Progressing wisely

So I recently participated in a sparring class...the first one in probably years. I always enjoyed sparring as a coloured belt and now that I'm a black belt, I still do, but a little less often. This last class though I pushed myself a little too hard. Now I've never been one to let injuries keep me down, but what Master Brinker says about patience and progressing wisely is true. You can't go too hard too fast. That was the mistake I made this week. I ended up paying the price for it this weekend with a ruined body. I learned that my body isn't quite ready for that kind of strain....yet.

Now my fear in regards to injury has always been that I'd end up stagnating. It can be easy to use injuries as an excuse to not break a sweat. So I've always been the other way, I usually push things too hard and too fast, which isn't the answer either.
So for now at least I'm going to try and have patience and progress wisely. Maybe I shouldn't be sparring full tilt yet. But instead maybe I should be focusing on other things like my tai chi.
But it's hard when you remember all of the things you used to do and how badly you want to be able to do them again at the same level.

Knowing me, as soon as I stop hurting...probably later this week...I'll be pushing it hard again.
I need to try and train smarter.