Since I completed the unfinished songs last year, I’ve been doing very little other than angrily switching around all of our tech shit from Big Tech to Not So Big Tech.
For the first time since I can remember, I’ve not felt the urge to work on new music. I still do creative things; I’m painting a little bit and I’m writing, (both here and something longer and more interesting). But other than that, there was … nothing.
I’d been doing music almost non-stop in some form or another for since I was a teenager. There was a point where visual art was my main driver, but that changed in my late teens and music took over as my main creative outlet.
Now, all these years later, I found myself bored of it and I needed to step away and try something new. But what?
That led me to thinking: “What’s the most not me thing I could do?”
I came up with a couple of ideas and one of them is Muay Thai.
Now, please realize that I have zero plans of actually fighting in a ring. I’m doing this to try something new. To get out of my comfort zone. And something that’s way, way, way out of my comfort zone is combat sports.
At the beginning of March, I signed up for a “discount two weeks” at one place and was just dropped unceremoniously into a class where I was paired up with someone and we all drilled full combos all while I had no idea what I was doing and no one ever considered letting my know that I was standing completely wrong and alone that my punches were incorrect. Very incorrect.
And wow, I just was not feeling it.
I scoped out and contacted another place who informed me that their Phase 1 classes were designed for beginners. Based on that, I signed up for a free class and they taught:
This is how you stand.
This is how you move.
This is how you hold your arms.
This is how you corkscrew your jab. This is how you pivot your foot and hips to add power to your cross. This is how you step slightly out and spin on the ball of your foot when you kick. Here are some basic blocking maneuvers. Etc.
Perfect.
Well, not quite perfect. The warmup includes two, three minute sessions of jump rope. And let me tell you, I absolutely suck at jump rope. Or, rather, I used to. A couple of months later, I only kind of suck.
Here I am now, two months in and I feel pretty fucking good. My jump rope is improving. I don’t wind as fast as that first session. I don’t hurt as much the next day and let me tell you, I generally walk out of the gym feeling pretty fucking great.
I’ve also waded into a couple of the All Level sessions and they’re interesting. I feel pretty good knowing the basics, and then the Kru will throw in something more advanced like grappling/throwing and I feel lost again. It doesn’t matter though, as the people are awesome, patient, and understanding. Not just the Kru’s but all of the participants. We’re all there to learn, to improve.
I’ve been paired with advanced people1 who are very patient with me even though I feel like I’m slowing them down. Recently I’ve been paired with people who are just starting out and I’m patient with them remembering where I was at all those weeks ago and knowing that I’m just far enough along to provide some pointers.
The outcome if that I feel good. The workout is intense but definitely not boring. There’s a lot to learn which is what I was really looking for.
Look, life is huge and it can be uncertain and scary at times. I know that when it comes to facing the new, most people’s inner self tells them “oh, you’ll hate this, it’s gonna suck, so don’t do it”. So what? What if it ends up not working out? Who cares? It’s cliche but at least you tried, and that’s the important part.
You’ll find that if you say “fuck it” and just try, eventually you’ll find something good that clicks and that it’s really worth it to step away from the familiar.
- Even though we’re punching and kicking into pads, after being teamed up with a couple of advanced dudes, I could feel said punches and kicks for a couple of days after. I feel like if we’d have been sparring, I’d be in the hospital. ↩︎
