I vividly remember this particular day in the fall of 2013. I was only in 2nd grade. My mom had taken me to this small dingy place in a mall to start another new activity for me. I was very suspicious that it is going to turn out to be another boring activity like Kumon. I was wondering how to protest and cop out of it. However here I am after three years. My suspicion was proven completely wrong. It turned out that not only it has been very exciting three years of my life here at Taekwondo, but it has also made me physically and mentally very strong and also taught me how to respect everyone - the stronger, the weaker, the elder, and the younger. When my uncle visited me this Christmas, he actually noticed signs of discipline and courage in me.
Taekwondo has given me enormous physical strength. I feel I am the strongest person in my family, though I am the youngest. I can easily do hundreds of sit-ups, I can run three kilometers at a stretch, I can climb a six feet tall wall, I can kick fiercely in many different ways and l break thick boards with one kick. I remember last fall we had a fallen tree in our backyard and my dad was cutting the fallen branches in smaller pieces so that he could dispose of them. I noticed that he was having a particularly very difficult time cutting one big thick branch. I saw it and decided to use my strength and Taekwondo skills. I practiced my ax kick couple of times and the branch was broken into two pieces just in few minutes.
Physical strength is important, but mental strength is even more important. Mental strength is when you are completely focused on one thing and not thinking of anything else. Mental strength allows you to do things that you might think are impossible to do. When I was doing my pre-black testing I experienced this myself. I had a very stressful morning after a long run and hundreds of push-ups. When I came home for lunch break, I was thinking of backing out and giving up the pre-black belt. I thought I was going to die if they made me do any more push-ups. However the four years of Taekwondo training gave me the mental strength, I told myself never to give up. It turned out that day afternoon I ended up doing three rounds of “labas” and still survived. I think it was the sheer mental strength that helped me to push myself to the limits that day.
Discipline and courage are very important to my life now. Discipline has very much changed my life. Before Taekwondo, I was different. I was sloppy, careless and I wasn’t hard working. After a few years of Taekwondo, I started believing in the three golden rules. Now, because of Taekwondo, I became a student that works hard in school and in the dojang. Courage is something that changed my behavior during any form of test. It gives me the strength to keep going and the will to succeed.
All of us can learn from younger students. We have to show respect to our young learners. I have personally learned this when my friend showed me how to flip in Taekwondo. I have to give him credit for that because I don’t know how to that myself. This shows that we are not the best in everything. We still have more to learn in life. In Taekwondo, you can learn from anybody.
As you see, Taekwondo has really influenced my life. There are still more ways Taekwondo influenced my life. This impact on me will change my life forever. My life has changed and so the world has as well. I am no longer “Piyush the Weak”. I am now, “Piyush the Great”. These differences change the way someone looks at the world. Now, everyone will see me for who I am. Doing Taekwondo has made all of these changes. All of them are for the greater good.
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