Drop Your Weights

Now, if you don’t watch Naruto because of some of the context of it, I completely understand. But over here at "Jas from the Lab" Studios, we are able to appreciate art for what it is and draw interpretation and meaning from it. Whatever resonates, resonates. Whatever doesn't, doesn't. That’s okay.

I love anime, in general, because it tells better stories and has more character development than American cartoons. I hopped on the anime-train a little late and didn’t watch it until I was a freshman or sophomore in college. Even then, it still was very inspirational for me especially the original Naruto series (I’m just now starting Shippuden, don’t arrest me!).

There’s a scene in Naruto where the characters have to pass a ninja exam (the Chunin Exam for the fans) by being matched up against their colleagues. They can use ninja arts, (ninjustsu) visual arts, (genjutsu) or martial arts (taijutsu).

Most of the characters have special bloodline traits, or talents, that they inherited from their clan, but there’s one super charismatic guy named Rock Lee who he has no bloodline traits nor special ninja abilities. He can just fight really well – AKA a taijutsu specialist.

The GOAT, Rock Lee, getting in position for battle against Gaara.

Well, he gets matched up against Gaara – someone extremely powerful with the ability to control sand. Even worse, sand is one of his natural defenses. It protects him without Gaara even expending energy. The power dynamic of this match seems unbalanced at first. Everyone doubts Lee until his trainer, Might Guy, tells him to drop his leg weights, what seems like a basic training device. What the people in the room didn’t realize is how much weight Rock Lee walked around with daily.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/d7c94f_50aff2969c2642cebac8d3640d0b9e4d/720p/mp4/file.mp4

Gaara vs. Rock Lee Fight | I do not own rights to this video.

His trainer Might Guy later says, “we turned his disadvantage into a blessing. We focused all our energy on taijutsu. Now he doesn't even need all those other things to win."

See, Rock Lee knew he wasn’t special by default, but he worked harder than every ninja in the academy. The weights held him back every day in training, making him work even harder, so in battle he takes them off to move faster and be able to fight harder opponents. When he drops his weights, he then becomes SO DANGEROUS to the point his trainer only allows him to take them off in a life-or-death battle to save himself or a comrade. The ninjas in Naruto essentially protect their villages.

Before I lose you in anime jargon, what does that mean for you or me? The other day, I had the thought to “take off my weights.”

“Dropping your weights” sounds so simple, sounds like common sense. No one wants to walk around with extra weight or baggage, right? The thing is, weight in the real-world sense can have different origin stories. Our trauma can be weight. Our hangups can be weight. Things we haven't chosen to heal from can be weight. Feeling inadequate can be weight. Bad decisions can be weight, and so on. I say "can be" because it is up to us what we choose to do with it once it enters our lives. Every problem we encounter is not our fault, but it is our responsibility to deal with.

One of my biggest weights was people pleasing and imposter syndrome. I can say "was" proudly. I've always been a force to be reckoned with; I just didn't believe it for myself. Furthermore, I allowed people, who didn't really even know me either, to speak into my life and tell me what I should be or what I was capable of. In hindsight, weights in other people's lives came in and clouded their judgement of me, and I internalized that for years. I thought I was the problem that I needed fixing, and so, I hid in the shadows. I'm just now unpeeling the layers of this onion and getting to the roots of my weight. I'm just now on a journey to a place I should've never left: trusting my own gut and capabilities.

Me circa 2015 beside a portrait than won Best of Show at the art show for my school district my senior year in high school.

Leaving our weights behind can be intimidating. Grief can even come with the process. It can cause anxiety or even hurt to drop the weight. It's a heavy process that leaves you empty after. Well, not empty, it leaves you FREE. Freedom can feel foreign and can imitate emptiness when you're used to weight. For some, like me, you may be scared to truly see how you operate without the weight, because all you've ever known is how it feels to hold yourself back.

Taking off your weights give you more energy to move and fight against the trials of life. In my case? I was only operating at like 50% capacity. Imagine how much further I will go without it.

Takeaways:

• Every set back doesn't have to exist as that forever. Some weights will become a blessing once the due season comes for you to release them. Choose today.

• Maybe the things that once held us back can be used to help propel us forward in intense battle.

• Maybe we don’t need to be anybody special to still do the things we’re called to do and make an impact.