So, the question was,
Did I make it into prep cycle?
The answer?
Of course I did, what else would have taken me so far away from my [insert here: blog, family, friends, free time, general enjoyment of life, etc…] for such a prolonged amount of time?
This is the beginning of a typical conversation I have with anyone who is curious about what exactly “prep cycle” is and how I got into and through it. Honestly, I just want to tell them what I really think of when I say “prep cycle” which is more along the lines of what a high-efficiency washing machine does, and not anything that has to do with taekwondo.
Alas, it is not related to a washing machine. It is taekwondo. It is physical tests. It is spirit runs and timed-mile runs. It is working out 20-25 hours per week. It is repeating the same form over and over and over again until a team of eight individuals performs it precisely, and as a perfectly formed solitary unit. It is sparring. It is late nights and early mornings that stretch into long afternoons. It is encouragement. It is pain. It is 13 weeks in length of incredibly hard work.
There were moments while training in those 13 weeks that I distinctly remember thinking to myself, “When this is all over, I am going to document everything I have experienced in my blog.” As I was living my weekly highs and lows through new milestones achieved and/or new personal challenges that were discovered and had to be overcome, I remember envisioning how I would structure my narrative about it. 13 blogs posts – one to describe each week of prep cycle. My thoughts about how I would tell my story were as harsh, hardcore and savage as my physical workouts were for my body.
This harsh, hardcore and savage mindset then began to eek from my physical workouts into my every day life. It had to. I was a married adult with a full-time job, raising two kids, who had committed herself to a process that demanded an additional 20-25 hours per week. In order to ensure everyone was where they needed to be, precise scheduling and multi-tasking became a must. Before I knew it, my family’s schedule had become harsh, hardcore and savage, and we had to be harsh, hardcore and savage to deal with it. A proverbial “fight fire with fire” situation.
During prep cycle, my husband and I would say to each other (almost daily), “When prep cycle is over, our schedules will slow down.” Prep cycle ended last October. What has our schedules been like since then?
Harsh. Hardcore. Savage.
It hasn’t changed in the slightest. The only thing that has changed? When we change the month in the following statement, “When [insert: month that 3 months from today] is over, our schedules will slow down.” My schedule has not changed for one reason. My mindset remains in harsh, hardcore and savage mode, and as long as it stays there, as does the rest of my life. It is time to let it go and find the calm and civilized me. And it needs to happen. Like, yesterday.
Will I still workout like a savage? You bet, because I have finally found physical exercises that I truly love to do. But, as for my mind, my schedule and my free time? It is time to be civilized*.
Wish me luck. Lord knows I will need it. And booze, too…
*Please note, when I say “civilized,” that will absolutely not reflect anything that has to do with my use of foul language and/or consumption of wine and margaritas. Those, my friends, will always be done in an uncivilized manner.
I am dedicating today’s black belt characteristic of integrity to my son, because he is in the process of learning a very hard lesson… there are times when you have to ignore the what others have done to “get by,” to realize you are better than just getting by, and to understand that true personal integrity comes from setting your own high standards and achieving them. A hard lesson at 9. Or even at 99…
