Comfort Zone

The comfort zone is just that, comfortable. It is familiar surroundings and circumstances that you are confident being around and dealing with. I definitely pushed outside my comfort zone last week. As you know, last week was the annual Kwoon maintenance. It is a very important time of the year, if not the most important, as we take the week cleaning and improving the whole place, making it as fresh and clean as possible for the coming year. Not only that, but it is to take ownership and feel connected to the place we go to learn Kung Fu. Our second home. I find this very meaningful so for this reason, I volunteered to organise and supervise the day to day activities involving the renovations.

This was WAY outside my comfort zone. I'm usually more than happy to just have someone give me something to do and I will do it, delegating tasks to people is certainly not something I'm used to or comfortable with. However, I had a great time. This was a fantastic way to push beyond my limits and improve upon myself while I helped improve the Kwoon.

I found a lot of the mental part of Kung Fu training helped greatly, I definitely benefited from it. Constantly reminding myself of where I was and what I was doing, keeping perspective. Instead of focusing on what I couldn't do or didn't know, I focused on what I could bring to the table and what I could learn.

I would again like to thank Sifu Brinker for allowing me to take on this endeavour. It's been educational for sure. I really appreciate the opportunity to see what I can do. As well, I would like to thank everyone who came out to help, you all were eager to get the Kwoon into tip top shape, I'm glad to be involved with such an incredible bunch of people.

A special thanks to the Bjorkquist family. You guys helped immensely through the entire week. Being there everyday with me sure was a moral boost, especially on the slower days. You kept me on my toes, on task and helped me keep things rolling. I couldn't have done it without your over-the-top support.

At the end, after all was done and it was just me there, I took a good look around me. The alter, the tiles, the mats, mirrors and benches. These are all bits and pieces of a bigger picture that students and teachers alike came together to build over the years. I now had a part of that picture to call my own, I felt in harmony at that moment. It was one of those memory anchors, a moment saved in my mind for the rest of my life.

The comfort zone got a little bigger this week, I think. As well, I have a plethora of ideas on how I'm going to handle next year's renovations, whether or not I am overseeing it again.

Take care everyone!