Hard to give up a goal I really love. Advice needed.

[Scipio]

I hope those who have been in this situation can be kind enough to offer their advice.

My problem is that I'm enamoured by the world. There are just too many things that I want to do that are completely different and sometimes contradictory.

In this case, it's my struggle to give up combat sports. I really love Thai boxing, wrestling, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I love them a lot but I feel I can only throw myself in all or nothing. Do them and become great, train full time like an athlete (I do believe I have a real shot at going somewhere with them and other people tell me this too) or focus on my intellectual career and earning money.

I also love the intellectual side of my life. I'm interested in languages, linguistics, and philosophy. I've been studying them both academically at the university level, and on my own, for longer than I've been doing combat sports.

Recently, I decided that I needed to work for money (I got a good wage doing something related to my interests, as a language teacher) and focus on building my intellectual capacities. I felt too burnt out from physical training and repeated injuries that prevent me from going hard when I mentally want to go hard. I told myself I would put the combat sport career behind me, which I've done for the last few months. I've earned a tonne of money and progressed in learning Korean and Esperanto, while at the same time studying at graduate school.

However, now that it's been a few months, my desire to train and fight in combat sports has come back. I was going to go to Thailand to relax this summer, but now I'm considering into making it into a boxing trip (I have previously fought professionally at Muay Thai boxing in Thailand).

But training competitively for combat sports and spending the amounts of time I want to spend learning languages etc are contradictory. It's really hard to spend a significant amount of mental energy memorizing vocabulary when you're doing a lot of physical training. Plus the whole sport of boxing is bad for the brain.

So what should I do in this situation? Should I just quell my desire to fight, and tell myself to let the emotions pass? Note that I've been off and on before--I've quit full time grappling (6 days per week) because of feeling like injuries make it hard to exert my full earnestness to get better, and to focus on the intellectual side of my life.

Or do I need balance? I can't see how I could settle for just doing something twice a week at a mediocre level.

[WordKeeper]

I, personally, don't believe that anyone can help you make that decision. You are difinitely at a crossroad but the choice of which direction to take is simply up to you. You have been weighing things out. It seems that you have reached your decision but that it is difficult and you seem to hope that a stranger can talk you out of it or offer you some spot of wisdom to mitigate the strain of your decision. No one can make that decision except you. There is nothing simple about it.

[Lohengrin]

I would suggest the mindsett that you have always more than enough time. So you cant read philosophy books when your coming home exhausted from training and your body needs rest while your mind can become stimulated ? If you realy want both i think you should go for them. Sometimes its quite healthy i think to choose one thing over another, helps you build a sort of thrust with your self. But also sometimes its good for your character to not compromise, if you truly want both you will find out a way to break the walls, just open your self for the possibility.

[lifetimelearner]

Originally Posted by Scipio

I hope those who have been in this situation can be kind enough to offer their advice.

My problem is that I'm enamoured by the world. There are just too many things that I want to do that are completely different and sometimes contradictory.

In this case, it's my struggle to give up combat sports. I really love Thai boxing, wrestling, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I love them a lot but I feel I can only throw myself in all or nothing. Do them and become great, train full time like an athlete (I do believe I have a real shot at going somewhere with them and other people tell me this too) or focus on my intellectual career and earning money.

I also love the intellectual side of my life. I'm interested in languages, linguistics, and philosophy. I've been studying them both academically at the university level, and on my own, for longer than I've been doing combat sports.

Recently, I decided that I needed to work for money (I got a good wage doing something related to my interests, as a language teacher) and focus on building my intellectual capacities. I felt too burnt out from physical training and repeated injuries that prevent me from going hard when I mentally want to go hard. I told myself I would put the combat sport career behind me, which I've done for the last few months. I've earned a tonne of money and progressed in learning Korean and Esperanto, while at the same time studying at graduate school.

However, now that it's been a few months, my desire to train and fight in combat sports has come back. I was going to go to Thailand to relax this summer, but now I'm considering into making it into a boxing trip (I have previously fought professionally at Muay Thai boxing in Thailand).

But training competitively for combat sports and spending the amounts of time I want to spend learning languages etc are contradictory. It's really hard to spend a significant amount of mental energy memorizing vocabulary when you're doing a lot of physical training. Plus the whole sport of boxing is bad for the brain.

So what should I do in this situation? Should I just quell my desire to fight, and tell myself to let the emotions pass? Note that I've been off and on before--I've quit full time grappling (6 days per week) because of feeling like injuries make it hard to exert my full earnestness to get better, and to focus on the intellectual side of my life.

Or do I need balance? I can't see how I could settle for just doing something twice a week at a mediocre level.

what an interesting life you have
I admire you interests
personally I do not like combat sports because of the injuries
but you need to follow your heart and decide if you will regret things later in life if you do not do them now

[alcyone]

I believe you ought to dedicate most of your time to the combat sport on which you are less likely to get seriously injured.

Use your spare time to learn vocabulary gradually and do not cease to pursue your love of languages. This is something that does not have to be done full time. Be consistent and develop your skills at your own pace.

It is just a matter of creating balance, just as you said.

You may contact me if you wish.

Kind regards,
Liliana

[joelr]

Some friends and I have faced similar problems with MMA. There is no definitive answer. I opted to train less but train smarter. Fights seem to be won or lost in MMA by the most basic things so I focus on basics and sparring.

But I have other hobbies that are bigger priorities so I'm not an expert on training.
You'll probably regret it if you don't at least take a shot at it now while you're young and in shape.
Most amateur fighters have full time jobs at first. Rich Franklin was a math teacher. Just do what you can and take lots of ibuprofen! But stay away from oxycodone!

[bluedragon]

I don t see why you couldn t do all those things eventually. I place no restrictions on the number of things I can accomplish in this lifetime. I can see myself knowing about all fields of activity and being familiar with all fields of knowledge and all scieces, and being a teacher in multiple things, while playing a musical instrument and having lovely relationships and lots of friends.

In my opinion, all it takes is a very very good memory, which you can learn, and very good skills in many areas, such as paying attention, concentration, decision-making, time-saving.

If most people are working at maybe 10 % of their potential, why couldn t someone working at his full potential accomplish as much as 10 people in one lifetime?

[Scipio]

I've been thinking about it, and what I may do is confine the combat sports to "hobby" status, if I can handle that emotionally, and pursue a career as a professor in linguistics or philosophy as my "career."

By hobby, I mean something that will occasionally be done, in my spare time, to rejuvinate and refresh me in order to feel pleasure and allow me to work stress free in my main career.

I'm going to try and forget about fighting pro any longer, and just train boxing maybe once or twice per week, with no sparring. I think that I get injured more often with grappling sports (which I am best at and will be sad to give them up) so I will just focus on hitting the bag and doing a bit of striking. This will enable me to train the sport as a lifelong activity. Most boxers who actually fight have to give up the sport after head injuries or broken hands eventually. Most wrestlers and other grapplers suffer knee injuries or whatever and have to quit at some point. I want to have a hobby that I can do consistently even when I'm 60 which also keeps me fit and makes me feel like a warrior. So I'll just do boxing stuff without sparring.

The hard thing will be giving up on the pro track, and many of my friends will think I'm crazy since my current record is very good. But I am helping stabilize my emotions by realizing that I really love the intellectual area of my life, and that if I'm going to learn several languages and be a good professor in philosophy who publishes his own books and articles, I am going to need to devote time to that. I already hardly have time for my girlfriend as it is.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. To the first replier, I wasn't asking anyone to decide for me. Hopefully from my first post you could realize that I was an intelligent individual not looking for anyone to do my thinking for me, I was simply looking for advice or new angles in which to aid my thinking.

To the last replier, yes, I could be mediocre in a lot of things if I stretched myself out over 10 careers. But obviously the time in one career could be invested into another area, and that would yield better results in that one area. Anyone can be a "decent" X and "decent" at Y, but I want to invest most of my time into something and be "excellent" at it. Excellent, not according to comparison with other individuals, but excellent compared with my full potential. That means high levels of personal time utilization.

[themaster]

Originally Posted by Scipio

So what should I do in this situation? Should I just quell my desire to fight, and tell myself to let the emotions pass? Note that I've been off and on before--I've quit full time grappling (6 days per week) because of feeling like injuries make it hard to exert my full earnestness to get better, and to focus on the intellectual side of my life.

Or do I need balance? I can't see how I could settle for just doing something twice a week at a mediocre level.

My teachers would mainly point out one thing when it comes to abundances..

Can you not see yourself doing what you enjoy with abundance?

You see lack of a abundance is just definition about the thing you enjoy.. you have a definition that basically sums up as "sportz does not pay well, nor provide intellectual pursuits" or you may just be caught in the middle for two things you love..

I say jump in and do your best to make sportz pay well.. and if you fail as long as your are following your excitement, joy there are other rewards to be had from doing this.. live your life by following these things and the dividends are a far higher payout in terms of real money and real life.. for you will be supported in everything you do..

[Scipio]

Originally Posted by themaster

My teachers would mainly point out one thing when it comes to abundances..

Can you not see yourself doing what you enjoy with abundance?

You see lack of a abundance is just definition about the thing you enjoy.. you have a definition that basically sums up as "sportz does not pay well, nor provide intellectual pursuits" or you may just be caught in the middle for two things you love..

I say jump in and do your best to make sportz pay well.. and if you fail as long as your are following your excitement, joy there are other rewards to be had from doing this.. live your life by following these things and the dividends are a far higher payout in terms of real money and real life..

I was never primarily concerned about pay nor did I even mention that I thought sports would pay poorly in this post. I already have lived off of my income as an athlete, and my standard of living was great.

Also, I think sports are very intellectual pursuits. I did not say the sports I train are non-intellectual. I simply grouped my interests in philosophy, linguistics, and languages together as "intellectual pursuits" for ease of writing. From studying nutrition, exercise technique, game planning for fights, and sports psychology, the intellectual side of combat sports is a full time job in itself.

[themaster]

Okay, with that cleared up.. I don't really understand the dilemma.. you just sifting for ideas on how to do both.. or how to follow passions?

I think I've outlined that well in my last statement.. you just need to choose.. I do acknowledge that sometimes it's hard to choose.. sometimes if both paths feel valid/good/same just choose either one.. either one will lead you the right way..

Ahh.. I see you have chosen with your other post above.. well good for you

[Scipio]

Originally Posted by themaster

Okay, with that cleared up.. I don't really understand the dilemma.. you just sifting for ideas on how to do both.. or how to follow passions?

I think I've outlined that well in my last statement.. you just need to choose.. I do acknowledge that sometimes it's hard to choose.. sometimes if both paths feel valid/good/same just choose either one.. either one will lead you the right way..

Ahh.. I see you have chosen with your other post above.. well good for you

Why don't you try really reading and listening to people rather than doling out superficial advice not based on any real understanding? I think the type of "help" you are giving, if you are acting in this way with other people, won't be very useful. It's kind of like those bloggers who recycle content; they look like they're producing some value but they really aren't.

That's my advice.

[themaster]

Originally Posted by Scipio

Why don't you try really reading and listening to people rather than doling out superficial advice not based on any real understanding?

Sorry, I'm not always interested in reading a whole thread these days.. and I know nothing about blogging advice.. my advice was based on your 1st post.. you should learn to give up judgements they don't always serve.. even if like you, I have to work on that too..