You Learn a lot about yourself though Fighting

[cha kuen]

I recently met a Muay Thai fighter and he said, "You learn a lot about yourself through fighting."

He was referring to this challenge matches he fights once a month or so.

I was thinking about what he said. Similar to any other arts such as dance, painting, sports and such.... it's all about expresssing yourself.

Can anyone try to explain what he meant by his quote?

[diego]

unless he is relating to introspective traits gleamed from fightnight insights i would say you learn alot about yourself while fighting because when you get hit you realize how much it hurts

Smartass i know but what can you do...at least im not ralek!.

[Kay k]

[Ish]

have you ever seen fight club?

"you can't really know yourself untill you've been in a fight"

[Crimson Phoenix]

I'd say it's more a matter of realizing things and most importantly being lucid and stopping self-lies rather than plainly learning...

[Ryu]

Through fighting, competition, or even hardcore sparring, you learn "about yourself" because all the images of what you want to do or should be able to do are dissolved. Only the reality of what you "can" do is left. This is what is meant by finding the cause of your own ignorance. Gloving up and going for it, or having a challenge match, etc. lets you have a good idea of where you are physically, what your form is like, how well you can perform under stress, and how you react to a realistic situation.

Ryu

[Lice]

To quote one of the greatest movies ever(Apocalypse Now): "Can't find out who you are working in some factory in Ohio."

That was a hard exact quote to find.. evidently it was only in Redux.

[apoweyn]

you learn a lot about yourself through experience of any sort, really. it's just that there aren't any other experiences that faithfully recreate the conditions of a fight.

direct, unadulterated, physical conflict is something that many of us never experience at all. never mind often enough to get cosy with it. but because that experience is so rare and so limited, it's bound to teach you things about yourself that nothing else will really.

i know how i respond to conflict in the everyday sense. someone on KFO things i'm a moron. i have experience enough that i know how i'm going to handle that. somebody at the office thinks i took too long about getting a project back to them. i can handle that too. somebody grabs me and slams me across the hood of a car. that's a little different. and as such, it's bound to elicit a different set of responses. a set of responses i'm not used to. therefore, i learn.


stuart b.

[zen_celt]

Also, when you are confronted with a large enough threat, your perspective on life and what you believe in can change. Just the act of contemplating your own mortality can crystalize your beliefs and priorities. Imagine what actual mortal combat can do. Like the other guys said as well, fighting(whether sparring or street) leaves you with a realistic sense of what you can do and who you are, more so than most any other experience in the world.
It's about survival and what you do with the life your trying to protect.
Just my two cents
-ZC