Master Joe,
I'd like to give you a personal account of my recent slacking period in which missing one class quickly snowballed into missing multiple weeks. I know you always warn us against missing too much class and how it becomes habit forming, but I still managed to fall victim to it during the Thanksgiving holiday. I started to get busy packing and preparing for a trip over the weekend and it quickly became an excuse for missing class. At first, I had a decent excuse because there wasn't enough hours in the day to finish everything before my flight, but after the holiday I kept finding excuses to miss class--I'm too tired, I already missed a few classes so it wont hurt to miss one more, I'm too far behind on the new material etc, etc. Once I got used to missing class, It was easy to trade my long term goals for the "instant gratification" of staying home and slacking off. Anyway, by the time I realized it, I had missed 3 weeks. Fortunately, I was finally able to stop the bleeding and get back to class--I'm glad I did.
Anyway, you were right about falling victim to "instant gratification" and how easy it is to lose sight of our long term goals. The best part of missing class was that coming back was like visiting family that you hadn't seen in years. I was amazed how may people noticed I was gone and welcomed me back with a hand shake and a smile. Master Joe, you were even kind enough to dedicate a grueling conditioning workout to me! Like many of us this wasn't the first time this has happened and it wasn't the longest streak of slacking that I've endured at Shaolin-Do, but I learned that it can happen when you least expect it and that the longer you're away the more excuses you find to not come back.
Thanks,
Jayson
1st degree black belt
Master Joe's response
Hey, in all fairness we were going to do the "grueling" workout anyway. I just used you as an excuse. I usually don't do that on your returning night, but I knew you could handle it and you had only been gone a short time. Welcome Back!
