A Childhood Dream...Of Being A Power Ranger.
- Sep 19, 2020
- 8 min read
Updated: Sep 25, 2020
Hi Friends,
Now this may be a bit of a long story, after all it does start almost 2 decades ago. You may want to grab a warm drink and a snack and make yourself comfortable!
Let's go back in time, to the year 2000 to be exact. I was 10 years old and painfully shy, and had a 5 year old brother who was the complete opposite. My parents at this point were probably desperate to get me to do something with other kids my age and nothing was appealing to me.
We tried dance, that was a no go. I had zero interest in soccer or basketball or football or even T-ball. It wasn't because I was bad any of those sports, it was because I had such a fear of being made fun of. Even though we spent countless seek weekends with my uncle throwing the perfect spiral football or hitting baseballs ("knockin' out flies"), I had zero confidence trying out for a team. I was so worried that I would try my very best and the people would laugh at me or that my best wouldn't be good enough.
My parents took my younger brother and I to a local Taekwon-Do demonstration, and little did I know that one demonstration would change my life for the next 20 years.
We pulled up to this demonstration not expecting very much, and were blown away quite quickly with these seemingly regular people, that were able to do such incredible things! We were convinced these were real live superheroes, they just had to be! Then we saw our instructor. The same man that came over and knelt down to say hello to us and introduce himself to us, was now suddenly flying through the air, breaking a million boards, doing the most incredible jumping, spinning kicks we've ever seen, and effortlessly taking on four people at one time, without even breaking a sweat! And that was it- we were sold!
I vividly remember driving home in the car with my brother in the backseat with me and we knew we had to devise a plan to start this tae kwon do thing. Now, to give you a little context, my brother Alex and I love the Power Rangers (yes, I am using present tense, because we still do). We would watch them every single day after school and then when the show was over we would go outside and pretend that we were favorite Ranger all throughout the neighborhood.
We sat under the giant willow tree in the backyard, and we decided that if it started Taekwon-Do now and trained as hard as we could, by the time we were teenagers, we would be black belts and Zordon would choose us to be the next Power Rangers. It was a fool proof plan all we had to do was work hard and get our black belt by the time we were teenagers and we would be the next Power Rangers!
So off we went. We trained hard five days a week and absolutely loved every minute of it. Alex and I trained is hard as we could, but as we grew Alex had interests other sports, every other sport to be exact, and I was having a hard time keeping up with school as I went through high school.
We made it tough decision to take a break from Taekwon-Do so I could finish high school, go to college, get a job and come back. I remember telling my instructor I'll be back, and I remember him having this look on his face as if he had heard that thousand times before, and wasn't about to hold his breath. I was determined to stick by my word.
Fast forward to 2011. I just graduated college from fitness and health promotion, and I was on my way to be a personal trainer at a local gym. This was my first of many personal training jobs and they did not work out the way that I wanted to. I thought the personal training would be fantastic because I would be in peak shape to start Taekwon-Do again. I didn't quite realize that peak training time is in the evening the same time as the adult classes for Taekwon-Do.
After getting my first training job I made a quick stop by the dojang to see my instructor and let him know that I'd be coming back really soon. I just needed to straighten a few things out with my schedule. That took little longer than expected...4 more years to be exact.
Fast forward to 2015, I got a regular job 9 to 5 at an online health food store, and I took my very first paycheck Taekwon-Do and paid for an entire year in full. And that was it! I was back! I was ready to achieve my childhood dream of getting my black belt and I didn't care how long it took me to get there.
I remember 4 1/2 years ago going to my first class and Taekwon-Do for the second time in my life, and having all the same feelings of my very first class when I was 10. I remember feeling insecure, I remember wondering who would be there, if anyone would like me, if I will make a fool of myself, worried I would fall, or puke...thankfully for me and the class, that didn't happen!
As I started class again, little life lessons that I thought I had forgotten had started to come back. When I was a kid, and my instructor would say phrases and we would take them at face value. We were taken very literally because at 10 years old and 5 years old we didn't know any better.
We would hear phrases all the time like "if your back isn't straight, your brain doesn't work", and as kids we would laugh... because it was funny!
All these small lessons that I learned at Taekwon-Do had really stuck with me in a very permanent way in my adult life, and I didn't even know it. In Taekwon-Do, there is a student oath and there is the Tenets of Taekwon-Do. Part of the Student Oath is to respect your instructors and seniors.
Another part of the oath is to build a more peaceful world. The Tenets of Taekwon-Do have always been special to me. As a teenager if I was allowed to have gotten tattooed on my body. The meaning behind the words always meant a great deal to me. Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-Control, Indomitable Spirit. Those are the words Alex and I would say five days a week, and we would practice them throughout our lives.
As I started to immerse myself back into Taekwon-Do, all of these micro lessons that I learned that the kids started to come full circle as an adult.
As a kid,The lesson "Don't look down there's nothing down there", as an adult now meant, hold your head high, walk with grace and humility through challenges that you may have to face, no matter what other people say or think of you.
As a kid the lesson "Focus focus focus - focus on yourself!", as an adult now meant, you can only control yourself your emotions and your reactions to things around you, you cannot control other people, what they say, or what they do. This means that you control your own journey and your journey is your own and no one else's. Your journey is not the same as anyone else's journey, even if someone else's journey is to a similar destination - is not the same as yours.
As a kid, perseverance meant "setting goals and achieving them". As an adult it means set big goals that make you uncomfortable and do everything you need to do to achieve those goals. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
As a kid, integrity meant "doing what you say you're going to do". Now as a kid I took this definition literally and didn't look into it very much. As an adult this is one of the things I hold closest to my heart and one of my biggest values I live by. Integrity means do what you say you are going to do. It means if you tell yourself that you are going to do something, you better do it!
As a kid I didn't realize that integrity was something that you could have within yourself, I always thought it meant something you had to have for other people. Having integrity for yourself, and the goals you set for yourself is just as important as sticking to a commitment you made to someone else.
As a kid, "Indomitable spirit" was my favorite thing to say because I thought it sounded so cool. As a kid I meant "never give up". As an adult, it means fight for yourself, because no one else will fight for you as hard as you will, and never-ever-ever-EVER give up on yourself, no matter how much you want to, keep pushing forward no matter how hard the world is pushing you back.
As a kid, One minute meditation the the end of class was a time where you close your eyes, or at least try to keep your eyes closed, and pretended to think nothing for 60 seconds. As an adult one minute meditation at the end of class is probably my favorite part of class. It is where I can let go of anything that happened in class, and reflect on things I can improve. It's 60 seconds or I can visualize myself at my ultimate best. I can visualize my goals. I can visualize my areas of improvement. And I can celebrate the things I did well.
So here we are, the year 2019 and this 10-year-old Sarah, is now almost 29 years old. In June of 2018 on what would have been my uncles birthday I got my black belt.
I may not be a Power Ranger, at least not yet, but there's still time. In this world we are so free to compare ourselves to others and Taekwon-Do has taught me to be selfish. It has taught me that for an hour and a half, I'm allowed to think only about myself. My movements, my strength, my weaknesses, my struggles.
For an hour and a half I can push myself as hard as I can. I am my own limit. And most classes,It's an internal game of pushing myself beyond my limits to see how much further I can go, and 9 times out of 10- I am able to push past what I THINK my limits are.
I strongly believe that every child and every person for that matter, should do a martial art. It connects you with so many amazing people, but more importantly, it connects you to yourself. It teaches you life lessons that I personally wouldn't have learned otherwise. It took a painfully shy 10 year-old, and brought her out of her shell. They gave her courage, confidence, a sense of pride, and something that she loved to do.
I can honestly say I wouldn't be the person I am today without Taekwon-Do I would probably still be that painfully shy girl, scared to try something new. So scared to fail, or make a fool of herself, that she wouldn't try anything new at all. I look at the things I've accomplished now, and I know, that I would never have been able to do the things I've done, without Taekwon-Do.
Things like holding my head high in an awkward or uncomfortable business meeting and making my arguments clear. Things like making my wants and needs known. Things like being able to speak up when I disagree or walk away from situations that I don't align with my integrity. Things like being able to start something new with confidence and without fear of failing. Things like knowing my worth, and my value and never lowering my standards to meet the needs of others.
These are just some of the lessons I've learned over the years. And I'm excited to learn another two decades worth of more learning.
So when people ask "what got you started with Taekwon-Do?", to keep things simple I tell them my dream of being a Power Ranger and they laugh. I mean, in a nutshell, that is what drew me to Taekwon-Do, but maybe now, you can understand the reason started out small, and turned into so SO much more.
Until next time, be kind to yourself,
- Sarah
xo
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