"When are you going to give it up?"

[DWx]

I guess this is part rant but I thought others at KF might have had similar experiences...

Does anyone ever feel like they have to justify their training to their friends and acquaintances?

Today I got asked by a coworker "When are you going to give it [TKD] up?"

What kind of question is that? Why would I give up doing something that I love, keeps me fit and healthy, and where I get to see all my extended family i.e. training partners nearly every day?

This is not the first time coworkers have asked me this, and I suspect it might not be the last. They also ask me why I train so much, why I give up my evening and weekends to it. Sure I moan about nigging injuries, about not having time to do other (more boring) things because I'm at training. But giving up had never been an option for me. To give up something that's so integral to my life sounds crazy to me. I've been training 4 to 5 days a week, 52 weeks of the year, for the last 15 years and yet they think I could just walk away like it was nothing. I wouldn't know what to do with myself.

No matter how many times I explain just what it is I get from TKD and the martial arts, it seems like they never get it or understand why I might want to spend time doing it. Does anyone else feel this?

Funnily enough I got the same sort of attitude from friends in high school who just couldn't grasp why I preferred to go to the dojang over hanging out with them doing nothing. At the time I figured it was because we were all teenagers and they just hadn't figured out their interests in life. Now I just think that the majority of people are content to be boring, and be mediocre, just going through the same routine every day, spending their free time sat on their backsides watching TV. To me that's not living, that's just existing. Your hobby doesn't have to be martial arts or even a physical activity but everyone's got to have something they are passionate about right? Maybe this is why they can ask me when I'm to quit and give it all up.

/Rant

[Nidan Melbourne]

I actually got asked that very question this morning and I wasn't angry or annoyed that they asked me it.

All I told them is that I'd stop when I am no longer alive. If i can i'll still be training when I am old (i.e. 100 years).

[Bulltahr]

Ask them when they think they will give up lying on the couch watch TV......................

[JR 137]

I'd say when I die, but... If heaven is truly a perfect place, then there's got to be a corner dojo up there somewhere.

Kinda like Tupac singing "I wonder if heaven's got a ghetto?" only substitute dojo for ghetto.

[Lupin1]

I think I don't get that because I usually talk more about teaching and helping the kids than I talk about my own training (which I consider more personal). Coaching a youth sport is seen as a lot more "normal" to most people, and as I work with kids for a living, my coworkers just see it as a cool and unique extension of that.

[sensei8]

Solid OP, Danielle, solid post!!

I'll give it up WHEN I DIE, and not before that. I don't walk in the acceptance of my fellow MAist, nor do I walk in their turbulence, nor do I walk in their expectations!! Not now, and not tomorrow!! I've not the time nor the inclination or the tolerance to meet anyone's expectations EXCEPT that of my Sensei, and he's passed away.However, when he was alive, his opinion was the only opinion that I sought after with a fever. The only opinions I truly value outside of the MA, are that of my wife, Linda, and our two beautiful children, Nathan and Krystal. Outside of that, I don't solicit for any opinions whenever it comes to my MA journey; as a MAist, I'm complete in my MA totality.

This is MY JOURNEY, and it's not theirs, and I don't remember having to have asked for their approvals, as they've not asked for mine, nor should they have to.

[DWx]

Thanks for the replies guys. I was pretty irritable yesterday.

I guess I take exception to the fact they emphasize the "when are you going to give up?" rather than "Are you going to give up?". It also seems to be a weekly question at the minute and like whatever answers I give aren't satisfactory to them.

[MasterPain]

Ask them when they think they will give up lying on the couch watch TV......................

You beat me to it. Good show,sir, good show.

[hammer]

To paraphrase an Eeyore quote...

Days...Weeks...Months...Years...who knows.

I'd like to think that MA is a lifelong pursuit for me but in all honesty I don't concern myself with it. I just train...

[JohnASE]

I heard a stand-up comic do a routine on how she took karate, but doesn't anymore, because she's not 8 years old! With so many kids in karate, some people think of it as just a kids' activity. Maybe that's why they ask you "when". They can't wrap their heads around an adult jumping around in pajamas for so long.

It's hard to explain a passion. It would be hard to explain doing any single activity 4 to 5 days a week for 15 years. I haven't trained since I was a kid, but when I was single, I played a sport called wallyball about 3 times per week and racquetball once per week. I don't remember anyone asking me why I was spending about 10 hours per week on the court, despite all the injuries and aches and pains. Maybe martial arts is different.