Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

Haza! I got my 3rd strip! And for anyone that doesn't know what I am talking about: at my martial arts dojo (as my family and friends call it), when a martial arts student achieves their third strip, they are going to be tested for their next belt sometime when our instructor Professor Ryan (he is called "Professor" because he has gotten his black belt in Brazilian Ju-Jitsu, and they are called Professors) thinks that they have deserve it. And even better for me, I have gotten my third strip on my First Degree Brown Belt. The next immediate step is Black Belt. And I am so nervous. But I am going to train my hardest to get ready for my test, and I know I will be ready. But I am still nervous.
That is the thing about martial arts. You always have to be on your toes and always have to be ready for anything. Even if that means being nervous. You can NOT stand or sit still. You always have to be on the ball. When you are sparring (sparring is stand-up fighting, kicks and punches), and seriously when you are grappling (ground fighting, tap-outs and submissions). If you are not, you will miss something, or open a door and put yourself in a very bad position, so they can do harm to you (yes, we are in a safe environment, don't worry).
And it's the same with life, just all around. If you miss an opportunity, it might not come back around. You might have just given up a lot of things for your love life, future, and other things.
Life has its own little domino effect of its own. For example, let's just say that (this is in life) you forget to study for a college credit test. If you don't study for that test, you might not be excepted to the college that you have been yearning to get into. Then you might not get all the right education, so you might not get the right job, and then you might not be able to support your family. And it would just go down hill from there.
Now granted, the key word in there IS "might" but might doesn't mean will, and it doesn't mean won't. So just watch out people. The Domino Effect is everywhere, just waiting to strike.
It's in martial arts, too. It has to do that when you put yourself in a bad position, when you don't hold your hands up (which is REALLY hard) for the entire fight, when you don't train for a black belt test, there ARE circumstances.
~Grak