Developing a Mature Strategy
A guy in the 17th century once said:
Immature strategy is the cause of grief.
This can apply to many things, but in the context of self-defense/martial arts, an immature strategy can have especially dire consequences and lead to a lot of grief for you and those close to you.
I interpret this immaturity as encompassing a couple of meanings. A strategy can be immature in that it has yet to develop through training and experience. It can also be immature in a sense of recklessness due to ego. Either case can cause one to not utilize certain advantages (such as a weapon), use too much force, or to not retreat when outmatched.
So how does one develop a mature strategy for self-defense?
Train correctly, regularly. If you train exclusively for competition, you could be putting yourself at risk in a non-competition situation. It is important to train in context and ingrain those techniques and strategies into muscle memory. After all, that same guy said, “You can only fight the way you practice.”
Mastery of the ego. Never lose sight of the fact that you are human and mortal. You may destroy everyone in the gym, but you never know who knows what these days. Looks can be deceiving and weapons can appear out of nowhere. Trying to unnecessarily prove something to either yourself or someone else may only lead to grief.
In case you were wondering, the guy was Miyamoto Musashi. He won a couple of duels in feudal Japan.
