How Martial Arts REALLY Work… (and how they DON’T) - Part II
Part 2 – The Sin of Ego
So, this is the part where things are going to feel a little more mean, and your feelings aren’t going to be cuddled. Note that the author is not only a self-defense instructor, but is also a survivor of violence in his youth.
TRIGGER WARNING
If you have ever suffered a trauma related to self-defense, you may not want to continue
Now that you have been warned let’s return to our running theme of analogy. You are in a sudden need for real world self-defense skills. Who do you choose to be:
A) The person who attended that 1 hour self-defense course back in college.
B) The person who took martial arts for like 5 months and got to like a yellow belt, and then quit because reasons.
C) The person who studied martial arts fairly seriously for 3-4 years all the way to black belt, but hasn’t done it for maybe another 3-4 years.
D) The person who started training, and never stopped. They go twice a week every week as part of their own personal growth and self-care.
Go ahead. I’ll wait.
“Oh yeah! Well, I have been in situation X and that wouldn’t have helped even a bit!”
Listen, when you take your feelings out of it, and just look at the situation objectively you can see it is no different than our previous examples. The more time and training the better your chances. Thinking that they cannot help is just sparing your own feelings from recognizing maybe it was possible to do more.
I understand that. I was a victim as a kid. More than once. It was leaning into my training hard that helped to prepare me for later events. Training hard made it possible for me to see problems ahead of time and be ready. You cannot always be ready, and you cannot always be safe. But you can increase your chances by remembering that training is something you never stop doing. See you on the mat!