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Most students find the study of Aikido extremely frustrating at one
time or another. So do the instructors, and most other people (adults
or children) who study Aikido. Part of why we study Aikido is to have
an opportunity to practice moving through these periods of frustration
without losing our motivation and turning to another activity that
appears less frustrating.
Every student, adult or child, undergoes cycles in his or her training.
Sometimes they are learning quickly and it is all "coming together"
in a very satisfying way. At other times, nothing seems to go right,
the other students are a pain, the instructors have it in for them,
and class seems a complete waste of time. It is important to realize
that we all go through these cycles
in our training. We can either use them as an opportunity to say "yes,
this is one of those times when training is difficult" and continue
to train, or we can use these low periods as an opportunity to move
to another activity which promises us less frustration. However, as
the saying goes, "wherever we go, there we are". We will
always find low periods in any extended practice. It is in the low
periods of our practice that we are offered what may well be the greatest
opportunity from the practice of Aikido, since it is during these
times that we are allowed to grow beyond our usual and customary approach
to the challenges that life presents us.
Learning Aikido is, at times, complicated, frustrating, and difficult.
This is true for every one of us, whether we are a child or an adult.
The children look at the adults and say "If only I were as big
and strong as they are, I could do this easily". The adults look
at the children and say "If only I had started Aikido when I
was their age, how easy it would be for me now". We all struggle
with the next level of our training, and most of us think that it
is easier for the other students. It isn’t, because the next
level of our training is difficult for all of us.
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