View Single Post
Old 10-30-2011, 10:57 AM   #8
Shadowfax
 
Shadowfax's Avatar
Dojo: Allegheny Aikido, Pitsburgh PA
Location: Pittsburgh PA
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 948
United_States
Offline
Re: Get Over It Already!

I see no problem with people having a goal to reach a certain rain. Goals change, people change. Aikido facilitates change. Someone who starts out in a hurry to get to shodan might just realize what training is about as they progress or they will decide that it is too hard and they will quit. I think it is better not to be so worried about what other peoples goals and perceptions are and just make good use of their bodies to further your own training for as long as they are available.

When I first started training I looked at the brown and black belts in the dojo with awe and wondered if I would ever reach that level. A few weeks ago one of the children of a fellow student asked me if we were doing different belts in the dojo because I was wearing a brown one now instead of a white one. (up until then they had not seen another brown belt in the dojo) I just said no, this is jut the one sensei wants me to wear now.

Yeah now and then I look at it and it represents to me how much I have learned and grown over the past couple of years. I like having that sort of tangible evidence of all of that hard work. Mostly it just holds my gi shut. Some day my sensei will hand me a black belt and I will put that on, appreciate what it represents and keep training.
  Reply With Quote