Many moons ago, I watched this YouTube video; a martial artist who wanted to try out Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He sought out a high-level dojo, joined and went at it. Being the new kid on the block, trying to go up against the other members wasn’t easy. Despite giving his all, they easily beat him – day in, day out. That’s what years of experience tends to bring to the table. However, after a while, the time had come to return back home. To his surprise, the sensei decided to bestow him a new belt, in recognition of the progress he had made.
He was thankful, but he didn’t quite believe he had earned the recognition. I mostly recognized the self doubt he carried within himself… and it’s easy to see why. He’d trained for hours on end, bathing in his own sweat, and he didn’t feel as he had made much progress. Many club members were still beating him, as was the case when he’d first arrived.
Upon arriving back home, he went to a local dojo, most likely not wanting for his previous efforts to go to waste. To his amazement, he soon found he had what it took to spar with the best of them. His many hours of hard work had yielded results. He had actually improved by quite a lot.
So why the self-doubt? Well, it should be plainly obvious by now. Losing most matches didn’t do his self-confidence much good and if he had tried to rank himself in the elite club, he would probably find himself somewhere near the bottom. As that didn’t change much, he didn’t perceive that he was indeed improving. Only upon joining a new club and testing out his skills, was he capable of taking a step back and seeing how much his skill level had gone up.
This is something I’m going through now. I’m going through some tough studywork and perhaps I’m biting off more than I can chew – it’s becoming a little too much, even for my standards. But hopefully, looking back on it all, I will find myself having greatly improved, in spite of any temporary feelings of discouragement. Food for thought!
Your truly
Vincent J. Dancet