Wow, it’s been two years since I launched my taekwondo blog! Since last year’s anniversary I have increased my number of followers and made new friends from around the world. I also reached a major milestone when I tested for and received my first degree black belt in October 2015. Since then the fun and the learning hasn’t stopped. Thank you all for reading, commenting, and following me along my journey.
As I did last April, I’d like to share with you my favorite posts from the past year. Read, enjoy, and share your thoughts in the comments.
1. Dragged Kicking and Screaming Into…Well, Kicking and Screaming– A reflection on the emotional shift I experience through taekwondo, plus I pick up my favorite mantra.
2. How Giving Up Drinking Saved My Skin – It’s all fun and games until you start having whiskey face. Read about the health improvements I experienced when I quit drinking cold turkey…for seven months, anyway.
3. Operation Fix My Hip Begins – I begin the long physical therapy journey and also make butt jokes. (When someone is jamming their thumb into your piriformis you might as well make it funny.)
4. Five Things I Lost – Gaining a black belt helped me let go of some other things in my life that I no longer needed.
5. I Am My Own Nemesis – I face my biggest and meanest opponent.
6. The Jyo Kyo Neem’s On You – For those who think black belt is “it,” I have news for you: the fun’s just beginning!
7. Love is Like Grape Soda – This is my favorite non-taekwondo post (although the most popular among the readers is my chocolate chip cookie recipe). I experience a feeling about my non-relationship status that society won’t allow single people to feel: absolutely NOTHING, and it’s grand.
8. A Black Belt Goes To Barre Class – I get my ass kicked with pliés and relevés.
9. A Surprising Way to Snap Out of It – One of the blog’s most popular posts about how I used taekwondo to power through some rough emotional waters.
10. When You Know You’ve Found Your Tribe – That moment when I realized I was home.
I have also written guest posts for the personal development site Seeds4Life and an article about revitalizing one’s martial arts practice on the martial arts travel site BookMartialArts.com. Keep your eye on my blog for upcoming guest posts I’ll be writing for BookMartialArts.com.
If you want details about taekwondo practice and not just all the flowery thoughts in my head, check out The Poomsae Series (now with two new posts about the first dan forms!) or anything tagged under the categories “Class Diaries” or “Training Tips.”
