One day you feel sick and flat, and the next you feel on top of the world. Today was no different from yesterday in the ways that count, yet it couldn’t have felt more different, and looking back, I needed it.
I woke early after nine hours of peaceful sleep, a different man from the day before. The cold and flu had gone, replaced by a simple let’s train. It was a welcome feeling after what felt like a week of just trying to get through.
With a spring in my step, the sun on my back and a smile on my face, I took to the courtyard for a wonderful day of training. From the first step to the last, everything flowed in an almost dreamlike state. Movement felt free, the forms felt fluid, and for a heartbeat, everything felt exactly as it should. It felt like a special day, but the reality was that it was just another day deep inside a Kung Fu school.
I was reminded of that when I sat on the edge of the courtyard watching the coaches train, and one of my dearest friends at the school came and sat beside me. I could tell from the moment she sat down that she was having a hard day.
She has been hit lately by what feels like a never-ending run of injuries, each arriving on the heels of the last, the weight of them mounting while the dreams she came for slip through fingers that no longer have the will to grip. We sat. She talked, I listened. It was the best I could do, and all I could offer. I know from experience that when dark clouds gather, the last thing you need is someone telling you what to do, or worse, how to feel.
Living in a Kung Fu school is different for each of us, but a couple of things are shared by everyone. Constant pain, the kind that comes with a lot of training and wakes you in the small hours without warning. And disappointment, which is always close by. The pain is easy to deal with. The disappointment is harder because its seed lies in the mind and quickly takes over the heart.
Everyone handles it differently, but everyone has to face it. There’s no escape when expectation meets reality.
Today was a good day for me, and not so good for my friend. We both know it all begins again tomorrow, and neither of us knows what tomorrow will bring. All we can do is our best, and accept whatever turns up, knowing that it too will pass.