I think I’ll write about my time in the Kendo Club at OSU and how it has changed me for my personal development post.
As I’ve stated before, I’ve been a martial artist all my life and upon arriving at OSU I decided to try out a new martial art: Kendo (think of it as Japanese Fencing). Since joining the club, I decided to become an Officer to: 1. get more involved with the club and 2. push myself outside of my comfort zone by taking a more leadership-esque role. Being one of the Safety Officers, I’m in charge of bringing bandages and athletic tape to practice and making sure there is food and water available in case anyone passes out and needs attention (which happens only very, very rarely). This position has allowed me to get to know the other more senior members of the club and also has taught me a little bit of responsibility. Also, doing Kendo in general has taught me a valuable lesson about the importance of one’s own mindset. During Kendo practice we are taught to separate our self into two people: the one that practices Kendo and the one that deals with all the issues and goings-on in day-to-day life. This allows us to destress while were in our practice environment by forgetting all the stresses of college and has the added benefit of helping us focus on Kendo and Kendo alone. This concept taught me the importance of taking a moment to stop, relax, and unwind my stress because college is a very busy and hectic place. At the beginning of the semester I had a really hard time processing all the information that was being thrown at me and struggled to operate in a mindset that was stressed-out 24/7. Since then I’ve learned to calm down and consider reality: if I do bad on a test or in a class (etc.) it’s not the end of the world, so it’s not worth beating myself up over it. That being said, I’m also learning how to manage my time better to avoid that situation entirely. I know/hope that in the semesters to come, I’ll be able to apply these lessons more and more effectively.