Changes and Rhythm

Change is scary, and it can be about anything.

Take the local restaurant called the Old Boot. That place had a location smack dab in the middle of our little town. They served the best food in town, and it was always jam packed. By any definition, it was a great success.

To accommodate all of this, they moved to a larger location just across the street. Absolutely everything remained the same. They still serve wonderful food, have great people, and a more attractive physical setting.

They are still doing just fine, but nothing like the level of business that they had before.

Or take our Jiu-Jitsu school. We used to be in an over-crowded location. There were not change rooms to speak of, and the mats had to be put out and removed every night. Sometimes there were scheduling mix ups with the owners, and we lost training unexpectedly.

A few years ago, we moved into our current, much-better location. It is all under our control, so no scheduling issues. The mats are permanently installed. Everything is much cleaner, and there is lots more room. The training mat area is easily 50% greater.

We were a success in the old location, and an even bigger one in the new. However, a significant number of regulars from the old place never made it to the new one successfully. Most came over for at least a while, but for some unexplainable reason they drifted away. I think there are only three survivors still training who remember the old place.

Somehow, any kind of change can invisibly change the rhythm of a thing just enough to cause damaging ripples.

There are a whole big pile of changes that have recently happened in my Jiu-Jitsu training. I sure hope that my rhythm holds true. This is especially dangerous for me, as I have been off travelling in Europe for over a month. That much time off in itself might be enough to mess things up.

The absolute biggest change that can occur in martial arts is the loss of a valued instructor. Shawn is mine, and he has just left for a very long time. His replacement is a good guy, but totally different in style.

There have also been changes in training partners. I have been away from things long enough that a great deal of this has happened. There are a bunch of new people who have moved up the advanced group, and some that are gone. Some of the White Belts that I knew will likely be gone, and bunch of new ones that I don't know at all and who don't know me.

Anyhow, there are all these changes piled one on top of the other.