🔑 Key Highlights – “It’s OK to Struggle”
Struggle is Normal: Struggling doesn’t mean you’re failing — it means you’re engaging with something challenging.
Misconceptions: Many people believe that if they were doing something correctly, it would feel easy or effortless. This is a myth.
Action Meets Challenge: Growth happens when effort is applied to difficult situations; this tension is what produces real progress.
Reframing Difficulty: Instead of avoiding struggle, recognize it as a sign of learning and transformation.
Encouragement: It’s okay — and even necessary — to struggle on the path toward improvement.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the message of the video “Struggling?”
Master Mikel Steenrod explains that struggle is a natural and necessary part of personal development—not a sign of failure.
How can martial arts help with personal struggle?
Martial arts offer a structured way to confront and grow through physical and emotional challenges, developing focus and resilience.
Can Qi Gong help with emotional stress?
Yes. Qi Gong uses breath, movement, and mindfulness to calm the nervous system and build inner strength for facing life’s difficulties.
Is this only for people in Flagstaff?
While Water Mountain offers training in Flagstaff, the insights shared are universal and helpful to anyone facing personal struggle.
Full Transcript of “Struggling”
Hello, this is Master Mikel Steenrod with Water Mountain.
The topic I want to address today is struggle.
Let’s start with our takeaway right off the bat:
It’s okay to struggle.
Let’s repeat that again.
Simple message: It’s okay to struggle.
Now, why is that important?
Many people, when they encounter difficulty, feel a sense that they’re doing something incorrectly — that if they were doing it correctly, it would proceed without any effort. They would not experience any failure.
Well, that’s just incorrect.
When you face something that’s challenging, you will, in fact, struggle — because you’re applying action to challenge.
Those two things together mean that you must engage some form of striving, some form of struggle in your work to achieve your end.
So when you are struggling, you are actually working against something that is challenging. It is a positive sign.
Through struggle we grow.
Through ease, we do not.
We gain very little by having a life of ease, although it is something we are conditioned to prefer.
When you are on the martial or the qi gong path, you have chosen to pursue a life that contains struggle within it.
You have chosen to apply yourself to challenge.
You have chosen to generate action and put it up against challenge — which means you’re going to struggle.
So when you’re struggling, what are you doing?
You’re applying yourself to something that will develop you, cause you to grow.
That’s not a bad thing.
That’s not something to be ashamed of.
That’s something that you want to do.
Remember, believe in yourself.
Spend some time developing.
Thank you.
