Melanie Gibson Work and Martial Arts

Imposter Syndrome or Just Feeling Like a Beginner Again?

Dressing for the job I want: pool hustler.

My partner gave me a billiards cue last Christmas and then a glove for my most recent birthday. Despite playing pool for the last several years, I still very much feel like a beginner. I wasn’t sure I “deserved” a good cue until I passed some sort of unwritten, undefined test–like maybe, not feeling self-conscious around all the experts when we play at the pool hall or doing a decent break where the balls don’t end up in a sad cluster or living up to unrealistic expectations of perfection that I unfortunately still put on myself.

What am I trying to prove? Do I need to prove anything at all?

Continue reading “Imposter Syndrome or Just Feeling Like a Beginner Again?” →

Melanie Gibson Injury and Recovery, Training Tips

First Post-Surgery Jump Kicks

Just over eight months into recovery from ACL reconstruction surgery, I did jumping front snap kicks.

You may be wondering how I ended up in this predicament in the first place. Take a look at this post (“POP! Goes My ACL”) for the detailed story of how I injured myself and what followed in the immediate aftermath.

The short version is I tore my ACL doing a jump kick, and not even a good one at that.

Continue reading “First Post-Surgery Jump Kicks” →

Melanie Gibson Book

So I Have a Side Hustle After All. Um…#BossBabe?

Boss Babe Starter Kit

Today (a Saturday) I recorded the first of seven podcast interviews my publicist booked for the month of April. I’ve written several articles said publicist has pitched to online media, and I have more items on my to-do list. There’s an essay contest I want to enter (but I have to write the essay first), and in my dining room I have a box of books that I’m slowly figuring out how to divvy up among family, friends, and business associates.

Continue reading “So I Have a Side Hustle After All. Um…#BossBabe?” →

Melanie Gibson Book, Injury and Recovery, Self-Development and Leadership

Spring Sprint

I’m not a huge fan of the phrase “ramp up” because it’s one of the many buzz terms I hear in the corporate world, and it usually means I’m going to have to do a lot of work in a short amount of time.

But, it can also mean exciting things are on the way. Continue reading “Spring Sprint” →

Melanie Gibson Injury and Recovery

Taking Life One Step at a Time

“One step at a time, one day at a time, it will all work out.”

This is something a mentor…er, friend….er…you know what, I’ll just be honest–This is something my therapist, whom I saw for seven years, used to say to me. You’ll meet my therapist “Ramona” in my upcoming memoir, Kicking and Screaming: a Memoir of Madness and Martial Arts. For now I’d like to reflect on her comforting words.
Continue reading “Taking Life One Step at a Time” →

Melanie Gibson Injury and Recovery

When Do You Feel Like an Athlete Again?

Five weeks post-op

A month and two days following my ACL reconstruction surgery, I had a follow-up appointment with my orthopedic surgeon. Two weeks earlier I’d seen one of his assistants to have my sutures and bandages removed and to get a play-by-play, complete with three pages of color photos, of the surgery.

I was hoping for some good news after a month of hard work at home and in physical therapy. I’d been cranky and depressed for the past week because a nasty case of topical dermatitis flared up around my incisions. The incisions themselves are fine, but the skin around it was red, itchy, and full of little bumps that give my skin the appearance and feel of a very tightly inflated (i.e., one Tom Brady might allegedly avoid) football.

Continue reading “When Do You Feel Like an Athlete Again?” →

Melanie Gibson Book, General Martial Arts, Training Tips, Work and Martial Arts

Taekwondo Is Who I Am

Melanie black belt meditating

I’m writing this at my desk on a quiet, pretty Sunday afternoon while I sip ginger kombucha to ease my perpetually irritated stomach, try not to feel overwhelmed about some assignments my managerial editor has given me for my book, and hope I wake up in time to jump on an 8 AM conference call.

Continue reading “Taekwondo Is Who I Am” →

Melanie Gibson Book

You Guys! My Book Is Being Published!

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I am pleased to officially announce that I am now a contracted author with She Writes Press*. We are set to publish my memoir Kicking and Screaming: a Memoir of Madness and Martial Arts spring 2021.

Continue reading “You Guys! My Book Is Being Published!” →

Melanie Gibson Self-Development and Leadership, Work and Martial Arts

Don’t Let Perfect Be the Enemy of Good

perfectionism2

“You can’t let perfect be the enemy of good.”

I was attending a three-day change management training with about 15 other people from various industries. We had been working on in-class projects and presentations, and one man from a well-known tech company casually said to a classmate as he plugged away at his project, “You can’t let perfect be the enemy of good.”

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Melanie Gibson Class Diaries, General Martial Arts, Training Tips

Don’t Be Frustrated. Be Fascinated.

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I am a second degree black belt, but I am not an advanced fighter.

Sparring has never been my forte as a child or as an adult taekwondo practitioner. Sometimes I’ve hated it. Sometimes I’ve looked forward to it. Sometimes I both dread and enjoy it. It has always been a learning experience. I don’t live up to my impossibly high expectations, and of course that sets me up for frustration.

I decided to change my approach to sparring at the dojang I’ve been attending since December of last year.

Continue reading “Don’t Be Frustrated. Be Fascinated.” →