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Writer's pictureElizabeth

Obligations and Frustrations

Updated: Mar 5, 2020


Perhaps I shouldn't be writing this right now because I'm really not in the right state of mind. However, it is part of the journey, and we're supposed to journal about that. So here goes.



I'm frustrated! Isn't it too soon in the I Ho Chuan (IHC) year to be frustrated?


We all have lives, responsibilities, outside and inside our Kung Fu and IHC lives. Many of my team mates have journaled about this. But it doesn't stop me from feeling frustrated. At the start of the IHC we were asked what we wanted or expected to get out of this. Personally, I was (am?) hoping to learn ways to achieve more balance, as well as vastly improving my Kung Fu skills of course.


You probably have similar obligations to these:


Home and Family

  • obligations to family

  • obligations to household

  • obligations to the animals in my care (the chickens are laying so many eggs!)


Work

  • obligations to clients and customers

  • obligations to continuing education

  • obligations to professional organizations

  • obligations to the college I teach for

  • obligations to students

  • obligations to the government (i.e. taxes, business licenses)

  • planting season - time to do the indoor seed planting starts this week

  • plant propagation

  • herb planting and tending the garden

  • harvesting and storing

  • dispensary work


Spiritual Life

  • prayer and meditation

  • attending events

  • the 19 day Fast just started on Sunday - No food or drink from sunrise to sunset. That should make things "interesting"


I Ho Chuan obligations

  • 1000 form practice

  • 1000 weapon form practice

  • 1000 rounds of sparring

  • record 1000 random acts of kindness

  • 1609 km of travel under my own power (walking, etc.)

  • obligations to attend meetings and classes

  • community service obligations

  • 50,000 each of sit-ups and pushups

  • performances

  • journalling (this blog)

  • etcetera


Somewhere in there is, or should be, the obligation to look after myself so that I'm capable of looking after all the other obligations.


It would be one thing if I were ditching an obligation to simply be a "couch potato" but my frustration is that my obligations are keeping me from my other obligations. I see other people who appear to be able to accomplish so much more and I think, how come I find this so hard? No one has any more hours in the day that the rest of us.



That aside, I have found that moving away from digital somewhat and going "analog", has been helpful in my planning and organization in ways that I never expected. It just hasn't stopped the obligations in the way of obligations problem. Oh well, one step in front of the other...

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