I remember a time when I was a young teenager and I was asked to teach an adult martial art class knife concepts.
I can vividly recall feeling wildly underprepared and underqualified—we had only ever practiced and trained basic concepts at this point in my martial arts journey.
I also distinctly remember there being an adult in this class who intimidated me. Even though he was a lower rank, he had this aura that gave me the impression he knew combative concepts—maybe ex-military or law enforcement or just serial martial artist.
And because of those two forces I remember hesitating, stumbling over my words, getting red in the face…
And I remember it as clear as if it were yesterday… the moment I looked that student in the eyes and he gave me that, “you’ve been exposed” look.
…And boy did I hate that feeling.
We ended up taking knife out of our program shortly thereafter to focus on other areas… what’s interesting, however, is that as of late, I’ve found myself feeling strongly pulled towards learning knife concepts again.
And I suddenly have this insatiable desire to learn as much about it as I can—even though it’s still not something that’s being taught in our school.
My inner work thought today was wondering if those two events are connected…
Wondering if a seed was planted in that moment all those years ago that’s grown into this big energy I’m feeling for that topic today…
And I wonder for you if there’s a similar experience from your past that might contain a topic worth exploring and reinvesting in today?