This is part of a series on the Five Tenets of Taekwondo: Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self Control, and Indomitable Spirit.
indomitable
impossible to subdue or defeat
For my 3rd degree black belt test, one of my requirements was a 360° back kick. I love this kick; it's flashy and can be really powerful. I was expecting to break boards with it at the test.
A few weeks before testing, I was in the middle of practicing this kick when I tore a muscle in my leg.
It was devastating. I wasn't sure that I would be able to test at all. Fortunately it healed well and with much babying it looked like I would be able to make it through the test. But I was really anxious about the 360 back kick.
I absolutely could have put it off; my master instructor was pretty accommodating of injury and would have allowed me to wait and pass off that portion of my test later. (In retrospect, that might have been the smarter course! As I've gotten older I've developed a much more cautious approach to injuries than I had back then.)
But for me it was a matter of fear. After getting hurt, I was afraid of that kick. With good reason, of course, but it was a mental block just as much as a physical one.
Indomitable Spirit is closely related to Perseverance. Both include pushing things that are hard for us. But Indomitable Spirit is all about our attitude. You can persevere through something and still be beaten by it in the end. To be Indomitable is to be unconquerable. You push through hard things with a smile on your face! You believe in yourself so fiercely that nothing can stop you from accomplishing your goals.
I was indeed asked to break with my 360° back kick at testing. I thought everyone in the dojang would hear my heart pounding. I looked at that board and knew that I would only have one shot - if I didn't break on the first try, it would probably hurt too badly to try again. So I dug deep, focused hard, and promised myself that I would not be beaten. And I was right.
The world often tries to beat us down and tell us that we're not enough - not good enough, not smart enough, not strong enough, not fast enough, not tall enough, not skinny enough, not qualified enough, not whatever enough. Sometimes we get hurt - physically or mentally - and it can be hard to pick back up and keep going. Sometimes we need help, sometimes we need to heal, sometimes we need time, sometimes we need to make changes within ourselves before we try again. But we always need to believe in ourselves. Without that inner flame, we will never truly be our best. But with our Indomitable Spirit we can truly achieve anything.
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