If people who were not by your side when you started down your path are pointing you away from your path, perhaps the path is not the problem.
Not everyone has our best interest at heart and those who don’t may not even know it. The fact is that most of us are so blinded by our own opinions, fears, and agendas that it is nearly impossible for us to hear or see where another person is truly coming from or where they are trying to go.
There may only be one or two people in our lives who truly get us and who are willing or even able to encourage us or guide us in a useful way. Most opinions are simply the noise of people thinking their own fears and excuses out loud and projecting them onto us.
When it comes to where we are headed, especially if we are headed off the beaten path, we have to learn to be discerning with the advice we take and the voices we listen to. We have enough of our own fears, our own concerns, and our own worries that adding those of others is likely more of a hindrance than a help.
Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.
-Robert Van Valkenburgh is co-founder of Taikyoku Mind & Body, Severna Park’s Holistic Chamber of Commerce, and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu