The challenge....

Small classes on Sunday aren't unusual, but today, when I realized we were going to max out at 20 students, I had a bit of a panic. My mom was here to watch and I wanted to be as full of chi as possible, not gasping in short short lines. I know we should try our hardest every day, and I do, but today I tried my extra-hardest. Having my mom there was great inspiration to keep going even when ceshoufans made me crazy dizzy. I've said it before and I said it again, this just shows just how much of training is mental.

Also interesting, in addition to the class being small, there were not a lot of old-school people training today. It's always strange when I feel like part of the older half of the class, but today it was even more pronounced. These things got me to thinking about how much I've learned and how much there is left to learn and so on. I know, I know, how quickly we get through forms isn't important, but I don't want to feel as though the reason I'm not getting through them is because I'm letting my mind keep me from training as hard/as much as possible. So I've made a little bet with myself to train every possible class (for me that's 4 times a week plus holidays) between now and testing in October. If I win (...against myself....) then I will get..something. The validation of having done it. naturally... aaaand something shiny, like gold feiyues... or maybe a leg stretcher... or LeCreuset cooking pans.... mmm yeah... Nothing like a little personal challenge to break down a mental wall...

That's the gauntlet... that I threw down at myself.... yeaaahhh....