When is it time to quit?

[KarateKen]

When do you know it is time to move on from training? When you can't physically do it anymore? When you don't have the time or money? When you have other things you want to focus on? When you just lose interest? How do you know it is time to walk away?

Have any of you ever left training for a long time, say over a year, then came back and tried to get back into it?

[bushido_man96]

I've had some lengthy layoffs before, and coming back has always been a great feeling.

Really, it's up to you. If you don't enjoy it anymore, then it may be time to walk away for a while. If money has become an issue, and no other arrangement can be made, then that only means you don't get to train in a training hall under the owner. It doesn't mean you can't train on your own.

In the end, it's a very personal decision. If someone has physical problems that precludes training, then it's important to evaluate what one can do, and what one can't do, and if they want to continue training, then to alter the training so they can continue to do so. If it's down to losing interest, then it may be time for a sabbatical.

[Zaine]

I think bushido_man96 has it exactly right here. Walking away is a personal thing. It could be loss of interest, money problems, or just a general feeling of malaise when it comes to practicing. I took a lengthy break from dojo training due to monetary struggles. I was happy to jump back in when I could. Overall, my advice to most people is give it a year after you begin to make decisions like this. This gives you the chance to be excited about it, ebb a little, and then find a happy medium. People fall in an out of love with hobbies all the time, it's normal.

[sensei8]

This topic, for me, is a difficult one to discuss. In the past, I never faced the unnerving possibility of being away from the MA in any shape, time, way, and/or form.

That was then, this is now.

These past 18 months, cancer has affected me in many ways, MA wise. My cancer has metastasized to my T4 and T12. This has greatly diminished my ability to transition to my right side. Difficult to walk often times, and now my mid-back, where my T12 is located, hurts quite a lot to move, taking a deep breath, cough, and/or laugh. 18 months ago, the Urologist who gave me my cancer diagnoses, was surprised that I was walking. Now, 15 months later, walking tasks me severely.

The time is around the corner, that I must walk away from the floor permanently. I pray not, but that's for another time to discuss. There may not be a time where I can come back to the floor. This isn't my choice, but the fight that I fight might have to make that choice for me.

I still train as often as I can.

The good news is that the gym I attend has an elevator. Walking up and down stairs is doable, but good grief, it's very slow going in both directions. Just think, I use to go up and down 50 flights of stairs for a warm-up not too long ago.

Certain things I can't do much anymore at the gym, like, pushing/pulling a weighted sled and the Stairmaster.

Often times I feel so worthless, as a man, husband, father, and as a MAist but I still fight, and will continue to fight. The MA floor is sacred ground to me.

Experiencing that which this topic is discussion is very new to me, and that which is the unknown to me, scares me to no end. The old adage speaks about getting back on the horse, and I respect that, and try my most darn to do so.

More importantly, 7 times down, 8 times up...for me now more than ever...that proverb is my proof is on the floor!!