Here We Go Again: Self-Defense
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This is for potential training participants and current training facilitators.
Here we go again—whether last week, last year, or the last election cycle, there's always a renewed interest in self-defense and martial arts. But, like every other time, if the motivation is rooted in fear, people will eventually stop showing up or never show up at all. How many people posted about training after Trump first ran? And how many of them stuck with it? Imagine what those years of consistent practice could have amounted to.
Fear is paralyzing and stops people from doing. That's why the cycle repeats. This time, make training fun, engaging, meaningful, and something to look forward to. In fact, to actually get good at self-defense, you have to forget about self-defense because only then will you keep showing up and develop confidence and competency.
Always use a framework of material conditions when thinking about training. Training is a commitment. Like any other commitment, you're competing for people's time. There's Netflix, video games, concerts, rock climbing, pickleball, chilling with friends, recharging alone, or organizing work. Carving out time for training is a big ask. And if fear was enough, they would have been training yesterday, last year, or even a decade ago.
If you're thinking about training, learn from every past training resolution and stop focusing on fear. Because if that worked, you wouldn't be making this same resolution every week. Training is a big block of time that includes time outside of training. Capitalism already makes it hard to commit to anything other than work, so the only way you'll incorporate training into your life is if you genuinely enjoy it and wouldn't miss it for anything in the world. That's still not a guarantee, but at least you'll have a fighting shot.
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(I write daily about martial arts and other topics from a liberatory perspective. If you like my work, upgrade your subscription. You can also support me on Patreon or make a one-time donation on Ko-fi. Find Southpaw at its website. Get the swag on Spring. Also check out Liberation Martial Arts Online.)