Facing Fears Through Taekwondo
Courage is not the absence of fear, courage is acting in spite of fear. In life we face many challenges and there will always be things that we are afraid of. The same can be said when you step on the floor of a dojang for the first time or for the thousandth time. Taekwondo teaches us to overcome our fears both on and off of the mat.
It can be scary to start taekwondo. If you’ve never kicked or punched before, never had to memorize movements with your body. At first glance it can be intimidating, but by stepping in the school and continuing to go you overcome that fear. As you advance in rank, more scary aspects arise. Sparring for example, can be extremely fear inducing at first. There’s a chance you will get punched harder than you expect or even get kicked in the head. It takes courage to try anyways and to keep going until you get better at it.
Breaking boards can be scary. If you do it wrong you might hurt your hand or foot. You might not even be able to break through the board. But you keep trying and practicing until you get it right and it doesn’t hurt. You keep going until you break through the hardest board on the first try. Learning forms is the same way. At first you may not feel like your body can move like that. Or that you might not be able to memorize all those moves. The scariest part can be at testing where you are in front of dozens of people all watching you. If you mess up you don’t get your next belt. The pressure can cause anyone to be afraid! But you face that fear, show up to class, and memorize that form to the best of your ability. You stand proudly in front of everyone and show what you have learned.
Getting a Black Belt can be the scariest of all taekwondo. You’ve trained for years to get there but it is the moment where you have to remember everything you have learned in your Martial Arts training. You show it to people that are high ranks and even Chief Master Horn, the leader of the NMAA. It’s scary to think you might mess something up or forget something. But years of training have taught you to face those fears. In reward, you earn your Black Belt, one of the highest achievements in karate.
Those lessons learned in class carry through to the rest of your life. You are trained in mind and body to never back down from a challenge. Though it may scare you, you know that by facing your fears you can overcome anything. By overcoming your fears you become a stronger person that is capable of doing anything you set your mind to. Taekwondo teaches us that our minds and bodies are amazing and capable of so much more than we give them credit for. Through training our spirit to face our fears, we can do anything.
Mueller’s Martial Arts teaches students to face their fears and grow into stronger people because of it. To learn more about our program, click here.