I have stood at the starting line of many marathons and the energy coming from the runners, poised to tackle the course, is enough to raise the hair on the back of your neck. One of the biggest dangers, in fact, is letting the adrenalin carry you too fast at the beginning, dropping you high, dry and exhausted, somewhere in the middle of the race. If you make it to the final mile, that horrible wasteland of the middle miles fades into the ecstasy of striding across the finish line. You have fought the fight and you have won; first place or last, you have won your own personal victory.
When students start Taekwondo it is all new and exciting. There is something about the first days of any activity that provides its own momentum. Motivation is not hard to come by. The only obstacle seems to be your impatience to get rid of that white belt and start the climb up the colors. It is an essential stage of building the basics.
Then comes the blue belt, intermediate class, the start of the lifelong task of improving on the basics. The “new and exciting” seem to fade. It is actually where the real work starts. The student carries the weight of retaining the basics as well as learning the additional skills that higher belts require. The job of staying focused is joined by the job of checking yourself. You begin to act as your own instructor, reminding yourself of where you need to be and what you need to be doing. You begin to get motivation from doing a good job and knowing that you are moving closer to your goal of Black Belt and beyond. You begin to learn that the best things in life require work and patience.
Intermediate class is like the middle of the marathon where the adrenalin of the start no longer carries you and the renewed spark of finish line is literally miles away. So, how do you sustain? How do you escape the drudgery of just putting one foot in front of the other?
This is where another life lesson comes into the picture. Some call it “delayed gratification.” You only get the real prize when you cross the finish line. But there is much preparation, hours of training, some of it boring, some of it without the motivation and energy that come at the beginning. It is the middle of the race, far from white belt but far from Black. What to do?
Some students choose to quit, satisfied with the temporary rewards of the start and its excitement. Dropping out becomes a habit. You avoid the pain and tedium of the middle, all of the hard work with only the promise of the finish, and start repeating that process over and over. Those students are not willing to use their imagination, persistence and discipline to navigate those middle waters. They look for something new to start. But they have no idea what they are giving up.
Until you join the brother/sisterhood of Black Belt or marathon finisher you have no idea how that reward feels. I will not try to describe it to you. My only suggestion is that you trust the fact that it definitely makes all of the work worthwhile.