a kung fu depression

I was reading a fellow KFOer's facebook today and it got me thinking about my past 2/3 years of training.

It all started 2 1/2 years ago when I was losing motivation for kung fu. I couldn't even bring myself to train. I was going through a kung fu depression. I had a lot of negative stuff going on in my life that was brought on partially from kung fu. I was still attending class for a while because I had to, not because I wanted to. then I stopped all together. I would still help assist with classes, but that was hard to drag myself to.

Cut to present: around February this year, my motivation started to come back. It has been 2 months since I drank alcohol. I started going to class again because I wanted to. I have been dealing with the pain in my knees instead of letting it be used as an excuse to not train. Just feels good to be back and to want to do it again.

have any of you gone through a "kung fu depression" before and how have you dealt with it?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shaolinlueb

I was reading a fellow KFOer's facebook today and it got me thinking about my past 2/3 years of training.

It all started 2 1/2 years ago when I was losing motivation for kung fu. I couldn't even bring myself to train. I was going through a kung fu depression. I had a lot of negative stuff going on in my life that was brought on partially from kung fu. I was still attending class for a while because I had to, not because I wanted to. then I stopped all together. I would still help assist with classes, but that was hard to drag myself to.

Cut to present: around February this year, my motivation started to come back. It has been 2 months since I drank alcohol. I started going to class again because I wanted to. I have been dealing with the pain in my knees instead of letting it be used as an excuse to not train. Just feels good to be back and to want to do it again.

have any of you gone through a "kung fu depression" before and how have you dealt with it?

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I don't know if it was depression per se, but I definitely went through a period where my motivation to practice was overridden by a desire to pursue other interests.

So, I painted, drew, wrote music and kept my hand in with practice. Just less practice. lol

I switched focus and kept it to something that wasn't self destructive.

Due to how I choose to believe I fit into the universe, I never cut myself off of anything, but I also don't let myself fall too hard into anything. Moderation is key to pretty much everything in life in order to maintain the most amount of happy and satisfaction and most importantly, contentment. :)

Hey Sihing,
Glad to know you're doing better.
I had my own kind of kung fu depression right around the same time you did, I guess.
Just a few months after returning to training from hernia repair surgery, I hurt my foot...it was very frustrating. For a while I was not training at all, I was drinking too much, and I started smoking cigarettes again. Bad stuff.
If Shifu hadn't started teaching me tai chi, that probably would have been the end of MA for me.
Now I am doing much better and I really enjoy training again, however, I'm still having issues making it to class--for me 7pm is just much later in the day than I want to do my exercise... Started doing some assistant instructing, so now I have to be there at least some of the time...that helps.

Also, 'burn out,' is normal for any serious athlete...I got it with running and swimming back in H.S., and I know it happens in KF too. (although there's much more going on in KF than running or swimming which helps). Sometimes a few months off is the best way to train (don't tell anyone I said that though :) ).

By the way, send me that writing to look at whenever you want...

Dan

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shaolinlueb

have any of you gone through a "kung fu depression" before and how have you dealt with it?

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when I first came to US in the late 1980s.

I was so busy to be in school, and adjusting to food, classmates, college dorm life.

even thou I did have weekly schedule for practice. but it was just too much going on.

so I stopped for a whole semester. I then picked up some intense practice 6 hours or more daily during spring break.

when the summer break came, I went back to regular daily practice.

yes, I will be so overwhelmed with day jobs, family and other duties.

times to practice are being pushed back or squeezed out.

the way I get around the kung fu break time, is to read some thing relevant to kung fu or watch some CMA movies.

so even thou I was so tired from school or work and could not lift a finger.

I always remember to do a least 30 min walk and read a bit about kung fu.

come to think about it. it is sort of religious for me.

like read the bible and pray everyday

or read like some CMA books, such as David Lin on compact shuai jiao, ma hong chen tai ji, wang pei sheng on wu tai ji, yang cheng fu book from 1930s, ba ji manual from guo shu guan era---


or just sun zi and sun wu bin fa or arts of war

36 tricks or plots 36 ji----

:)

I had a falling out with my teacher over some personal issues. I still attended classes. Later 2 other students approached me (on their own) and told me I was not welcome. I told them to F themselves. My issues with our teacher had nothing to do with them. All this BS made me depressed and I quit after 16 years. After 5 years (studied with 2 other teachers briefly during that time), I got the urge again, made amends with my teacher and came back stronger with way better understanding. Speaking of Karma, one student's knees are shot and doesn't attend anymore and the other student I teach.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shaolinlueb

have any of you gone through a "kung fu depression" before and how have you dealt with it?

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In Taiwan, I had to take entrance exam to enter grade school, junior high, senior high, and college. After gradulated from the college, I had to take "go abroad exam" and "TOEFL exam" to come to US. The most part of my life was in study and exam. CMA training was a relaxation for me away from study. When I trained CMA, I was happy. When I studied my schoolwork, I was not happy. Never had the feeling that CMA has anything to do with "depression".

You're like Chopper Reid YKW. lol

"Harden the F**K up" :p

I am thankful for how different we all are.

It's awesome.

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Originally Posted by YouKnowWho

In Taiwan, I had to take entrance exam to enter grade school, junior high, senior high, and college. After gradulated from the college, I had to take "go abroad exam" and "TOEFL exam" to come to US. The most part of my life was in study and exam. CMA training was a relaxation for me away from study. When I trained CMA, I was happy. When I studied my schoolwork, I was not happy. Never had the feeling that CMA has anything to do with "depression".

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yes. I had to go thru the same things.

luckily, they extended to 9 years compulsory education a few months before I was going to the junior high.

I prepped for the entrance exam but they turned 6 years to 9 years just in time.

however, my prep paid off big, I was ahead of the class from junior high all the way thru college.

studying foreign languages was relaxation for me.

CMA practice is like hard work, hard work, hard work

gruelsome, drilling, boring etc etc

only after a while, I started to "like" it.

you know chores chores and chores

before fun, fun, fun.

;)

kung fu is hard work... no pun intended. but if you love it. all the blood, sweat, and tears don't matter. its fun to me. i never saw it as hard work. i saw it as a way to get away and release stress and have fun.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shaolinlueb

i never saw it as hard work. i saw it as a way to get away and release stress and have fun.

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This is very important in the CMA training. You have to have fun to do it. If you force yourself to do it (with mindset such as no pain no gain), your training will not last. Whenever that I heard people screamed in the gym when they did their bench press, I knew that guy will guit someday. I used to run with certain speed in mind. Today I run just to enjoy to watch those good shape girls who pass through me.

We all go through burn out, and sometimes a little time off is the answer. I quit training Kung Fu for 3 years after my Sifu moved away. I picked up again when his Sifu began teaching again and attained my black sash under him. Sometime after I took two years off and trained exclusively in boxing because I always wanted to. When I returned to Kung Fu I was that much better.

Somtimes we may veer off the path, but as long as we continue the journey all is well.:)

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Originally Posted by Iron_Eagle_76

We all go through burn out, and sometimes a little time off is the answer. I quit training Kung Fu for 3 years after my Sifu moved away. I picked up again when his Sifu began teaching again and attained my black sash under him. Sometime after I took two years off and trained exclusively in boxing because I always wanted to. When I returned to Kung Fu I was that much better.

Somtimes we may veer off the path, but as long as we continue the journey all is well.:)

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Boxing will totally improve your kung fu game and it will change the shape of your kung fu.

screaming on the bench press--

yes, realistic and gradual goat settings

if you set up unrealistic or unachieveable goal, you would fail or quit before long.

but you gradually increment you goals.

you challenge yourself to better each time and each day

it is not olympia

but you are improving yourself or bettering yourself day by day.

--

no yelling, no beating necessary

self motivation is better then "forced" or "obligated" motives

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:)

I learn a few german and french words every day.

das is gut, alles gut

tre bien, c'est bon.

I am not even german or french.

--

one day I will communicate well with them

etc etc

auf wieder sehn

au re voi

:D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shaolinlueb

I was reading a fellow KFOer's facebook today and it got me thinking about my past 2/3 years of training.

It all started 2 1/2 years ago when I was losing motivation for kung fu. I couldn't even bring myself to train. I was going through a kung fu depression. I had a lot of negative stuff going on in my life that was brought on partially from kung fu. I was still attending class for a while because I had to, not because I wanted to. then I stopped all together. I would still help assist with classes, but that was hard to drag myself to.

Cut to present: around February this year, my motivation started to come back. It has been 2 months since I drank alcohol. I started going to class again because I wanted to. I have been dealing with the pain in my knees instead of letting it be used as an excuse to not train. Just feels good to be back and to want to do it again.

have any of you gone through a "kung fu depression" before and how have you dealt with it?

---

welcome back mr. kotter, i told you it would come back it always does....ive def been through it several times in my life. i remember i use to train at a kung fu school as a kid, and money got tight, so the kung fu teacher(i wont mention names because he was bad mouthed on this many many years ago and i dont want things to start up again lol.) let me train there for free in exchange for doing some menial task, like cleaning the school and running errands for sifu crap like that. i eventually had to leave thou because of things that were going on in my personal life, made me too distracted to really care about kung fu. and after i left i felt super empty, for a year or two. wasnt till i met my xing yi teacher, that i got my passion back, and im glad i did....so welcome back sir.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shaolinlueb

kung fu depression?

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I love outdoor hiking. I will never associate hiking with depression. Sometime the difference is how you may treate it.

My teacher told me that there was a double heads weight bar in his teacher's backyard that everytime he saw it, he hated it so much (that double heads was so heavy). He was a strong guy but he still hated that weight.

If every training session you push yourself so hard that you hate to do it again than that will not be good. You should stop your training when you feel great and you still want to continue but you force yourself to stop. This way you always look forward to your next training section.

You train because you love to do it not because you have to do it. You make love to your love one because you enjoy the process not because you have to do 5,000 push up. :D