FOUR things that really made my day....
1. A Stolen Cookie
In passing, I mentioned to some of my homeroom class, "I never get cookies, only balls to the head and sticks to my knees!" One of the activities the kids do while I'm teaching floor hockey with the all-girl teams is baking cookies. I've gone almost three weeks now without ever actually touching one of these notoriously talked about chocolate chip cookies. I've seen the assistant teachers licking their fingers, heard other teachers ranting about them and I'm constantly overhearing the kids brag about how many chocolate chips they put on their cookie. Are they really making chocolate chip cookies or is this like when they sent a man to the moon and many didn't believed it?!
... and then I saw a cookie! Yes, it's true. They DID make cookies (you be the judge about the moon... hahaha).
It was after dinner when it happened. I was heading out the main building when I thought I'd stop by and say hi to my homeroom students -- 15 kids that, as the luck of the draw would have it, once again are the coolest kids on the block! And as I stopped by to say hi, one little boy grabbed my hand and motioned for me to follow him into the hall. That's when I saw it... a carefully wrapped in tissue cookie that he had stashed away in his pocket for the past hour and a bit.
"You remembered me?" I asked him.
"I never forgot" he replied.
And with that I gave out a big "ahhhhh" and hugged the cute little mini-Korean. It was like a picture-perfect love story and I was all giddy. Upon seeing a coworker outside while on route back to the dorm, I ran up to her and bragged all about the cookie my student had stole for me.
2. A Record Run
Sticking me in an empty room with nothing but really me to amuse myself makes me go stir crazy. I'm not one to sit down for hours. I need to get up, have my space and be able to stay active. Consequently, I've been training a lot here -- late night long runs, timed runs, hiking, and various weight training circuits. Today I headed out for one of my long runs. With just the Korean Military Academy on the one side and the Olympic Training Facility on the other, it's a 10km route that is people-free, building-free and is basically just me and the lonely open road.
I've been really trying to focus on training outside of my comfort zone. I can run 10km no problem, heck the most I've ever ran is 30km, but the problem is that I comfortably run instead of pushing myself to up my speed. Tonight I made a conscious effort to run harder. I picked a focal point in front of me, like a street light, and told myself to run hard to the point. This point acted like a finish point -- a finish point of many because once I arrived at that particular point I'd pick another and then continue to it. Finish line after finish line, I continued until my ultimate finish line, the girls' dorm doors.
Ran 10km in 41 minutes.
3. An Unexpected Drive-By
So there I was, running my heart out on the cold, silent streets here in the middle of No-Man's Land when what should happen but someone starts to honk at me. If this were Canada it'd be one things, I'd simply ignore it or assume it's some young guy doing it for kicks, but this isn't Canada. At first I did a quick glance and then continued but when the car pulled up right beside me as I ran roadside, then I stopped. And who should it be in this edge-of-existence disserted road by the Mayor. The Mayor stopped me to say hi, that's pretty cool.
4. A Surprise Email
I've always had dreams and being average was never one of them. Having said this, I take great pride in the fact that I'm able to do what I love and love what I do -- boxing, fitness and health. Turning pro with my boxing has not only separated me more with my family (specifically my in-laws) but has also made me closer with other family members and has given me an additional family. Running Flipside Fitness has been both the most encouraging and most discouraging job I've ever taken on. And starting my own boxing club with Snickers has both destroyed my safe haven and second family but is also creating a whole new higher leveled safe haven and my own second family.
I've never been a follower, I've always felt the drive to lead. In leading both Flipside Fitness and our upcoming boxing club, sometimes it feels overwhelming. I don't feel stress from it, instead I feel fear -- the fear of disappointing those I'm trying to lead. I'm ok if it all blows up in my face and I end up with my bank account bone dry because at least I took a chance. But what about those I'm leading? I felt this fear the other day when I was leading a small crew up the mountain for night hiking. The hike proved to be more dangerous than imagined and I certainly felt responsible for their safety.
These days I worry about Flipside Fitness. I'm not there able to run boxercise classes and the new boxing club is taking longer than anticipated. I'm not even in Cheonan to be running any social events and so the level of participation on the Facebook page is dwindling. I posed a weekly Flab to Fab Fitness Challenge this week, like I always do, but only one other person besides me has even participated and added to the Share File. I'm not going to do anymore Flab to Fab Fitness Challenges, it's not worth the disappointment and it's been the most discouraging thing on my plate, more so than the business crew holding the fate of our boxing club location in their hands.
Today, as I sat down to check if anyone else had added to the Share File, I got an email notification. It was from someone who has been reading my homepage. I hope he doesn't mind but I added his message below. It was so great, really so damn great, to read something encouraging because I find it's me who is always the one expected to be the encouraging one -- with Flipside Fitness, with my clients, with my sponsors, with these kids and floor hockey, with coworkers at the camp. It's like they're all allowed to lean on me for encouragement and a good old pep talk because I'm the hyper, happy-go-lucky kid that runs circles around them all and loves life.
Hi Amy, I can't remember how I came across your blog, I probably googled "boxing and Korea", but I've read it for years and quite enjoy it. I hope you don't mind having strangers checking up on your career! Having lived and fought in Korea as well as in Canada, I quite enjoy the content and it resonates with me for numerous reasons. I haven't checked your page in a while, so thought I should see how your last fight went. It sounds like you fought well, stepping up to 8 rounds is big, those not in the fight game don't know what a difference this is. I am sorry that you got screwed with the decision. Though I don't fight any more. I well remember the anguish of an undeserved loss. I also know, as you do, that there is no greater preparation for life than what goes on in camp and then within the ring. Every camp is like a mini life lived. Without going into detail, I felt compelled to email and say you have fans that you don't know about. At least one random guy here in Canada, and I am sure others around the world, that enjoy reading about your attitude in and out of the ring. Thank you for putting yourself out there and sharing. Action creates reaction and your good vibes are spreading further than you likely realize. Good luck with the gym!
I especially liked his line "Action creates reaction", so true. I'm trying my hardest to put into action various things but sometimes I just don't see the reactions beyond it eating my energy and making me doubt if I'm even bringing about change. I'm still fighting hard and staying true to my mother's words about not changing to fit others I don't even want to fit with and about being the change I want to see, but it's hard. I'm being the change I want to see but perhaps no one but me appreciates this change. I don't need people to validate my worth, that's not it, but when what I'm doing is for the greater good of a larger group or in order to help others (Flipside Fitness) then yes, I do need their validation, if not then well, I may as well be speaking to the wall.
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