Reflection

I was thinking of the Tenets of Taekwondo perseverance, self control, indomitable spirit, courtesy and integrity in connection to how my life has changed since I started training. They appear in  every day life even though we may not realize it at first.
The most obvious place we see courtesy is in the dojang during training, saying sir or ma'am when addressing others, bowing out of respect to instructors, masters, and each other. The outside wold works the same way. I'll never forget walking into a store once after Taekwondo to buy a card for someone's birthday. When I went up to the register the woman looked at me as I said "How are you ma'am?"
Perseverance is working towards something and not giving up no matter how hard or impossible it seems. A famous quote is a black belt is a white belt who never quit.  Nothing is ever easy  you have to work hard for everything. In Taekwondo you keep you keep going and don't give up. It will get hard and you may have a bad day, not understand a technique but keep working at it and it'll pay off. When I first started training I couldn't go down for a split at all it was like a mountain. Thanks to some of the great friends I've met I kept stretching with their help in class and although I can't do a full split yet I'm further then I thought I'd ever be. The same goes for school. Always work to achieve the highest thing you can, to earn A's in your classes or get your degree. For me I will keep coming to class and train hard no matter how difficult it gets. Similarly I will earn my Master's degree even with obstacles trying to trip me up.

Fear is a 4 letter word

So after a really long day of working in a freezing cold center (our heat is out) I come home eat dinner and head to Taekwondo. My feet ache, my arms hurt my back cracks when I move it but I force myself to go knowing it'll all feel better once class starts. We started the same way we always do basic stretching and warm ups push ups plank, sit ups push ups again squats splits. Then Master separated us so we all had room and showed us the first technique we were going to be doing, a backwards roll. When it was time to practice I rolled my feet dangling over my had in the opposite direction of my head. My feet dangled in the air instead of hitting the floor. Slowly I rolled back time after time and the closest I got was my toes barely touching the floor.
After a bit of practice Master lined us up in two lines to practice what we just did. We practiced rolling forward first. As the others went ahead of me I watched coaching myself to take it slow. Master sat in the middle with another of our black belts by the wall to help us. When I went I set up tucking my arm in following the instructor's assistance. Not really thinking about it I pushed myself forward and rolled straight landing with my feet ready in case I needed to stand up. I was so shocked and happy and dizzy at the same time. The last time we rolled I went in fearful of getting hurt and wasn't able to roll. It's true what they say fear is only a 4 letter word and perseverance will definitely pay off.