Tai Ji is popular in Malaysia, which is where I was born. However, it's always got that senior citizen stigma attached to it. When you're a teenager, I wouldn't brag or be seen that I was doing Tai Ji. It's uncool and certainly not something I would tell girls about! At that age, anything not cool was not girl-friendly! It was only when I was doing university in Scotland that I first started doing Tai Ji, or more commonly known there as Tai Chi. I was 20 then...(click here for more)
Starting to learn anything new has its ups and downs moments. The upside is that you get to learn something new, meet new people and feel like a student in school again. The downside unfortunately, is also each and everyone of those things, learning something new (starting again), meeting new people (that you probably want to avoid) and feel like a student in school again (being corrected for every single mistake you make, feeling stupid and ignorant). It is very much a case of how you view it, a glass half full or half empty.
So why is starting something new so difficult? We can come up with a variety of reasons e.g. not cool, no shoes, no proper attire, no place to learn, no teacher, no motivation, no buddy to go with, no interest but forced to learn (by husband/wife/childern, by health or the lack of!), learning place too far, don't like the people there, no result, too hot, too cold etc. The list just goes on and on, limited only by your own imagination.
Why not put this imagination into better use and focus on the outcome you want to achieve rather than the excuses for not achieving? By imagining the result, you're building a goal for yourself, something to aspire to. By imagining excuses, you're chaining yourself to a rock. With each new excuse, you're adding another layer to the rock, making it harder and harder to move on, to start. One day, you'll find yourself so reluctant to move that no amount of persuasion will let you leave your rock. You've become the rock!
So if you've built yourself a large rock, the first step is to stop adding more layers to the rock. Stop giving yourself more excuses not to start. Remember, more excuses, bigger rock! Lugging a big rock around is heavy, even though it's metaphorical. You will feel its weight everytime you feel like starting but just can't seem to motivate yourself to. It feeds on your negativity and becomes stronger as your will power becomes weaker. So stop feeding it. Your negative thoughts are its food.
Then, start chipping away at the rock by imagining the outcome you want. Removing layer upon layer by thinking the positive things you want to achieve like better health, expanding your social circle, meeting like-minded people, having strong legs, build stamina, feel good at work, feel motivated in life etc. Slowly but surely, your rock will reduce in size.
However, the key to each of these steps is to start. If you're like me, you'll probably need something to jump-start that engine. I set my alarm to go off at 6 in the morning today and forced myself to wake up eventhough it's a weekend. Once out there in the open, all the laziness just fade away as soon as I start doing and stop thinking of excuses. Find something drastic that you need to do to jump-start your engine. All you need is that one time. So, stop reading this and go out now! Do come back some time today ;)
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