Engaged

There has been a lot of people talking about engagement and what kind of a teammate they are this year. I decide to analyze myself. Over the past 3 years, I have struggled with my engagement culminating with me missing the 2015 banquet (due to work). I felt like I was justified in why I couldn't participate in the demos or why I didn't have my form ready. I wasn't going to be here anyway, I have an injury, I don't feel comfortable performing etc. They sounded good in my head at the time but now I realize it was all just excuses. These "excuses" were the cause of my lack of engagement and not vice versa. This year I feel more engaged and excited than I have ever in the past. Why is this? I don't know if I could have answered that question last week as I hadn't thought about it until recently. One reason, is I am excited about my weapon of choice for this year. My past weapons were the 3 section staff which led to a shoulder injury along with the push-ups. Followed up by two years of the chain whip. I went to the chain whip as I needed a lighter weapon and something I never felt comfortable with either of these so I never put the effort in that I should have. I regret this now as I failed myself and the whole process of the I Ho Chuan. Another reason is I ended last year on a high note. The beginning of year of the Sheep was one of the worst and I ended up missing almost all classes and meetings until September. Some of this was due to work and again some of it was due to me not prioritizing things in my life. It became easier to stay away than make the effort to go back. once work slowed down, I was able to make more classes and the engagement level started to increase. Being able to be part of the dragon dance team brought me back full steam ahead. It's amazing to me that a small thing can have such a huge impact. The main reason though is my teammates this year. Everyone is so much more involved than I have seen in a long time. I can tell because of the amount of comments people are receiving on their blogs. We have had some people share some very difficult details of their lives and people are responding with support and encouragement. I think this is going to be the best I Ho Chuan team yet.