Opportunities

One of the hardest things I had to overcome in Kung Fu was doing warm-ups. Even harder was leading a class (and it was a kids class). I was planning the class for days and trying to memorize what I will do every moment I'm in front of the kids. I can still remember how nervous I was. I constantly felt that the kids are testing me. I also felt that the other instructors are judging me.

Now, one of the things I enjoy most in Kung Fu is teaching the kids class. I still prepare and feel the kids are testing me but I don't get as nervous and I welcome any feedback the other instructors have to offer. I really enjoy to see the progress in the kids and in the way we run the class and to know I had a part in that. This is a great feeling of accomplishment.

My point is - we all feel nervous and scared of new situations but if we don't try, we wouldn't know what we are missing. We might even like it...

Healthier

It is so cold and so dark. I feel like I need to hibernate. Signing up to the Mud-Hero race made me feel so good. I'm starting to plan camping trips, kayaking, hiking. Just need to wait few more months and it will be summer again.

When I feel down at Kung Fu, I think of WHY. Why am I doing it. This always brings me into training mode. The reasons changed along the years but unlike the seasons, I don't need to wait for summer to enjoy the benefits of it.

One of my personal challenges this year was to become healthier. I stop drinking coke and ice-caps. I'm trying to eat better. I stopped going to fast food places. And of-course I exercise a lot. I've lost between 10-15lb (depending on the day - as our scale is not very reliable). It feels good to get back to my weight from 20 years ago...

Excited

Everyone around me is sick. People coughing at work. Kids sick at home. There are sick people everywhere. I really hope I'm not going to get sick now. My body is still aching from the sickness I had 3 weeks ago.

In the last few days I've been eating cleaner. Actually, I've been eating better in the last year but still had a treat once in a while. This week I had only real food and fruits. It has been good so far. No major cravings.

Needless to say I'm nervous but in the last few days I'm also getting very excited. I was reviewing the whole curriculum and realized how much I have learned in the last few years and how much I've learned in the last few months. There were many light bulb moments and "that feels good" moments this year. I'm sure that for some people I might still look clumsy but it is a much better clumsy than what I was a year ago :-).

Planning and Scheduling

Planning and scheduling was the key for me so far this year. The consistency of doing push-ups, sit-up and running on a regular basis, doing my forms on specific days.

The hardest time was when I was on vacation for 3 weeks. We were away from home and I was away from my routine. This is one of my main challenges – keeping up with my tasks while on vacation.

I was able to keep most of my numbers. I have a calculated field that tells me what will be my projected number by the end of the year if I keep the pace I got so far. For push-ups and sit-ups I’m doing pretty well. I have 37,546 push-ups and 37,391 sit-ups. The projected numbers are 50,757 and 50,547 by the end of the year. Forms are not great but not too bad as well. I scaled down because of my shoulder injury but I hope to pick it up after the grading. I’m at 654 repetitions of my hand form and 567 repetitions of my weapon form.  I plan to have few days of forms marathons to catch up.

On the personal goals I had some successes and some failures. I was able to eat healthier. I lost more than 10lb. I’m really happy with this one and this is something I’m going to sustain in the future. The goal I was not successful with was work related and because of changes in my role at work I was unable to commit myself to it. I am going to try hard on this one as well as I have 3 more months…