In Search of the Martial Artist

Have you ever been present when someone just lost it? Parents who are stretched to their limits and who end up hitting their children. Colleagues who take abuse until one time it all comes out on the wrong person and in the wrong situation. You have probably been there as well -  in one way or another, we all have. The only difference between the one who remains calm under pressure and the one who loses it, is self-control. That's what martial arts can teach you. The calm one experiences exactly the same emotion but manages to not do anything about it, while the hot-headed person just lets off steam immediately.

I think the bar is getting raised all the time. Loosing it may have been tolerated a couple of decades ago. Today,  if you hit your children in public, by-standers would likely interfere. It was ok to verbally abuse a colleague if you had the power at your company; today we are a step closer to zero tolerance for all forms of violence even, or perhaps especially, when someone in power loses his cool.

Perhaps you should sign up for that martial arts or that yoga class because the standards of human interactions are steadily rising. The most demanding professions today ask you to override your natural instincts. You have to overcome your fear of public speaking,  have to interact socially even if you are shy, or have to push your case through even though the authorities on your subject disagree with you. The bar is being raised just because humanity is evolving at an incredible speed. Life forces you to be a heroine these days. It is not always about doing what feels right; sometimes it is about creating your destiny despite yourself. So don't be intimidated when the bar is being upped in front of your eyes just as you had your successful high jump. You are doing this to yourself, so please accept your personal challenge to excel.