Perhaps too Deep for a Wednesday... Wednesday, October 2

HAPPY 4th MONTH ANNIVERSARY TO HULK'S!!!

Snickers mumbled something about Koreans not caring about month anniversaries when I asked him to help translate something for me. I don't care if they don't care.  I care and that's all that matters.  It's been four months since we officially opened to the public and I went into work all excited about this fact.

 

I was on such a high today, like I had had one too many coffees.

 

Sure, many Koreans don't care about today's anniversary but same with many foreigners too.  Does that change the fact that I care?! Absolutely not.  You'd be surprised at just how many people make an effort to not care though -- to hate.  Unhappy people that want to knock down my happiness.  I know they're out there, out here.  Perhaps my happiness with living my dream may mean I'm loud and proud but I never understood why others would want to pee on anyone's parade, as if I don't deserve the success I am now coming into.  I did my time -- working countless jobs I hated, doing the long hagwon hours and dealing with the politics of bad employees and even bad coworkers. 

 

I wanted to be a professional boxer, it had become such a passion of mine here in Korea, so that's what I did and I didn't let anyone hold me back.  Up until getting married, I fought illegally and trust me, it was no secret.  My fights were all over TV, I was even focused in several documentaries and various newspaper articles, but my fame was quick to bring about haters.  One thing I've found to be true everywhere and anywhere is that when you're down, there will always be someone to pick you up and those who'll want to keep you down, but when you're up, there will always be people hating on your success and wanting to push you back down.  My hate came in the form of my employer at the university.  Was it cool having them sending immigration to my house, hunting me down like some kind of wild animal?  No.  Was it cool immigration threatening to deport me or having the university threatening to fire me?  Surely not but I continued on.  I was told that if I had another fight I'd be deported within 24 hours so you know what I did, I had another fight but in another country.  Korea's immigration laws and the university's policies couldn't touch me in Japan where my next fight was scheduled.  I had the last laugh there and then, when I got married, I quit my cushiony job at the university to only fight.  With no steady paycheck beyond random tutoring jobs and royalties from my boxing coming in, in one year all I did was box.  In that same year I also traveled to Bali (honeymoon), Canada, Japan and the Philippines on no real paycheck.    

 

I've been in Korean nine years now but in my 7th year I completely gave up waiting on a life I dreamt about to happen.  Up until that point, I was living from day to day, waiting to move back to Canada so that I could start life, a real life.  My dream to build Hulk's was something I had planned to hold off on for Canada originally.  But I just got so sick and tired of being sick and tired.  I refused to grumble and mumble anymore and so I started to put my dream into reality. 

 

I can't even begin to tell you the amount of blood, sweat and tears that we put into making Hulk's.  It's exhausting just thinking about it.  We'd arrive before the daily workers would show up and then we'd stay there long after they quit for the day.  We did this day after day, month after month.  The point of this isn't to brag about all our hard work and effort but to stress the amazing fact that if you really want to do something then nothing will be able to stop you.  I really hope my friends are also so passionate about life and that they're happyily living 'unstoppable lives'.  Find what you love and go with it.  They say if you do what you love then you'll never work a day in your life and I can definitely testify to this.  Do what you have to do to do what you love -- wow, that sounded like a tongue twister there! 

 

I'm sure some people can say, "Well Amy, it's easy for you to say, you're married and you're married to a Korean".  Hello, Snickers is a pro boxer too... do you know how much a male pro boxer makes?!  Peanuts, if that.  I too made peanuts but then I decided to really milk the fact that I'm a foreign female boxer and busted my butt with searching out sponsors; it was not easy though.  My husband eats like a beast, as do I, so for awhile there I had to do random tutoring jobs just to cover our grocery bill.  Did we have the money to build Hulk's? Definitely not.  Do we have the money now?  Certainly no.  We owe so much money to WOW President, a debt that I'm sure will take a long time to pay back, but it was worth every cent.   And as for me sporting a F2 visa.  Ya, still waiting for it's supposed 'magical powers' to kick in and supposed freedom others seem to think it grants me.  I may be able to take on random and multiple jobs but have fun finding a job outside of teaching English in Korea that isn't so skill-specific like a tech job, seriously. 

 

If working in a hagwon gets you financial freedom from your loans or the university job gives you the holiday chunk you want so you can do your traveling, then great but figure out why you're doing what you're doing and if it's getting you closer to doing what you really love.  If teaching English is your passion then awesome.  I know many friends who absolutely love it but then I know many who don't and I always wonder to myself why they think they have the right to complain about it.  No one twisted your arm and said you HAVE to do that job.  You chose that job.  You're not a kid anymore, you don't need your parents' consent to quit and leave.

 

If I had just accepted the life I fell into, I'd be married to a retired Portuguese soccer player right now and probably sunbathing in our winter house out in Portugal.  I'd be probably spending my summers in Toronto, Canada, driving around in our matching Porsche Boxsters, spending money like it grew on trees.  But would I be happy? No... definitely not.  Instead, I took the hard route in life.  I stepped away from that which was expected of me, stayed in Korea, and fought to make a life for myself -- a life that I love.  It took me awhile to figure out what it was that I wanted to live for but once I figured it out, there was no stopping me.  A sweet paycheck wasn't sweet enough, immigration wasn't tough enough, and the voices of friends and family weren't loud enough to stop me. 

 

I created my own life.  We ALL create our own lives.  Life isn't what happens to you, it's what you make of it and you can either decide to let it slip you by or you can make it out to be what you want. 

 

You are what YOU make yourself to be and no one but you is responsible for that fact. 

 

There is NO POINT to holding back to living life because life is too short and before you know it you'll be looking back and regretting not having lived it.  My life is by no means perfect but you know what, it's pretty awesome that the life I live is better than the life I dreamt for myself.  I really do hope my friends all love their lives too and didn't just settle on what life brought them.  So today, as we celebrated our fourth month anniversary of Hulk's I felt proud of us.  We created Hulk's.  Sure, we had a lot of help in the process but we also had an overdose of obstacles.  And in making Hulk's, I hope it proves to be a testimony to my friends and family, showing them that anything IS possible if you really want something. 

 

Life can be and should be better than your dreams.