Time Marches On: How are You Meeting It?

The year goes on, life goes on. Time marches on. Two weeks turns into two months. Two months turns into… possibly… two years? Are you just going through the motions of life as time marches on all over you?

Or are you taking the effort, each day, to bring your best self to the table (so to speak)? For me, before karate, there were only one or two areas in life where I consciously and consistently did my best. These were the things that meant the most to me in life. But through my martial arts training, I learned to put my best foot forward in all situations and all areas of life.

Of course, nobody is perfect and I’m not even close to being able to say that I am always at my best. We all have bad days and sick or weak times. We all need to give ourselves and others a little grace and kindness. Practice giving the benefit of the doubt, to self and others.

But, even when we are sick or life is putting us through the ringer, it can still do us some good to self-reflect on our efforts. Are we working on improving our attitude, even as we wake up each morning? In those first few moments your waking thoughts tell what kind of attitude you have been holding lately. You can change your attitude. In fact, you are the only one who can!

Time Can Be the Friend or the Foe of Excellence

Are you bringing your best self into your daily encounters with others? How about your close relationships with loved ones? Are you spending time (your most valuable asset) with them? Are you showing them how much you love and appreciate them?

When we are in survival mode, it is difficult to self-reflect. But such reflection during difficult times can help us to pull ourselves out of only surviving, and into thriving, in our lives.

We can do our best at everything we do. At least we can strive to do so. When we strive for excellence, we at least do better than when we just muddle on through. We don’t have to let time march across our heads. We can meet it with a fight. That’s the good fight of choosing your own actions and choosing excellence.

Karate training helped me develop my fighting spirit. It helped me build the habits of doing my best, every day. And that is so, even knowing that my best on one day will not be as good as my best on other days.

Are you deciding to meet the challenges that you encounter in daily life? Are you bringing your best abilities to the table for both karate and life’s obstacles? If you haven’t been, you can start today!

-Jenifer Tull-Gauger