Hit a man where it hurts.

Whether it’s literally, through self-defense, or by ending that game of text hide and seek and straight up telling him: “I do not want to go out with you again,” sometimes you have to hit a man where it hurts. You don’t owe them anything.

Everyone is on a different walk of life.

Some of my classmates ranked higher than me are yet to be potty trained. Some of my classmates ranked lower than me are potty training their own children. You can’t judge someone’s maturity based on their age, base it on their actions instead.

It’s never too late to start over.

Even when I started at age 16, I wasn’t the oldest white belt in my class. The older you get, the harder it is to start over or try something new, but it’s never too late and it’s always rewarding.

Diversity is out there, you just have to find it.

As someone who’s been going to mostly private Christian schools my whole life, I didn’t meet many people from other backgrounds. My Tae Kwon Do class has people of all different ages and races. Many people in my classes speak different languages and it’s just really cool to see all these different types of people all in one place, enjoying the same thing.

Any achievement is still an achievement, no matter how small.

I actually just recently had my first belt test. It was a little terrifying but mostly just because I didn’t know what to expect. I’m still incredibly proud of myself because even though to someone testing for their black belt testing for a yellow belt might not seem like much, to me it was a huge milestone. I never would have thought I would do Tae Kwon Do, and going out of my comfort zone in that way is, in itself, a reason to celebrate.

Nothing gets done without a little (or a lot of) sweat.

I have never sweat anywhere else as much as I do in Tae Kwon Do class, not even when I backpacked through Costa Rica without deodorant. I used to hate sweating, but now, getting a good sweat in at class makes me feel good and like I really accomplished something.

Sometimes, violence is the answer.

I’ll admit, sometimes I get mad over small things but I never stay mad, especially when I know that I can just go to class and kick something. It’s incredibly therapeutic and I recommend it to everyone. Just don't actually kick a person unless you're sparring!