Geeky Martial Arts

So yesterday I had my belt testing for Cho Dan Bo pretest #1. This means that (provided I pass) I am one year away from testing for my black belt! One of the things we are tested on are the Tang Soo Do "Ten Articles of Faith". Here they are:

1-Be loyal to your country
2-Be obedient to your parents
3-Be loving between husband and wife
4-Be cooperative between brothers
5-Be faithful between friends
6-Be respectful to your elders
7-Be faithful between teacher and student
8-Know the difference between good and evil
9-Never retreat in battle
10-Always finish what you start

I love these. One of them though particularly stands out to me, number ten. "Always finish what you start". Probably I take it so much to heart because I am one of those people who struggles to finish or follow through on things in general; projects, lifestyle changes, journals, jobs....you name it. Not that I am not dedicated or lack motivation, on the contrary! Somewhere along the way though a voice in head tells me I am not worth it. I ask myself "What do you think you are doing?Do you really think you will manage to do this? Come on!".

Eventually, earning my black belt (which is actually midnight blue to symbolize that even at that level you keep learning) will mean a lot to me because I will have proven to myself that I have the ability to actually finish something. Although in reality it will be the start of a new journey. I will not quit. For my children. For myself.
 

Belts I earned so far

Our Master and Kyo Sa Nim always tell us it is not about the belt, the belt only helps to keep the pants from falling, and that anyone can buy it for ten dollars. To me it is about not giving up. It is about following through on something and hoping that this will shut that voice in my head once and for all. What a wonderful lesson I am teaching my two mini-geeks too!

So to you "voice", I dedicate this clip :

Geeky Sports!

Well my oldest son (he is ten) will be testing for his black belt in the Korean martial art of Tang Soo Do this year! We are all so excited for him but better yet we know how much work and time he has put into it since we decided it would be a good activity to do all together as a family. I thought, why just sit on my butt and watch while I could be out there with him, really tasting the journey.

Being the only mother of small children to start on this journey has been challenging to say the least. At first I kept wondering what I was doing there, feeling foolish and even a little (okay a lot) embarrassed most of the time. Guess what though? I survived and when you have a five year old correcting you......well, a little humility never hurt anyone. Now both my husband and I are red belts and loving every minute of it!

I cannot lie, our child had some (many) tough moments too. Some where he did not want to go anymore, was tired and sick of it, just as most of the other kids. As parents though we thought that we would only be teaching him that it is okay to quit when things get hard, when most do quit. At some point EVERYTHING gets hard and boring, whether it is soccer, piano or martial arts. Not that we do not let him try other things, but this one thing he had to stick to, whatever it took.

Sure enough now, our son will be the first child to receive a black belt at our Dojan. As parents never once have we had the thought that we were wrong on this one. Nothing have we ever been so sure of....