How are you different than you were last year?

[IcemanSK]

I've looking at many posts of mine from my 3+ years on MT. I can say that I've truly learned & grown from the wisdom & friendship of the folks here on MT & the TKD board especially.I am grateful. :asian:

I was just thinking about how I've grown/changed in the last year in my TKD journey. Due to my injury, I guess I could say I'm more appreciative of the ability to train. I may even be a bit more open to other ideas of the things I find important (like boon hae in forms).

How are you different in your TKD training than you were last year?

 

[terryl965]

I am more skyptical of people,too many make believe Master and GM that really do not care about anybody except the money they can make with there association. I guess I am more bitter than ever since so many of them are liars and cheats. This is what I can take from most of the converstation I have had with so many people. I have help so many get there KKW because so and so never ever delivered on what was paid for.

I guess I have also made some great TKD friends from this site as well as others. I will believe in those that are truely into the Art and not the all mighty dollar.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

I feel more accomplished than I did last year. I have earned a first and second dan in Kumdo, and am preparing to test for my third dan in March, but the taekwondo that I began as a seven year old and practiced at different schools in to my early twenties remained incomplete.

I had gotten to being ready to test for first dan many years ago but could not take the test due to financial constraints at the time. Had I tested and stuck with it, I'd be sixth dan by now and would probably own my own school.

But I have also come to appreciate that things happen when they do for a reason, and my temperment was not well suited to teaching others at that time. Back then, I took taekwondo both for self defense and specifically to be badder than the next guy. Not the sort of motivator for a good instructor. Today, I feel that having earned my first dan with my current temperment and having dan grades in another martial art, I have a far better understanding of what it means to be a yudansha than I could ever have had back then.

This year marked the arrival at the first stop in a taekwondo journey that began 34 years ago with a Jhoon Rhee television commercial. Hopefully, I won't take quite so long to get to the next, lol.

Daniel

 

[hkfuie]

I moved to KS 2 years ago. This year I have students in KS. Yay! Last year is when I first began teaching here, around April or so.

Also, I have alot of new martial arts friends. And I am training in Judo/Jujitsu in order to develop the joint-locking, sweeping, etc aspects of my TKD. Plus lots more. One of my TKD instructors was also a BB in Judo. I like it that I am expanding my training in the same way he did.

Also, I am learning Kenpo in order to develop some understanding of concepts they have regarding body motion, how techniques are constructed: things like "purposeful compliance" and "marriage of gravity." These are things that are in what I have been taught in TKD, but by learning them in a more explicit way, I will have better use of the concepts.

Also, I have learned some new forms.

 

[Windsinger]

I think I've changed quite a bit from last year. Last year at this time, I had pretty much given up on the concept of having A Life™. I was working 60-72hrs/wk, seeing my son for maybe 3-4 hours/wk, and my fiancee even less. I wasn't really bothering with looking after my health (I'm a type II diabetic, and I'd been off my medication for over a year at the time). I had thought about joining my son in TKD, but wasn't too sure about it.

Time passes...

I'm back down to a normal 48-hour work week, spending a lot more time with my family, and I'm taking better care of myself (back on my medication, eating better, etc.). I finally took up TKD, and I find myself more confident, self-assured, and happier with myself, overall.

 

[Hand Sword]

A lot.

 

[matt.m]

I have gone through a big cycle of ups and downs over the last year. I am making lemons turn to lemonade so to speak. I figured I am only hurting me and more importantly my family and I began a slower climb upwards.

I was ready to just feel bad and give up. To sit in my dark basement and lull. I changed my mind, through a lot of support and help along with my own want to "Get better" I have.

I figured out at least in my mind the biggest difference between civilian disabled and military disabled. I am the latter, anyway it all comes down to appreciation and the feeling of. The whole thought of the following "If you don't mind then it doesn't matter". A mentality that served me well in combat while on active duty needed to be revisited and refocused.

Success isn't monetary, a lot of people equate it that way. However, to me it is totally different. Success to me is the following "Is my judo and hapkido better today." This means "Am I a better leveled person."

 

[MasterWright]

Well, I guess you could say that I am even more crazy for Taekwondo than I was last year.

 

[faerie2]

This time last year, I was 6 months pregnant, and had no idea I was about to join Taekwondo in the next 5 months and become completely obsessed with it!

 

[hkfuie]

This time last year, I was 6 months pregnant, and had no idea I was about to join Taekwondo in the next 5 months and become completely obsessed with it!

If only we knew what we were getting into when we walked into that first class!

 

[BrandonLucas]

This past year has changed me quite a bit....

Early this year, I decided to start trying to lose weight, again, and fell off the weightloss bandwagon, again, after 2 months of steady exercise...

Not long after that, I had sever issues with my gall bladder, which I had to have removed. Consequently, I started losing weight due to my inability to eat virtually anything.

Found out in July that my wife was pregnant, then found out in August that she's pregnant with twins....then found out in October that she's pregnant with identical twin girls.

I decided to start going back to TKD after a 5 year long break...I decided I was tired of feeling tired and being out of shape.

All of these things that have happened, I really feel put me on the road that I'm on now...I'm back in TKD, trying to get in shape to keep up with twin girls that are due in March.

As far as posting on this forum, I have gained quite a bit of knowlege from simply reading other posts...and then alot more knowledge comes from actively participating in the discussions.

 

[terryl965]

I would like to add that I have learned alot about greed in the Martial Arts though this forum and though life general course of action, but along with greed I have learned how to be more of a student than I was before in the area of understanding the viewpoint of greed.

 

[searcher]

I have made a profound discovery for myself. I have come to the understanding that, I deserve better from and for myself. Things liek how I treat myself and how I am treated by others. Working for people that have no respect for you and being around people who want to tear you down is not something I will be having around myself in the coming year. How I treatmyself is going to change as well, the attainment of STUFF is going to take a backseat to bettering myself.

 

[girlbug2]

Terry (((((hugs)))))) don't let the few bad apples spoil the whole barrel for you. There are still plenty of wide eyed idealists like us left.

 

[Kacey]

I would like to add that I have learned alot about greed in the Martial Arts though this forum and though life general course of action, but along with greed I have learned how to be more of a student than I was before in the area of understanding the viewpoint of greed.

Sometimes one must learn about the bad to understand the good... I wish it weren't that way, but without something to use as a comparison, people often don't know when/what things are good.

 

[terryl965]

Sometimes one must learn about the bad to understand the good... I wish it weren't that way, but without something to use as a comparison, people often don't know when/what things are good.

Kacey thank you soo much for today it was pleasure having you at the school and teaching those ITF forms. Ifany of you get the chance to train with her do it she is great at being astudent and a teacher.

 

[Miles]

From a martial arts standpoint, I have been blessed with having had the pleasure and honor of developing a closer relationship with one of my heroes. I have learned not only technique, but also his humility and generosity from watching his inter-actions with people, inside and outside of TKD.

From a personal standpoint, I am blessed that my family remains healthy. My kids are good students academically, and hopefully will be responsible and productive members of society in the future. I think the sudden loss of my father last year has made me appreciate every day and the challenges and opportunities it brings.

I am older, maybe a little wiser, a little slower & less flexible...but richer for the experience.

 

[Kacey]

Kacey thank you soo much for today it was pleasure having you at the school and teaching those ITF forms. Ifany of you get the chance to train with her do it she is great at being astudent and a teacher.

Thanks very much - it's always a pleasure to teach students of that caliber.

Different than last year... hmmm.... I've lost 20 pounds, and improved my abilities in response. For the next year, I want to lose another 20 and improve my cardio as I go.