Overcoming the thoughts of quitting

[Electronegative]

This is just random thought that popped up by reading last few responses. Can you really say that you are doing Kendo or know whether you like Kendo or don't like it unless you are in bogu?

[Halcyon]

Short answer: Not really.

[turboyoshi]

This is just random thought that popped up by reading last few responses. Can you really say that you are doing Kendo or know whether you like Kendo or don't like it unless you are in bogu?

I agree, you don't really know the kendo experience until you've been in bogu but I'd also qualify that to say, you need to be in bogu long enough to grasp the basics of creating an opening and exploiting it. Many people quit soon after getting into bogu. I don't think they can grasp the real challenge of jigeiko at that stage but that's when kendo really starts to become more interesting, imo.

I'd say a year is the minimum you need to do kendo to appreciate it properly but even that might be a little short.

[jjcruiser]

I'm approaching four years and still don't feel like I create and exploit openings. But I think I understand kendo enough I could make an educated decision whether to continue.

[Electronegative]

Glad we agree!

[b8amack]

I was just talking to my wife the other night about this topic, sans the "airsoft" part, and made the point that when I was first starting I felt like my particular sensei and dojo was instrumental in keeping me interested and going -- I had thought it took a very particular place to make a person want to stick with Kendo. But that recently I'd started thinking that it actually takes a very particular person to want to stick with Kendo and the place is secondary.

It can be a bit of both, but I agree with you. It takes a certain kind of personality, to really get the bug.

[pgsmith]

I was just talking to my wife the other night about this topic, sans the "airsoft" part, and made the point that when I was first starting I felt like my particular sensei and dojo was instrumental in keeping me interested and going -- I had thought it took a very particular place to make a person want to stick with Kendo. But that recently I'd started thinking that it actually takes a very particular person to want to stick with Kendo and the place is secondary.

This is true of any of the sword arts. I believe this is why there is so much turnover. In most hobbies (let's not turn this into a semantics thread eh?) it is easy to enjoy it even if you never bother to push past the duffer stage. The sword arts are very hard to learn and, as b8amack said, it takes a certain type of person to want to continually push themselves to learn the subtle nuances that are at the core of all of them.

A good example is a couple of guys that joined our dojo last year. They had inexpensive Chinese made swords and wanted to learn how to use them in the event that the apocalypse happened. One stuck with it for a while, learned some of the gross movements, then he was done. The other got hooked on the subtleties. He's gotten to the point that I can correct something he is doing, and I'll see the light go on as he realizes that it changes his mechanics and approach. I think he'll stick around for a while because I can see the excitement when he knows that he's gotten some small part correct.

[sarge127]

Thanks guys!, all of you made me want to do kendo more, i need to experience in bogu first!

[enkorat]

I usually tell students after their first day they put on bogu and the men that they did kendo for the first time that day, and that before that they hadn't been doing kendo. Part of the difficulty in transitioning into bogu is thinking that until that point you think you "know" how to do kendo, but in fact have no idea. I also tell them that its normal to feel like they can't do anything, because of the weight of the bogu changes how their body moves and where their balance is, and they have to re-think about the basics (footwork, swinging) and run through them again to figure out how to move. Lastly I say that one day they will forget that they're wearing the bogu, and that it will take about a month to get there.

[Big One]

From my experience, Are you going to quit Kendo or not depends on what yo want to achieve in your life. Some people can relate Kendo or other hobby to thier objective, some don't. At some point in your life when you are sure that that is what you want for the rest of your life and the correlation your hobby to improve your objective, you will not quit what you are doing as a hobby. I did Judo before when I was young and when I was searching for what I want with my life. When I found Kendo as the same time I got my objective for my life, that's set. There is nothing wrong with quitting Kendo but what important is can you use it to improve your search for what you want to achieve in your life.

[Tort-Speed]

"The important thing is this: to be able, at any moment, to sacrifice what we are for what we could become."

(Charles du Bos [alias Charles du Bois?] in his 1922 book "Approximations" as translated into English)