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Habits Die Hard

If you've been around me for any significant period of time, odds are that you've heard me repeat the saying, "habits die hard." Somehow, it just seems to be applicable to everyday situations. People are who they are, and barring any life-altering events, that doesn't usually change. Sure, smaller things tend to change over time, but I'm not going to stop being a smart ass anytime soon, for example.

Now, as I may have mentioned before, I used to take kickboxing classes a long time ago. It started out as a means of exercise, but I really liked it. Next thing you knew, I was training to compete in an actual competition. I'm not claiming to be the baddest fighter ever, but I have noticed that some of that training never quite disappears. Often times, those habits show up at the oddest times.

During the road trip through the Midwest last year, my buddy and I ended up going on a hike through a random trail. From what we could tell, the trail wasn't super popular, and it was the off-season, to boot. As a result, there was a lot of shrubbery and vegetation that was creeping onto the trail itself. Heck, there was even a small mother bear and her cub supposedly running around somewhere nearby. Anyhow, I had to push a lot of branches and plants out of the way just to keep advancing on the trail.

Maybe it was because I was a little worried about bumping into the bear, but I found that I would instinctively cover my face when walking through the vegetation. And I don't mean that I just shielded my eyes. No, I had my hands held up in a fighting position, and I had my chin tucked. I sort of looked like this (the guy on the left), only I didn't have someone trying to knock my head off. It's instinct for most people to protect their faces, so I subconsciously protected my face in the best way I knew how.

When I realized that I was doing this, I laughed at myself. I felt a little silly, since there was no opponent other than a few stray branches. Then I thought about it again, and I more or less said, "screw it. It works, and if I do happen to run into a bear, I'd much rather be in this position than not." So, I walked through all of the vegetation on that trail with my dukes up.

Even better than that, I caught myself doing something similar last night. We were having a going away party for one of the kids in the child care, so there were all sorts of little kids over. Somehow, an impromptu game of something-like-tag broke out. It wasn't quite tag, since everyone seemed to just want to tag me, regardless of who should have been "it." And I would reciprocate by tagging everyone who tagged me. Since I have a reach advantage on the kids, I would pretty much tag them back on the spot. And everyone had a ball.

The oldest of the kids, though, was certain that she could beat me; seven year olds are awesome like that. She would darn near throw herself on the ground to avoid getting tagged, and she managed to sneak by a few times. Of course, I still got her the majority of the time, since all I had to do was bend over a little bit and she had effectively ruined her mobility for the moment. Still, she kept at it.

By this point, most of the other kids had moved on to a different game, but she kept wanting to play. Well, okay. The catch was that at this point she was shooting in to try to touch whatever the nearest body part was. Half the time, that was one of my hands, but she would also shoot in for ankles or knees. I started sticking out my hands in front of me, to try to be able to counter attack when she shot in. After a few moments of this, I started thinking that this felt familiar, and I realized it was something like a muay thai stance.

The game was far from over, though. Anytime I was standing up, this little girl would come flying in to try to tag one of my ankles. It gave her the best chance of getting away un-tagged, since she could get low to the ground. Well, I started having to move my feet, too. I naturally resorted to something I felt gave me enough mobility to turn, pivot, advance, retreat, or just plain side step: my fighting stance (it looks a little like this). I've spent hours drilling how to maneuver around from that position. What's more, I was shorter than all of the guys that I trained with, so I had no choice but to learn how to gauge distances to avoid getting kicked in the head repeatedly. All of that kickboxing training was tailor-made for this game of tag.

So, there I was, bouncing around in my living room in something very much resembling a fighting stance. My opponent? A seven year old girl who was at least a foot shorter than me. No one said anything, and I didn't come anywhere close to hurting the girl (rule number one for our training was always control, not power). Still, it must've looked pretty darn funny to anyone who saw this.

Old habits die hard, I tell you.
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