Disbelief!
Anger!
Sadness!
Helpless!
Uncertainty!
These are just some of the emotions that some of you will have had waking up today! Some of you will have had these thoughts and feelings throughout the week as across the world life changes for every single one of us.
Restrictions are in place across Europe, my sister in Spain has been told she has another 15 days of lockdown and that’s before the the first fifteen are even up. Good friends of mine in both the USA and Australia have told me that they are either on lockdown or under restrictive measures.
One thing for sure is life has changed and it’s changed fast!
Most of us welcomed in the new decade promising ourselves that 2020 was going to be “our year”. We promised ourselves how we were going to smash our goals and achieve all the things our hearts desired. And then bang! Something happened that no one could have predicted and those dreams seem to have been whipped from under our feet.
So where do we go from here?
I’d like to share a story with you all if I may. I’ll try and tell it without resorting to too much martial arts jargon.
One day I was stood alongside world renowned Brazilian Jiu Jitsu coach John Bernard Will. Now I am lucky to be able to call him a friend but he is much more than that to me, he is also my coach and a mentor too.
I remember him watching a student trying to escape from underneath someone else who was pinning them down. Without taking his eyes off the struggling student he explained to me that the problem is that when people are pinned down with someone on top of them they concentrate on all the things they can’t do and that’s the mistake.
Beginners try and escape in one go and when they fail they end up worrying about all the parts of their body they can’t move, instead they should focus on the things they can do. Escapes are done in 1% increments and do enough of them and you’ll have the room to get out and improve your position. Then he said to me “always concentrate on what you can do, not on what you can’t”
That lesson, learnt on the mats but applicable in life, has stuck with me for a number of years now.
So whilst we may feel like we are pinned down by an invisible force at the moment remember to look for all the things you can do. All the 1% improvements you can make each and every day.
Focus on what you can do and not on what you can’t.
Make a list of those things you keep putting off, read the books you haven’t had time for, finish the online course you bought, reconnect with friends and family, or learn a new skill. I’ll be sharing my attempts at drawing for anyone who wants a good laugh over the coming weeks!!