My many years in Muay Thai have taught me the virtue of humility…
Nothing quite brings you down off your high horse like getting punched in the face!
There have been days and times when I’ve allowed myself to get a big ego… to think I know more than I do or am actually better at something than I really am.
Muay Thai has taught me that just when you think you’re really good, there is someone out there who is better… or maybe someone with just a lucky shot, but either way, it stings and it forces you to face reality: I’m still a work in progress. I still have more learning and growing to do. I am not perfect, great, or even as good as my mind allows me to believe I am.
There was a time when Kru Drew and I were working with Ajarn Buck Grant. Ajarn had just taught us footwork that was new to both of us; it was the “rat-a-tat.” As Kru Drew and I fumbled through the first several attempts to get it right, I finally nailed it and was basking in my rat-a-tat with pride when I seemed to forget the drill was still going and included “return fire” from Kru Drew; his kick landed with a thud to my head.
Yes, I had done one thing right and I was proud of myself after struggling to get the footwork, but no one stopped to celebrate my achievement or to tell me how awesome my rat-a-tat was. Instead, the drill kept going and actually revealed to me more ways in which I needed to improve.
It is this understanding of humility, this ability to step back and recognize that we have more to learn and more to work on that allows us to move forward and get better!
Stay humble my friends.