Epilogue: Horse Stance

Epilogue: Horse Stance

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I have been blessed by, and I sacrificed to get to, having had excellent mentors over the years. One of the many sifus in my life said something that struck deep and stuck hard. He said, almost verbatim:

"Practicing the horse stance never gets easier — you just learn to do it longer."

These are words for life.

There is so much shit that comes in like that. Be selective in these areas. Enduring the leg shakes and the negative self-talk, and all that comes with a painful persistence — that is the shit of practicing horse stance. The rewards for enduring that shit: a strong striking foundation, a willpower to overcome pain in pursuit of aspiration, and strong legs for kicking and shifting stance.

If you need that plumbing contractor's license, or need to attend that small business administration bootcamp, or need to sign up for canning and jarring classes at the learning annex — those are some of the horse stances required to achieve your goals. And that's its own kind of shit.

When the truly taxing challenges come along, you don't have to endure the shit forever. You just have to persist longer than the last time you had to take shit.

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You'll hear the collective wisdom of others as they give a shit about this or that.

If you're going to fly with the eagles, make sure you're as close to the sun as possible, because the shit increases exponentially as you approach the flat spaces.

The amount of shit you have to take is proportional to how many shit birds there are above you.

Shit Happens.