Snakes and Ladders

I guess in some ways last years kick at the I Ho Chuan could be compared to this game. For me and the many great people I met on this journey. You ascend up the ladder, feeling good about things and getting that much closer to your goals. The excitement of looking down at how far you climbed. Seeing the carnage of all the challenges you have beaten, only to move ahead farther than you thought you could. Growing into a smooth steady climb and making all the right turns and avoiding those snakes. Pulling off huge accomplishments and starting to pick up momentum in your goals and increasing the numbers in a steady almost tranquil frame of mind. Forms are looking good, getting in some distance, really starting to become one with your weapon. Push up reps and sit up reps increasing everyday. Achieving that state of organic humanity by evolving more and more into your empathy and rolling back to how things should be by focusing on doing the common good for anyone that is within your kindness radius. Then an injury occurs, whoosh down you go. A few more rolls and you discovered something cool in your form. Back up you go. Getting in good reps and a fairly descent routine. Life came into play and yep, down you go. But this time your back at the bottom of the board only a few feet from where you started. So next roll you take a different path, thinking that way didn't work so lets try with the shorter ladders. Thinking that if you play it safe you will make it to the end. Confidence is back up so you take a chance and shoot for that long ladder. Two moves later you drop down half way, then back up, and down. Pretty soon you have a melt down and toss the board in the air and punch it in two. Thinking to yourself this is a dumb game anyway and who in their right mind puts themselves through this mental and physical yo yo of success and failures. Just to give good measure you give it one last kick and move on to something you know you can win all the time, every time. Like the alphabet or counting backwards from a 100. Then you and your brain are becoming boarder line moosh. You think to yourself I need more, I can't let a challenge beat me. So you go back and find all those scattered pieces. Dig out that darn board and duct tape it back together. Find your favourite color and give it to your most challenging opponent. Life. Find your second favourite color and give it to your other opponent, training. Take the color you hate the most and roll with focus. This time you are going to make it to the top because you have an idea of what to expect and what it is you need to do for recovery. What you don't know, you take the risk and accept the outcome. Because its the risk takers that prevail and learn from failing. The challenge becomes the addiction and losses are another form of challenge not defeat. The balance of it all that leads to the accomplishment. Being one at the top of your game.
Brian Chervenka