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It’s not funny how much more talented some people are at certain things. Watching elite genetics topped with the right amount of practice will leave you reeling with an existential crisis and all sorts of feelings of inadequacy. You have to make peace with it quickly.
I realised this when I had the misfortune of playing against Dinesh Karthik in 2001. He ripped us apart. Same pattern at the TNCA U-15 trials. The best bowlers were not just a little faster. They were much faster.
At interschool sprinting events, the fastest (even if overaged) were much faster.
And when it comes to scuffles or fights, regardless of how strong you are, you must have a real understanding of your punch and reflexes. Size is a real factor. And skill more so. If you’ve seen someone skilled and practised at punching and kicking, you realise strength can’t make up for actual skill. Avoiding situations, people and running like hell might be the only real options for most of us.
This is not to say you should give up and stop trying to get good at anything you are not gifted at or will never be elite at. Far from it.
There are activities that have plenty of benefits if you put in any kind of decent effort.
Strength training comes to mind. You may not have the longest muscle bellies, thickest joints or most gifted lifts, but something is really better than nothing. And with enough effort the something will count for something.
With self defence, knowing how vulnerable you are by even taking a few lessons gives you valuable insights on how badly someone can kick your ass, and how to quickly read and avoid situations.
When it came to sport, those early days watching Dinesh Karthik and few talented players across tennis, swimming and martial arts taught me very quickly that while I can train to do a few athletic things, that does not mean I can be a great athlete.
And this is a delusion that plenty harbour.
That with the right training, they could have amounted to something. This is probably untrue for most of us. The right training really needs the right talent to result in anything resembling elite performance. And most of humanity simply does not have it. This is true of lifting, aesthetics, dancing or any other endeavour.