A few months ago for my birthday, I bought an Adidas taekwondo uniform with the signature three black stripes. I’d had my eye on that style since I saw some black belts, a father and daughter duo, wearing them when I first returned to taekwondo in 2013. For some reason I had in my head that, like those two black belts, I had to be a third degree black belt to wear that uniform–not because of the three stripes, which would seem like silly, obvious kid-logic, but because it was “nicer,” and I didn’t deserve nice things yet. And maybe I thought my grandmaster, who could fly off the handle at the most ridiculous things, would have some unwritten rule that certain uniforms were for certain ranks. (Woe to the branch school owner who wore a criss-cross quilted patterned dobok top to a test one time. Apparently those are for grandmasters only).
Continue reading “Dressing (Your Mind) for the Role You Want”
