Regrets

masurai

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What regrets (if any) do you have in your training history?

Personally I wish I would have started alot earlier in life.
 

dancingalone

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That I only cared about learning the destructive side of the martial arts when I had the opportunity to learn more about healing and nurturing the bodies of myself and others.

Now that I'm older I realize meting out pain or damage is the easiest part of training martial arts. Lots of people can do that. A lot fewer people know the other side.
 

yak sao

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Wish I had started younger, and trained harder and smarter.
 

stickarts

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In hindsight, there are many things I could have done better, however, making mistakes is how you learn so I can't say I have any regrets. Early in my training GM Parker was in the area but I didn't take advantage of that to go see him because I didn't realize the value at the time or really even fully know who he was. Thats one thing I would do differently. It would have been great to have met him even once.
 

K-man

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As I was mid 30s before beginning karate, with hindsight, perhaps I could have started earlier, then when I took a break I should have returned sooner. But most of all I wish I had started cross training aikido earlier. That training has elevated my MA training to a new level.
 

Teufel Hunden

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There's a couple things I wish i had done when I was younger (like starting earlier), but I really had no control over them, so I don't look back with regret. My parents didn't have an informed opinion about Martial Arts, and only let me sign up in the first place because all my closest friends were already going, and they thought it would be a fun after school activity for me. It just so happened that it was Tang Soo Do and an outstanding school with a great instructor. My parents actually regret not letting me sign up sooner more than I regret not being able to do so. :D

I also wish I had more time to keep up regular training during my time in the Marine Corps. But, for all 7 years I was either in a war or training for it, so I had no control over that either. Still, even taking all the bad things with it, I wouldn't trade those experiences for having kept up with regular MA training instead. I'm more than happy being a 2nd Dan trying to get back into the swing of things, instead of a 4th Dan who didn't answer the call.
 

Tames D

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Thanks for being Frank with us

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Tames D

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I guess my biggest regret is never letting my original instructor know how much I really appreciated what he did for me before he passed. If I could turn back the clock, I'd love to have a long talk with him about it.
 

teekin

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I guess my biggest regret is never letting my original instructor know how much I really appreciated what he did for me before he passed. If I could turn back the clock, I'd love to have a long talk with him about it.

Well that is something I swore I would never do, and I won't. I will give credit where it's due and say thank-you for all the kindness and infinite patience that my teachers have had with me.
My one regret is I am lack in elequence of language such that they can never fully know how the lessons they have taught me reverberate through my life.

lori
 

Jenny_in_Chico

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Now that I'm older I realize meting out pain or damage is the easiest part of training martial arts. Lots of people can do that. A lot fewer people know the other side.

This is definitely my favorite part. I leave healing to people who are qualified for it, such as yourself. :)

I regret not starting ealier in life, when I wanted to as a teenager. I was heavy, and I was afraid of challenging myself physically. I finally decided as an adult of 38 that I was no longer going to let my fears be my master.
 

Bill Mattocks

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I was stationed on Okinawa and I worked with Angi Uezu. I could have spent my free time learning Isshin-Ryu where it began, instead of drinking at the club every night. Wish I had.
 

seasoned

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My martial arts adventure has been an awesome one. Many mile stones, but only one regret. I started training in my early 20's and recently took a long hard look in the mirror and there was a senior citizen looking back. Time flies when your having fun, and I have many wonderful memories to ponder, they say youth is wasted on the young. My only regret, I got old. :)
 

Blindside

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It would have been nice not to have quit when I was 14 or again when I was 19, or that I knew about some of the other training opportunities in the area when I was in college. But beside that, I don't regret much about my martial arts career.
 

Omar B

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I was stationed on Okinawa and I worked with Angi Uezu. I could have spent my free time learning Isshin-Ryu where it began, instead of drinking at the club every night. Wish I had.

Wait a minute, let me get this straight. You knew and had a working relationship with Angi?

I gotta say I'm pretty flabbergasted by that. He's one of the guys I admire greatly. I can only imagine how you feel not taking advantage of the opportunity back then.

Now you know, seize the day. I once had chuck Norris correcting my reverse round kick when I met him leaving a tournament.
 

yak sao

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There's a couple things I wish i had done when I was younger (like starting earlier), but I really had no control over them, so I don't look back with regret. My parents didn't have an informed opinion about Martial Arts, and only let me sign up in the first place because all my closest friends were already going, and they thought it would be a fun after school activity for me. It just so happened that it was Tang Soo Do and an outstanding school with a great instructor. My parents actually regret not letting me sign up sooner more than I regret not being able to do so. :D

I also wish I had more time to keep up regular training during my time in the Marine Corps. But, for all 7 years I was either in a war or training for it, so I had no control over that either. Still, even taking all the bad things with it, I wouldn't trade those experiences for having kept up with regular MA training instead. I'm more than happy being a 2nd Dan trying to get back into the swing of things, instead of a 4th Dan who didn't answer the call.


You answered a higher calling.....thank you
 

girlbug2

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My main regret is not starting martial arts as soon as I wanted to, when I was a teenager. Money was tight and my parents didn't see the value of it back then. Had I known what it would mean to me later as an adult, I would have scrimped and saved to pay for lessons myself. That experience would have been of much greater, lasting value to me than the frivolous junk I spent my money on back then.
 

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