"Sanuk" and the importance of enjoying what you do.
In sport, we often see huge rivalries between different athletes or sporting teams. This can many times be considered as healthy as it forces individuals or teams to perform better and reach new heights in their game. Looking at the other side of the coin however, competing against others can leave us unfulfilled and unhappy when we are not able to reach the desired outcome.
During one of my training trips overseas, I met a Yoga instructor who was also a blade teacher. After one of our sessions we had a lenghty conversation about trainig and life in general. During this conversation he made me aware of the word "Sanuk" (fun in Thai). It was much more than a word as it did not have an English translation. And more importantly it was much more than just fun it was about achieving satisfaction and pleasure in whatever you do.
He explained to me that the closest word in English would be "fun", in martial arts we need to have fun. Fun during training, fun during preparation for a competiton and finally fun during the actual competition. It is always good to remember that the person you are competing against is yourself, and if you are improving on a daily basis you are already winning.
But most importantly we need to remember the element of fun or "Sanuk" as without it, what is the point of doing it at all?
