Over the weekend, we ran belt testing in my dojo, in which two of my senior students were attempting ikkyu, the rank immediately before Black Belt. The testing was fairly intense, and consisted of basics, forms, weapons, and sparring. Things were going great during the test, and I was pleased with how both students were performing under pressure. But, in the very last second of the sparring portion of the test, one of my students tripped up and badly sprained her ankle.
It wasn't a glorious injury. My student didn't get hurt while doing anything heroic or overly complicated. It wasn't the kind of injury that you can later tell war stories about. My student just tripped and got hurt. I'm sure we'll all have a good laugh about it later. But with her friends and family looking on, she fell to the floor in what was clearly a great deal of pain. I'm not sure which one of us was more disappointed.
Of course, my student passed her test. But I was sorry to have to hand her her new rank certificate and belt on the edge of the mat where she sat on the sideline with her foot on ice and elevated.
And that's when the realization hit me: it could have been any one of us.
Life comes at us all the time with ankle sprains, and other challenges, right when we least expect them. These little surprises – these gifts – come at the worst possible time, to test us, to knock us off our game plan, and to see what we're really made of.
Seems like I'm "spraining my ankle" on a daily basis as of late. How about you? Keep moving forward – even if you have to limp. If it really hurts, rest. But don't sit there on the sidelines of life forever!
I think Rocky said it best:
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