Nights Spent Thinking
Rickety Beds. Concrete floors. Hot summers. Cold winters.
Stomachs filled with the same white rice and vegetables as the day before.
Hours spent in pain and exhaustion.
Moving and stretching limbs in the air.
For what? What made me return to this lifestyle years later? What insanity keeps me here day in and day out?
There isn't a clear answer.
The days feel fulfilling. Whether training to get healthier, to learn to fight, or some other reason. Once training is done and your head lays on your pillow. You feel like you've done something that day. The aches that we feel each day are signs of slow progress. Others battle old pains from the past, yet show determination to continue training. Every person that comes to a place like this will face their own battles. Mental and physical.
Each day presents to us a different difficulty. The most brutal challenge is to just keep doing this for so long. To tackle each day with the mindset of improvement, not just showing up. Which is where the other students can really influence yourself. Maybe it is through words or actions; but the other students will push you in some way.
They might be doing more reps than you.
They might be doing an exercise with more power or speed.
They might have an intensity to their training that you're not matching.
They might be pushing through a pain or injury and still succeeding.
That's why it is good to have others to train with. It helps with motivation, inspiration, as well as realizing our own strengths.
Why live this "temple life"?
Throughout this week of training, this conversation has ran through my head many times. A few key components keep bringing me back to this lifestyle.
Training
Simplicity
People
Being able to focus on training and only training is a blessing. Some use this place as a "getaway" from normal life. I've realized that many lessons can be learned from training. Lessons about yourself. Lessons about life. Lessons about dealing with challenges. All of these lessons can be taken into our "normal" lives to help with day to day issues.
Another component that can impact our day to day life is the simplicity that this life has. The food. Living conditions. Environment. All of it is so simplified. When returning to our day to day lives, you realize all that you have. All that you don't need but enjoy. This even applies to food. The meals back home that you took for granted become lost memories. Snacks that you'd buy frequently become cherished dreams.
Students returning to their normal lives also have a feeling of being able to remove things that they no longer need. Distractions, bad habits, or just useless things.
The last component that makes me come back to this training lifestyle is the people. Meeting people from all over the world. Being able to talk, train, and live with so many people really shapes your view. Of the world. Yourself. And others.
As I lay my head to rest today. I continue to remind myself as to why I'm here.
To train Kung Fu.
📿Johnny
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