Plodding on Along

Plodding - to work slowly and perseveringly at a task

Today's lesson came directly from Language Arts 7.  We have been looking at fables and one of the assignments was to read an Aesop's Fable and rewrite it in your own words.  The fable of The Tortoise and The Hare was the fable chosen.

I can relate my kung fu journey to the journey of the tortoise in many ways.  I started this journey later in life.  I was not in great physical shape and honestly, I still have a great deal of work to do.  I did not join with aspirations of even gaining a black belt.  Honestly, that thought was absurd to me.  Clearly I was not black belt material.

Fast forward many years and here I sit looking forward to a potential grading year.  I wondered how on earth I got here and the only answer that I can come up with is that tortoise.  I plodded on along.  I did not rise through the ranks quickly.  I just kept on showing up ready to learn.  I kept on trusting my instructors to teach me what I needed to learn.  Even through a year of injury, I just kept showing up even if my participation was limited to the bench.  Slow and steady...

Now it is time for me to define how I will proceed this coming year and I have decided to continue down this path of plodding.  Sustaining what is required on the path of mastery is honestly not really exciting on a day to day basis.  The way to sustain is to continue to persevere each and every day putting one foot in front of the other.  The tortoise was not fast but he never lost sight of his end goal.  Each step was deliberate, the process was definitely not quick.  That is the plan for this year.  To start each day with a plan.  To end each day with reflection.  To just keep moving forward...