Burn Out

The last little bit of time has been a bit of a break for me since the last blog post. I have taken the time to gain a little clarity and re-ground in my training. It is very difficult to see when you are experiencing burn out as a passionate martial partitioner. I feel like I was starting to get mentally bogged down and my vision was starting to get a little cloudy as fare as what I expect from myself and others. This is something that I could not tell at the time, but looking back now I realize it to be true. I am not the type of person that tends to take a lot of breaks or vacations but this last bit of time away was very needed. A brake can sometimes help you overcome the obstacles of burn out but there is a hidden trap that you never see coming, and that is the time to get back into the swing of things. In order to see the flaws in your routine you have to remove yourself from it and re asses the situation. Looking back on my routine I was getting two comfortable in my mediocrity, comparing myself to others and loosing the sight that the goal is to get better all the time and in that situation the only person you can ever compare yourself to is yourself. Mediocrity is a difficult thing to route out and destroy, it has the ability to camouflage itself as our best attributes and show is the fault in others. All the while boosting our egos and hiding in plain sight. It requires objectivity to see clearly. Objectivity is completely unattainable when you are in the midst of combat with mediocrity and that is why we need mentors to view us and tell us where we truly are standing in that battle. We need them to hold us accountable. We need to humble ourselves so that we may truly take their objective criticism in a way that it is beneficial to us and not let our egotistical mediocrity get in the way.

At this point in my training I realize for the last little while I have been standing on a peek looking down at the path I took to get there and saying well that pretty good I think I stay for a while and enjoy the view. Now however it is time to climb to the next peek and reach a new level of skill and understanding. In order to do so I have to leave all past accomplishments in the dirt and get moving to a new time of growth and prosperity. In the end we are the only ones to be able to pick up one foot and put it in front of the other and the only way we will ever start moving is if we are no longer satisfied with where we are. Satisfied with our current skill level or better yet the lack thereof, to stomp out our mediocrity and move on to the next level. Time to make a mile!    

http://michaelplayter.blogspot.ca