The First Cut is the Deepest : Learning my lessons

On Christmas Day I trained at my dojo. Corina and I don’t have kids and we aren’t religious so we treat this day like any other and on Saturdays I practice the art of Iaido or drawing the Japanese sword. At the dojo it was just Sensei and I, during practice I did a technique incorrectly and too fast, the result was bad but not as catastrophic as it could have been. I ended up with a 2inch long, deep cut on my left palm, blood and 7 stitches ensued.  

Looking back a little over a week later I know I need to learn some lessons. This is what I have learned from my painful experience:

1. Corina does not like the sight of blood... a good way to turn one casualty into two was to get Corina to come in to help with the first -aid.
2. My Sensei is excellent in an emergency, a good person to have around. 
3. I would consider preferentially recruiting an employee with a military background because of their training and situational awareness. Both Sensei and the nurse in the ER had served and their training showed, impressive and humbling.
4. We must all have a properly stocked first-aid kit available and know how to use it. I am embarrassed to admit that although I have the training I neglected to assemble a good first-aid kit once we arrived Stateside. Now remedied.
5. I am in love with Iaido the experience has set my training back a little but my enthusiasm has not been diminished.
6. I know I want to know a bit more about homeopathy, I have been using some homeopathy to help the wound heal and I know I need to contact a homeopath that I can refer clients to.
7. When drawing by sword I need to pull the saya (scabbard) off the sword rather than pulling the sword out. It doesn’t matter how many times I have been told, I obviously needed to learn the hard way!
8. Having the injury, and the Holiday period, that meant that I have spent more time with Corina and I have been able to spend more time doing things I enjoy, like photography. I am more chilled out than I have been in months. Some may say that this was the Universe’s way of getting me to take some time out, I am not sure about that but the result is the same.

In the studio we often see people who need to learn a hard lesson before they take the action that we recommend. Whether it is poor technique that eventually leads to injury, bad biomechanics on a bike that leads to an accident or poor diet that leads to a heart condition, sometimes we need a wake-up call before we make changes.

My cut could have been deeper, and I acknowledge that I may not have been so philosophical if it had been. At this time of ‘New Years Resolutions’ take the courage to make the changes you need before you learn a lesson the painful way!

Alan