# Priorities



## puunui (Apr 17, 2012)

I figured I'd start a new thread instead of going off topic:



jks9199 said:


> Fantastic. Many of us don't have that freedom. I  have a job, I have family, I have other obligations.  I have enough  trouble scheduling weekend seminars and clinics...  But nobody knows  that until you tell them -- and for most of us, it would be a serious  set of limitations.



I can fully appreciate your current situation and your resulting feelings. If I had to do it all over again, at this point in my life, I probably couldn't make that type of commitment either. 

However, when I was younger, I did not have such concerns or considerations, my whole life was ahead of me, and so I went for it, at an extremely high opportunity cost. I basically gave up a chance to chase another dream of mine, which included attending harvard and eventually working on wall street. Instead I chose to attend school on the west coast so I could learn hapkido from a person who is considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest, practitioner that has ever lived. Everyone I asked sat up a little straighter and said it was a golden opportunity that I couldn't pass up. So I went for it, again at great personal sacrifice and cost. But I gained a lot also.

To me, it was worth it, and I would do it again if I could reverse time and was faced with the same choice.

I know others on MT have made similar commitments to the martial arts in the pursuit of their dreams.


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## puunui (Apr 18, 2012)

puunui said:


> I know others on MT have made similar commitments to the martial arts in the pursuit of their dreams.



Following up on this thought, there are many people out there who are going for it. Olympic caliber athletes for example postpone their lives for a chance to represent their country at the Olympic Games. Others pick up and move to another country to pursue their own dreams, whether it is moving from someplace else to the US or vice versa. I've known many who have also relocated to the Olympic Training Center to be near the action and/or get high level training opportunities. I don't know too many that made such sacrifices with respect to Hapkido, although I do have a friend who moved to korea to get a master's degree and study kuk sool. He ended up quitting kuk sool in favor of brazilian jiujitsu over twenty years ago because he visited me on his way back home from korea one year and I was studying with relson. Now he is back in korea after earning his ph.d at harvard and is now considered the father of bjj in korea. 

One thing that I notice is that high achievers tend to attract each other. Those who are not so ambitious often times have a hard time relating to those who require more out of life than just the house in the suburbs. Sensei Mas Oyama speaks about this in his book "The Kyokushin Way" about how his friends all have big magnanimous personalities. 

The people that you are most comfortable being around are those who think and act like you do. Opposites repel, like attracts like. One of the things that I find most fascinating about message boards such as this is seeing how the alignments go. When reading a polarizing debate, which side do you relate to most? Who do you support and you do you find yourself repelled by? Chances are, at least one of the reasons why you relate to one side and not the other is because you are running on a parallel path with the person who thinks like you. Because of that, i think it is important to be careful as to who you find yourself aligned with or call friend, because you are known by the company that you keep.


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## mastercole (Apr 18, 2012)

puunui said:


> Following up on this thought, there are many people out there who are going for it. Olympic caliber athletes for example postpone their lives for a chance to represent their country at the Olympic Games. Others pick up and move to another country to pursue their own dreams, whether it is moving from someplace else to the US or vice versa. I've known many who have also relocated to the Olympic Training Center to be near the action and/or get high level training opportunities. I don't know too many that made such sacrifices with respect to Hapkido, although I do have a friend who moved to korea to get a master's degree and study kuk sool. He ended up quitting kuk sool in favor of brazilian jiujitsu over twenty years ago because he visited me on his way back home from korea one year and I was studying with relson. Now he is back in korea after earning his ph.d at harvard and is now considered the father of bjj in korea.
> 
> One thing that I notice is that high achievers tend to attract each other. Those who are not so ambitious often times have a hard time relating to those who require more out of life than just the house in the suburbs. Sensei Mas Oyama speaks about this in his book "The Kyokushin Way" about how his friends all have big magnanimous personalities.
> 
> The people that you are most comfortable being around are those who think and act like you do. Opposites repel, like attracts like. One of the things that I find most fascinating about message boards such as this is seeing how the alignments go. When reading a polarizing debate, which side do you relate to most? Who do you support and you do you find yourself repelled by? Chances are, at least one of the reasons why you relate to one side and not the other is because you are running on a parallel path with the person who thinks like you. Because of that, i think it is important to be careful as to who you find yourself aligned with or call friend, because you are known by the company that you keep.



Yes, you can see it on message boards, just like in real life.


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