As I’ve mentioned before, I learn a lot of things in my karate class. Not only about karate or self-defense, but I often learn lessons about life as well.
This past week my instructor said, “I want you to practice punching while taking a step forward, because when you punch, you rarely do it standing still in a real fight.” So, we practiced hitting while stepping forward. That made sense to everyone including me.
But, then she said, “Now, practice punching while stepping backward.” Now this was a little more difficult. It just didn’t seem natural. And we all must have looked at her sort of funny, because she went on to explain why we would practice this move.
She said that we need to keep punching even, and especially, when we are falling or moving backwards. Human nature is to stop fighting when you are going down, but many points are scored in sparring matches by punching on the way down. The opponent is not expecting the punch if they are backing you up or have gotten you to fall.
My guess is that many points are scored in life while punching on the way down as well. Sometimes when we fail, we should be the most aggressive. Sometimes when we fall, we should keep fighting. I have learned more from my failures than I EVER will from my successes. And one of the things I’ve learned is to not give up when I appear to be falling, because that’s usually when I score the most points.
Keep on punching! Even when you seem to be moving backwards. You just might hit something!
Cindy 
