Life Skills I Have Learnt From Doing Martial Arts
I started doing Tae Kwan Do when I was about eight years old. In my opinion, this sport has strongly shaped who I am as a person today. I have learnt countless of life skills from martial arts and I believe these skills have greatly benefitted me as a person.
Life Skills I Learned From Martial Arts
Self Defence
Starting with the most obvious thing, I have learnt a lot about self defence in training. Without getting too deep into any particular topics, I believe this is a vital skill to have as a person and even more so as a female in society. The knowledge I have around self defence techniques has definitely resulted in me feeling more reassured in certain environments. It’s comforting to know that I am able to have my own back and protect myself if the need to ever arose.
Self-Confidence
I would describe myself as a person who is very aware of who they are as a person. I’m the kind of person that is not afraid to do my own thing. I have never really been afraid to do things differently to those around me or to pursue any of my goals. I believe this behaviour has stemmed from my experience with martial arts. Tae Kwan do taught me to work hard and to stick to pursuing my goals. It did this by making me work hard for each and every belt. Through martial arts I have learnt to become confident in the decisions I make and to not be afraid to stick to my own beliefs and values as a person.
Self-Reliance
Tae Kwan Do has also greatly helped me to grow as a person and to become ok with relying on myself. It is not a team based sport so you learn a lot about trusting your own gut and being ok with being independent. During tests, your result is solely defined by your performance. You learn to rely on and trust yourself to perform what you have learnt during training. Overall, I believe this has helped me to become comfortable in trusting myself and my own abilities in most areas of my life.
Dedication
I’ve been taught so much about dedication to my goals and to myself through martial arts. The sport is based around progressing through each level of the sport. Once you have passed the next level of the sport you are presented with a belt. It took eight years for me to get my first black belt. Ten years to get my second. Throughout that time, I had to learn to be patient while I was training for my next belt. I had dedicate myself to my overall goal of earning my black belt and had to not give up on myself or my goal when it got hard.
The Importance of Effort
Martial arts has taught me the importance of doing a task to the best of my ability. I quickly learnt that the more effort I put into training results in me improving my form and my techniques at a much quicker rate. I believe this mindset has transferred to each and every goal I have tried to achieve. No matter the circumstances, I will always try my best and I will put in as much effort as possible.
Embracing Failure
Throughout my training, I have learnt to embrace failure. In various different classes, I have struggled in the moment to pick up a new technique or routine. However, I never stopped trying to learn that move or technique. This is because I had the attitude that failure wasn’t something that should make you feel scared. Failure meant that you were trying to achieve something new or challenging. It was ok that you didn’t always succeed. It was just important to keep trying to reach your target. Again, I believe this mindset has greatly helped me to take chances in life and to try different things and experiences without fearing failure. It has also taught me to keep trying even if things don’t work out in the first few attempts.