Fight or Flight

The adrenaline exhausted me the first time I sparred. Half my energy went to held breath and tense muscles. I had to relax, stay loose, but I also needed to stop turning away when overwhelmed with punches. Sparring showed me my instinct: when I didn’t have time to think, I chose flight over fight.

I didn’t like my instinct, so I trained. The turning away kept up for a couple of weeks, rearing (or hiding) its ugly head when a sparring partner put on a lot of pressure. Eventually, though, I learned to stay in there. Get hit. Block. Effectively cover up, and try to read what was coming. I never got any good at it, but at least I was fighting.