know, Jon Snow?)
Next MMA Fight
I am currently in a fight camp getting ready for my next professional MMA fight. It is planned for 22. 12., which means 23. 12. I will be on the plane and arriving home just half an hour before midnight - still on time for Christmas day!
I am very excited/scared/panicking/looking forward - please choose randomly depending on what weather it is currently. Just to say, I feel all the emotions, as always. I was never the “calm fighter” and I never will be. It is OK. I know now there are different personalities, and I am me. However, this time I am looking forward to more than usual and nervous less than usual. Is that a good thing? Not sure! Maybe a topic to overthink…
I am very grateful for my team around me. As you know, I changed gyms and teams in September and I am constantly touched because I feel so seen and supported. I am also very exhausted every day and my favorite hobby currently is collapsing on a carpet.
Just like we say, yep, sounds like a fight camp!
My diet is going well too. This time I am aware of my previous mistake. Last time I was cutting 9 kg in 5 weeks and I simply reduced my calories too much. Isn’t that quite typical, that sometimes we sabotage ourselves by trying to be too hard on ourselves?
So this time I am making sure I still eat a lot, and I also need to cut less kg which makes me very happy. And of course, I can’t wait for the TONS of chocolate after.
Students, Coaching, and Kung Fu
I jumped fully into teaching my kung fu online classes. Learning martial arts online is not for everyone, and I would never say it is better than in person. But there are many of those, who can’t do that. And I already have such representatives in my courses: people who live far away from a good kung fu school, people who are not satisfied with their kung fu teacher, people who are looking for better quality (of coaching, instructions, lessons, experience) than they currently have, people who already train and have this as + training. People who are too busy to join a regular school - parents, business owners, frequent travelers. Or people who rather exercise at home due to physical or mental conditions. Or just people who want to train at home in their own pace!
Honestly, I was a bit scared of this “online” thing, but what brought me to this was the fact that as a full-time athlete (fighter) I currently cannot take in-person students. What I enjoy the most is really still the connection with my students - messages, feedback, videos… Maybe this “online” thing actually brings us together in cases, where it was otherwise not possible.
Kung fu is my life passion, my calling, my mission. Did I imagine that I would be teaching in a dusty old school gym full of lion heads? Well, yeah. Things are different. But in my heart, it is still the same calling.
Learning How to Rest
Resting was always a problem for me. If I rest, my brain immediately goes into “Oh and I can now go and write that article” or “Great, I can catch up on my to-do list”. I don’t know, how to rest. But is so important. Where else should I get the energy? That is a question my therapists asked me today. What do you do for yourself? How do you take care of yourself? Don’t you just spend the time taking care of others? Well, I guess, if you put it like this…
Maybe, while I was prioritizing and planning and scheduling, I forgot to prioritize myself sometimes. Because, how important is a coffee in peace over editing a video? Yep, I am learning that time for myself is important, so I can then pour from my cup to others. I need to make my cup full, too. That’s us, the people pleasers and the perfect XY, who feel like they need to do everything alone and immediately.
Isn’t that one of the martial arts lesson that I have been overlooking? How can you contract your muscles, if you don’t relax them first? How can you punch, if you are tensed?
How can you wrestle for an intense round, if you don’t learn how to rest in between actions?
How could we have forms that are for self-defense and fighting, if we don’t have forms for internal work and breathing?
Yes, I guess I may have forgotten…
I hope you are finding your balance, and that your next month before the end of the year will be full of amazing things. And mostly, that you won’t forget to prioritize yourself sometimes.
