Being a Chameleon

There are several lessons on the path to mastering anything. While most teachings state of the trials and tribulations of heros that train before us, this lesson is quite different from other topics I've learned in martial arts education. It is also the first lesson I have stumbled upon in this journey. Lessons in Becoming A Master: Lesson One- A Master shall adapt to all changes. 

I'll be honest, I don't like change. Minor changes are alright, but full complete changes to my life style are tough for me. So when I heard that Kukkiwon, the Korean Tae Kwon Do association that controls everything, changed everything in three short years since I last tested, I went into a small shock. I personally viewed my Masters testing as being a showcase of everything I have learned. My martial arts would be second nature and could be preformed at the drop of a hat. A brief explanation of the changes would entail stances being shorter, hand and foot positions, and movements being narrower. In a short phrase: I have to relearn everything. Normally something like this would set me back and it did for a little bit, but there is a rule I soon realized about becoming a Master.  In life, humans must constantly adapt to make their lives better and to overall survive. So changing all my stances and appendage placements is like an adaptation to survive this testing. Martial Arts Darwinism at it's finest.

These changes are difficult for me since I've been training for almost two decades and I feel I am going to fall over every single time I am in a deep stance for a low block, but it is necessary. The way I portray Tae Kwon Do and other martial arts is very relaxed and my stances are pretty deep. I will not lie about how it makes me feel when I preform the many forms. I feel tense. Extremely tense. I have never been more uncomfortable in my entire life. If you were to watch me preform, you can tell there are issues. I think these Kukkiwon changes are tailored for the shorter asian martial artists because of how far apart feet are in stances. I'm 5 foot 7 inches. I have lanky limbs and am unbalanced with the changes, but I must have a mantra with this predicament or I will not pass. All people must adapt at some point and so must I. It could also be fun to play the chameleon role. I could use it for research and write a paper on it if I really wanted to, but I wont most likely. I'm being really positive about the changes and I'm pretty excited about making some changes.