Self Defense

You know, there's something empowering about breaking a slab of wood that's an inch thick.

There's something empowering about doing it as a woman, knowing that you can protect yourself by kicking someone's jaw/ribs in or knocking a guy's family jewels up into his throat if he comes a little too close for comfort and won't leave you alone. But in all honesty, I wasn't beating a guy. I was beating diabetes.

That board was diabetes. And it's actually kind of funny, Stephanie Aduddell is an amazing Taekwondo instructor, an amazing woman, a black belt, and a type one diabetic. She's absolutely one of the most inspiring diabetics out there. She doesn't let diabetes stop her from kicking butt, being a mom, and supporting the young girls in the community. She taught my entire class how to get out of any bad situation, and we even got to throw around our headmaster.

Anyways, back to the board. I was standing there, Stephanie had the board braced in her hands, and I was staring at it. I remembered something she'd said before. "You need to focus all of your energy into beating this board. It's like a big test. It's like my diabetes. You need to focus, and you need to overcome the obstacle that's standing in your way." I looked dead into the center of that board, and I told myself that I was going to crack that sucker in half. I put my right foot back, angled my body, and took a shot.

I didn't crack it quite in half, but it's now sitting broken, on my desk.

And so the moral of the story kids? You can do anything you set your mind to. And now, I have a new mindset. If you wake up every morning, doubting that you can take care of your diabetes and do it well, then you're not going to even try. But, if you wake up, and look at it like busting a board in half, like focusing all positive energy and saying "I am going to try really hard to take good care of myself. I am going to check, I am going to carb count, and I am going to bolus. If I make a mistake, I can fix things. If I don't, then I did a great job today, and I'll try again tomorrow."

It put things in perspective for me. And besides, it's kinda nice to know you can walk around knowing that you can keep yourself safe.

Much Love,
Alexa