A Slice of Humble Pie

As you may recall, this past Saturday was was taekwondo belt testing. Herself felt better going into this test than she had in previous tests: she knew her form cold, the expected combination kicks were difficult but tolerable, and she was comfortable with basic movements and even with sparring. The one item that worried her was the breaking. She thought it would go reasonably well.

And then, her brain got up and marched out of the room just as she was about to begin her form.

She knows now that her right foot moved when her left should have in the beginning. She's not quite sure why it happened, really - it had never happened during the 8 million times she had practiced the form previously. She eventually recovered and more or less completed the form, but the damage was done.

Words truly cannot describe what ran through her head: horror, panic, anger, and most of all, disgust with herself for the error. She is a bit of a perfectionist at heart. That, combined with her innate and intense dislike of the spotlight, made it a fairly dreadful moment.

She got through the rest of the test, though. Her friends were comforting and helpful, as always. She even eventually managed the flying side kick board break. That was good.

She knows that all it means is that she is human. She is fallible, she makes mistakes. As she told me later, it's to be expected that she will occasionally reveal to the world she is that pretty far out of her comfort zone. All the same, she will keep trying.

What was most helpful was going back to the familiarity of the gym on Monday. Class always brings her happiness. She has her friends and taekwondo, and she is content. She will forgive herself and move onwards. Tally ho!