I had a great opportunity while I was home to have a one on one talk with Sifu Brinker. We discussed so many things that it would be hard to write them all down. I did though make an observation while I was home and training at Silent River. I realized that in all the years I spent training, I missed a great opportunity. Okay so I missed a lot of them, but hindsight is 20/20.
I realized how much I've come to rely on my peers while training in China. It becomes routine when you're with the same people, doing the same things together every day to start to rely on one another to get you through some of your toughest times. I spend a lot of energy every day looking for motivation and for inspiration in the people around me. It's hard sometimes to keep a positive frame of mind, and no matter what your natural disposition is, I think this is true for every person.
When I was training at Silent River, I never really took advantage of the people in my class, and I didn't even realize what I was missing out on. I see now that a lot of the times when I was struggling to stay motivated in my training, I had a great tool that I had overlooked. There's such a great atmosphere of camaraderie at the school that I never took part in. I am a very independent person, and so I felt as though I had to do things on my own, all the time. I'm not suggesting that you don't need self motivation. I feel it is necessary if you want to improve in your training. But that doesn't mean that there isn't people around you who can help you along when you're struggling, and perhaps give you a fresh outlook on occasion. And it feels great to be able to give new perspective to help someone else who has lost their momentum.
