Goals

Last night, Reagan and I earned our first stripes on our yellow belts.

I knew Reagan would earn hers. I wasn't so sure about myself.

We've been in the yellow belt class for 4 weeks now and we have been working on Form 2 the entire time. We've also been reviewing Form 1, which is necessary because you can forget parts of it.

In the beginning, Reagan and I struggled with Form 2. I remembered how we struggled with Form 1 in the beginning and kept encouraging Reagan that we could do this. Form 1 looked impossible at first. And we learned it. We could probably perform it in our sleep...or at least with our eyes closed.

Form 2 looked impossible at first. New stances, new blocks, new twisty motions. But we practiced. We practiced in class, we practiced at home, and we practiced with a friend of Reagan's from school who got the hang of it before we did. We watched it on my iPhone (there's an app for everything!!).

We asked the instructors over and over to show us, one more time, how to fold, how to turn, how to remember which way to fold and turn. They were patient. They were helpful.

And we practiced. Reagan got the Form down before I did. I even opted, in one class, to do 10 push-ups rather than attempt Form 2 and mess up and have to do 15 push-ups.

The goal had been set. We were being assessed over Form 2 on May 27. We had to know it.

So we kept practicing. We practiced together, we took turns, we critiqued each other. We concentrated on others when they were practicing. I'm telling you, this was really hard for me. (I already mentioned that Reagan got this down before me, right?!) I would get one part of it, then forget another part, then forget all of it when I had to perform it by myself.

But, you know what? In the end, we did it. We performed it, two at a time, in front of our instructors and we did it. Reagan nailed it. She is good at this karate stuff.

I felt like I messed up one punch, but that might have been the adrenaline washing away my memory. In the end, I was awarded my stripe for Form 2.

It feels GREAT to have set a goal (learning Form 2 and earning a stripe for it) and accomplishing that goal.

Makes me realize that I need to set goals for other areas of my life. If I can set one karate goal and accomplish it in 4 weeks with a lot of practice and concentration, then how else could my life be affected by goal setting?

2 Yellow Belts in the House!

Big Sister and I tested for our yellow belts in karate last week. We have been training for this since December.

And we were ready.

We spent the weeks before the test practicing; even had a private lesson the day before.

And it went really well. Better than I thought, actually.

I was expecting that each person would perform individually, which made me super nervous. All those parents watching! However, we tested as a group. It was still nerve wracking, but manageable.

Once again, I was so proud of my daughter, who performed almost flawlessly.

I got tripped up on one of the self-defense moves. The instructor had another student (whom I had never met) grab my shoulders from behind. I had to twist around, lock his arms up, then pretend to hit him in the stomach. I got three chances to do this move correctly, and I had to use all three. Really, honestly, the thing that got me on this move, was that I was so incredibly close (and suddenly somewhat intimate) with someone I didn't know.

That's something I'm going to have to get over. Being that close to someone I don't know. I guess I have personal space issues. It's just weird being that close to someone.

But looking back on it, it was a great evening. Big Sister and I set a goal and we ACCOMPLISHED that goal. We did it together. And now we know that we can do most anything!

On a different note, The Princess was swimming with a friend (who is 11 years old) and they were rough housing in the pool. He got frustrated with her and pushed her off the pool float. She was surprised and swam to the side and cried. I told him to apologize, and he did. Later that evening, I told Princess that if she is EVER pushed by a boy again she is to push him back (hard) then tell him he is never to push girls again. I told her boys who push girls are not respectful of women and she is to leave after she tells him no more pushing. She listened and agreed. We'll see what happens.