Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

Heyo everyone, this weeks post is going to be about learning from previous mistakes and obstacles, and learning how to overcome them in the future.

So lately I have run into some issues with blogger. Every time I save and post a blog, everything past lines 15 to 20ish get deleted and I have to start the post over. This can be rather frustrating considering somenof my blogs can be long, and rewriting then can be quite tedious. After having to redo several blogs, I decided to try and come up with a "back-up plan". Before I post a blog, I spell-check, then copy the whole thing. When I save and post, I check to see if the whole thing is there. When it typically is not, I just have to go back, and paste the whole blog and try again. A big thank you to whoever invented copy and paste.

So, as per usual with every little lesson I learn, I try to apply it to my Kung Fu. Kung Fu is a prime example of a place in which you need to improvise, adapt and overcome challenges and obstacles (Bear Grylls would be proud) in order to progress. Kung Fu is all about making mistakes and learning from them, in order to improve yourself, as is anything in life, really. We as humans are gifted with the ability to think and grow in order to overcome challenges which stand before us. Though failure is not something we wish to experience, it is a wonderful gift when it comes to showing us where we need to improve.

A quick question to whoever as experienced these technical difficulties, but my blogger has a tendency to not only delete my blogs after I save them, but to delete them while I'm writing them. Ironically, as I was writing this blog about copying my posts before they're deleted, my post got deleted before I could copy it. If anyone has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

Build Up and Let Down

Heyo everyone, this weeks post is about how sometimes the stress and suspense of an event in the future can cause far more troubles then it should.

This week sucked. There's no other way to put it. This was one of my busiest weeks of highschool yet, flooding with tons of essays, lab reports, assignments, homework, everything a teacher could possibly assign. With that, Thursday was booked with tests or summative papers all day. I had spent my whole week freaking out trying to prep while getting everything else done, and when Thursday finally rolled around, everything had been moved to Friday. Yea, more time to study, but that doesn't help me! I wanted to go to Kung Fu tonight, not get stuck writing a lab report on the change in solubility of a sodium chloride solution as direct heat increases. Then, Friday comes around. And everything gets moved to Monday! It's almost like they planned it. Hmmm. Teacher vs Student conspiracy? Maybe a talk for another day.

So anyways, this whole week was an emotional wreck. And it was all due to the pressure of a single date, bearing down on my shoulders like a half-ton rock. I ended up losing my mind because I was all work and no play. I was too busy worrying about the finish line I forgot to enjoy myself on the way there. If I'm going to have to work, I might as well make a darn good time out of it. As we know... all work and no play, makes Simon a dull boy (ooooh movie references in a blog? Isn't that exciting) And dull is boring. And boring is... well... boring. No one likes boring. So I was thinking about this and I realized that this week is basically this IHC year.

I'll be honest, I'm already super nervous about everything. There's so much to pay work on, and in what seems like so little time. Even talking about it I start to panic. It's like, if my mind was a big office building, theres a whole level dedicated to people who hit the panic button whenever they can. And I don't want to be too laid back about the situation either because then I won't succeed. Looks like I'm looking for another happy medium. Not too paranoid, yet not too carefree. But this time, I don't think I have to look too hard. On the mats, I enjoy training and practicing. I got a good thing going right now, good group of partners, and right now, I feel like I'm getting close to that happy middle. Now just to get there and hold it.

How much is too much

Heyo everyone, this weeks post will be about pushing yourself, and understanding how far you should be pushing yourself

One thing I find as I walk down my path of life is a specific tendency I have. One thing about me is that I don't like losing or giving in, especially when competing against other people. If someone else starts to run faster, I subconsciously run faster. If someone else starts to push harder, I subconsciously start to push harder. Yea, it's good to push ourselves, because we should always strive to be better then we were the previous day, yet there reaches a point where it gets to be unhealthy to either yourself, or even the people or things around you.

One of the things I fear is my inability to understand where that line is. It's a lot easier to notice when you're looking at it the day after, or if you're watching from the outside, but when you're in the heat of the moment, blood pumping, sweat dripping, breathing heavily, you're judgement starts to get a little clouded.
You don't wanna give in too early, yet it's sooooo easy to push yourself too far. I'm afraid that when a time comes where being pushed to the line is necessary, such as the black belt grading, I'm going to fail to see the line and end up damaging myself early on through my blinded ambitions.

This also leads to one of my biggest challenges, which is training to be able to see the line where it most pays off. Practice makes perfect, you know. Right now, my goal is to be able to find the line, to be able to push myself as far as I can go, and to refrain from throwing myself too far into the deep end.

Stressed Out

Heyo everyone, this weeks blogs is going to be short, due to a few reasons, but the overall theme this week will be about having to deal with stress

So the reason todays blog is a day late is because when I was writing my blog yesterday, my app crashed near the end and deleted it, causing me great frustration. So after piecing it together again, I posted it, only to find out this morning that only the opening paragraph had saved and posted, and my 5-6 other paragraphs I had written were lost in cyberspace. Again. Ugh.

So when school came around, it was going good right up to second block, where I was required to write up 5 paragraphs about the Quebecois independence and its significance along with finishing a a reading and sheet about something else,(I'll be honest, I haven't even had the chance to look at it, so I dont even know what its about). Third block gave more notes and I found out fourth block that I have a test tomorrow that I'm not prepared for, and a lab report I got to finish up. And I was really hoping I could go to Kung Fu tonight. Damn.

Right now, I'm almost glad I have medications that assist me with sleeping, because sleeping alone is a struggle. With the amount of work and stress I have on my plate, life seems to be taking more then it's giving. Sigh. But what can we do. Life has its way, so I guess all we can do is tough it out.

I would also like to mention that Parker Tobin, someone I hadn't known personally , yet knew his name from around the halls at school, was one of the students who passed away in the accident in Saskatchewan. Prayers go out to his family and friends, along with those of the other victims of the crash.

Freeze Frame

Heyo everyone, this weeks blog is about how we don't realize the value of stepping back and evaluating our life, and the decisions it is made of, until we get stuck in a situation where we are forced to take a second to step back and evaluate our life decisions.

For those unfamiliar with the term, a "freeze-frame" is a cinematic/theatrical practice which involves time stopping, and everyone is at a standstill, with the exception of one individual, typically the protagonist or narrator of the story. This method is often used for comedic purposes, or to establish a moment for the narrator or protagonist to develop the events leading up the freeze-frame. This is moment is typically found at the start of a film/play and provides the main character with the ability to evaluate the scenario. And with that, now that everyone knows what a freeze-frame is, I'm going to turn the last few days of my life into a freeze-frame styled post.

Now, imagine you're near the peak of a mountain, in the middle of a light snow storm, visibility reduced to about 10-15 feet in front of you. You're waist deep in snow, unable to move your legs due to the weight of the snow surrounding them, and the weight of skis on your feet. On top of that, there's few skiers on the mountain in comparison to the usual crowd on account of the snow, cold temperature and wind, and even fewer who are willing to brave the top of the mountain in one of the thickest powders that Marmot Basin has seen in a long time, so you can't count on anyone coming by to help dig you out. With that, your partner is already down that stretch of the hill, and in a similar situation farther down. And finally, you're battling the fatigue you feel in your legs that you get on your second last run of the day, after a full day of skiing. Now that I got that scenario in everyones minds... freeze-frame!

Yup. That was me a couple of days ago. On top of a mountain, waist deep in snow (no exaggeration on this one, the snow was just past my ski pants), low visibility and quite exhausted. As far as modern day civilian freeze-frame scenarios go, thats not too bad, if I may say so myself. So lets time travel about 8 hours prior(ish), to the start of the day, and see how many silly decisions I made to land myself in the scenario.

Firstly, the weather. Due to it being a fairly cold day, I decided to double up on my gloves, wearing both magic mitts and my usual ski mitts. This resulted in a decreased in mobility in my fingers, and helped fuel the decision of leaving my ski poles behind. As a skier who prefers using poles, yet is still proficient without them, sacrificing them to improve the warmth of my hands is a common decision. However, skiing in such harsh conditions without the extra balance and propulsion through the thick areas of snow that the poles provided was certainly a costly mistake, as the my gloves were successful in holding out the temperature, and I didn't feel any of the cold in my fingers, and I would have been  better off with the poles.

Another mistake was the over-exertion of my energy. One problem I tend to have, not only with skiing but even with things such as Kung Fu, is that I fail to see the necessity and importance of taking a break to rest muscles and catch breath. My legs were screaming by the third run of the day, and they continued to get worse, even on the easy green runs. So, on the seventh run, doing one of the most difficult tracks on the hill probably wasn't my brightest idea. Or even remotely close to being on the better half of all of my ideas. Part of the reason I ended up sinking so far into the snow was my inability to turn as much as I should have been doing due to the fatigue, and I ended up sinking deep as a result.

I could contiue with all the little mistakes I made that day, but I think I got my point across already (and if I'm not going to pit you poor souls into reading a novel). However, while my life freeze-framed and I was too tired to try and dig my way out, I took that moment to reflect on the glories and mistakes of my life, some of which I mentioned in the last few paragraphs. Being able to look at those past moments, I was able to decide that who we are as a person is shown in the contrast between our past actions and the ones we make on a daily basis. Life is about improving ourselves by looking at our past and our mistakes, and changing our approach to overcome the obstacles that once slowed us down. Life is a big jumble of activity and excitement, and we constantly lose sight of the past focusing on the future. Yet the best way into a more successful future often lies in the past. So sometimes, looking back might actually just help you on your walk forward. (Metaphorically of course. Walking backwards isn't really ideal.)