The Value of eating bitter

There is a saying in Chinese that is both a valuable life skill and a martial arts virtue - “eat bitter”. It means to endure or to ovecome hardship and it can, perhaps, remind us that there is a payoff at the end of the challenging parts of our kung fu and tai chi training.

There are many reasons to pursue these arts- fitness, self-defense, stress managment to name a few; regardless of your reasons for starting you will face challenges along the way. Don’t give up. If you are tired after a day of work, come in anyway. If you get injured during training, heal up and get back to it. If you lose your job what a great opportunity to come in and utilize your new found free time to train even more!

Life will always throw obstacles in front of you. Real growth happens when you overcome them to emerge victorious on the other side.

There are few quick successes in the martial arts and in the beginning the incrimental growth you experience can be hard to identify or appreciate. But believe me when I say that you are indeed growing and learning. You may find that your body hurts and you may experience frustration in learning new skills but this frustration is preceisely the road that leads to mastery. Moreover, this perseverence will make you resilient, tough, and confident in your abilities to overcome future adversities. Success breeds success.

The more you train the more efficient you will become in surmounting obstacles. Every small success propels you forward. You will sometimes fail, and when you do embrace it. Learn from it. Look at it as an opportunity to grow. There is no growth without getting outside of your comfort zone. Embrace this journey.

I promise that if you can make it past eating bitter, you will find something sweet.