Northeast Iowa
August 9, 2014
2013 was the hardest year of my life. If it wasn’t for Tae Kwon Do I have no clue how I would have gotten through it. The five tenets are what helped me the most. Last year was the hardest year of my life because my parents got a divorce and I moved to a new school. It all started when my parents started arguing a lot. I knew that something was wrong right away because they never argue.
It got to the point that my dad moved out. He always told me that when things get tough think of the five tenets of tae kwon do. I made sure that I went to class a lot because whenever I am having a bad day Tae Kwon Do really helps.
My dad moved out in August of 2012, That was one week before I tested for 2nd Degree black belt. It was very hard for me. That night there was a Tae Kwon Do class. Both my mom and dad had said that I don’t have to go to Tae Kwon Do if I didn’t want to. I told them that I needed to go because I knew that it would help me cool down a little bit and of course it did.
It helped because in Tae Kwon Do it is so hard to think of more then one thing. In Tae Kwon Do you can basically only focus on Tae Kwon Do. While you are warming up, all you are doing is focusing on stretches. While doing kicks all you can think about is the kicks and while doing forms the only thing that you can think about is doing the forms nothing else.
In November of 2013 I moved to LaCrescent, Minnesota with my mom while my dad still lived in Iowa. Since moving, it has been hard for me to attend classes. However, I have used the five tenets to help me through hard days. For example, if I was having a bad day at my new school I would use perseverance to get through that day and to wait for tomorrow to come along and know that the next day will be better.
Having your parents divorced and being the new kid at school is a very tough combination. When you are new, and kids ask you what your parents do , then having to explain to them that your parents had just gotten a divorce and that your dad still lives in Iowa is hard but I used the 5 tenets to help me get through it.
Using the Five tenets of TKD always helps no matter what. Being a new kid you always have to be courteous to others. The reason that you would want to be courteous is because if you are courteous to others they will be the same way back to you.
I work hard for everything that I do. Things are easier for me when they are more physical things. Mental things are harder for me and that is another place where the five tenets of Tae Kwon Do come in handy. The tenets come in handy when things are more mental things because then the tenets help me motivate myself and they end up helping me a lot. An example could be that this baseball season I was in a slump for a while and that is because I always got in my head when I struck out or made a bad play. But I started telling myself that I can do it no matter what and I would keep on persevering and eventually I got back in the hang of things.
A big change in my life other then my parents getting a divorce and me moving to a different school, is that I don’t get to see my dad every day like I used to. Even when he moved out I still got to see him because he was my school’s principal. So I would always see him in the halls or in class rooms. Even though I may not have been able to talk to him I still got to see him. Now I only get to see him every other weekend and that gets to be very tough sometimes. Especially when I first moved to my new school, it was so hard. I would call him every day and when I was having a bad day he always would tell me to think of the five tenets of Tae Kwon Do. It may seem like my dad tells me to think of the five tenets of TKD a lot but he only tells me that a lot so I can keep my head up and not let things get to me.
My dad and I started Tae Kwon Do in 2008. We both got really into it and we both really enjoy it. Tae Kwon Do is basically the only thing that my dad and I got to do together on a regular basis. But now since I moved I haven’t been able to get to that many classes and that really stinks because I miss doing that with my dad every week. But I have gotten used to it and basically every other weekend when I see him, him and I either go into the dojang and work out or we work out together in our basement. That still means a lot to me when him and I get to work out together when I see him but it’s still not the same.
Using the five tenets of Tae Kwon Do have really helped me. They can help you in anything: inside of class, during sports, at school, or at work if you are an adult. If you are having a bad day just always remember to think of the five tenets of Tae Kwon Do.
