Acquired Vulnerabilities

I remember when I was practicing one kind of martial art, I met several students who had hurt their knees. Why would this happen? Well, repetitively falling on hard ground on one’s knee would cause some damage, especially when compounded with age. A younger student may have a higher chance of recovery. You might argue that martial arts would never cause any permanent damage; however, the safety of the different martial arts is not the point here. The vital point is that hitting a muscle, rib, or joint would cause damage. Although a muscle is quick to recover and a rib takes a relatively long time, a joint is most likely to remain vulnerable for a lifetime.

I am not trying to paint a gloomy picture; practicing some form of martial arts (except MMA) is worth it despite any potential risks. However, once a particular part is damaged, one must learn to live with it. The physical damage can be felt and tested in various ways, quantified, and seen using any modern imaging technique. Another damage also exists but is much harder to quantify or image.

Going through any traumatic event would cause psychological damage to the person. Even when the event is not necessarily categorized as a “trauma”, a harrowing experience can still cause psychological damage. What’s interesting here is that, with time, one would start to think she had fully recovered. Then, something happens. Something that summons all the settings of the earlier ugly experience, and this person will realize that she is mixing the present experience with memories from the past. This is an “acquired” psychological vulnerability. Unlike a physical injury, it is not easy to test for the existence of a psychological “injury”. The reason is that the person needs to be put in a stressful situation that mimics the past experience. Only then would she feel how the past suddenly overlaps with the present.

Psychological damages are harder to quantify and also harder to heal. However, there is a positive side to this, unlike some physical injuries. With proper training and effort, negative psychological experiences can be turned into a source of power. Part of the education includes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), among others. The (only) upside of a negative psychological experience is that it allows you to look deeper into yourself, trigger a journey of self-discovery, and eventually know yourself more. Unfortunately, left “untreated”, a past negative experience might have the power to destroy your happiness. Knowing that no sane person knowingly walks into a traumatizing experience, once it is over, it is necessary to acquire all the tools to mold the negativity into a source of power for the future. And as Friedrich Nietzsche said, “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”