Things that scare me the most

Hook: Bang! A straight hit to my face was landed, questions pilling in my mind, the loudest I heard was
asking for an escape. I remember panicking and feeling the pain of kicks and punches coming
continuously one after the other. I realized I am in this all alone, My opponent is punching and kicking
through me like he wants me dead. My vision starts to darken, I was becoming senseless. Everything
happened in such a small interval of time, I was not able to realize what happened to me. Eventually, I
felt someone's hand around my body, trying to wake me up, few seconds and I was in my sense, lying on
the ground.

This was my first experience with martial art fight at the age of 9. I was scared and afraid to get into
martial art fight after this event. My father with the martial art coach had other ideas. They wanted to
take the fear of fight out of me and wanted to teach me the art of martial art fight. "You can't learn
martial art until you learn to defend yourself by blocking the kicks and punches" those were my coach's
word. I was hesitant and reluctant to let go of my fear and self-doubt. As a kid I was under-confident in
all areas of life, kids my age were winning gold medals in multiple sports and doing wonders
academically and on the other hand, my life used to start with going to school and ending watching silly
cartoon shows on T.V. I was happy with this lifestyle until my dad started noticing my laziness and
carelessness. He made me join a martial art club, but I used to make silly excuses every day to not go to
the club. As I was not having interest in martial art, I was not practising well. Hence, I was struggling to
show any potential in my fighting skills. He used to always tell me that he was the same when he was my
age and how his laziness had affected him in his teenage years. He did not want me to experience the
same, pushing me out of my comfort zone was his Only mission and a man on a mission can reach any
limit to achieve it.

As time moved on, he started building a routine for me, which was very hard to follow. I remember
crying and complaining to my mom every day, she acted as a medium between me and my stubborn
dad. He wanted me to adopt the military routine, which went as follows. Wake up at 5 am, take a cold
shower, followed by a half an hour run and from then we would go to the martial art club. My friend
unlike me was a champion swimmer and a very well-built man. He had won dozens of gold medals in his
childhood for swimming, badminton, and cricket. It should be inbuilt in my DNA to be a champion, that
is what everyone used to tell me. I felt the pressure to perform building up on me every day. Every day I
used to have the same routine, by 9 pm I used to be dead on the bed. We all know that routine and
discipline breeds excellence. I started loving the daily visit to the martial art club, learnt how to block the
opponent's kicks and punches and also learnt some attacking punches and kicks. I could sense the
change in me, as I started waking up without alarm and was jumping out of bed as soon as it hit 5. Also, I
started loving my new diets as instructed by my coach

I felt the change in me eventually. After participating in couple of martial art competition, I realized that
there were people way faster and better than me. So, I was constantly focusing on my skills and trying to
improve my attacks and defends with the help of my coach and dad’s training I cracked my first ever
competition, the inter school competition. I won a gold medal in the competition and was the first
person from my school to do it. My confidence skyrocketed after that, reputation changed, and which
also reflected in my grades. What I didn't realize was that learning martial art would also make me a
more confident person. I started getting recognition from the principal and was the hottest property of
my martial art club. My coach started giving more attention to me and wanted to prepare me for the
inter-state competition, which was the next big milestone to be achieved. I could see the happiness in
my father's eyes, it was like his youth had returned in me and his mission was completed. I was in my
best physical strength at that time. My stamina, durability, flexibility, increased rapidly which help get an
edge over others during the competition. "It is all about sharpening the edges", my father used to say. It
is what differentiates between the ordinary and the extraordinary, the extra effort.

Now when I look back at my childhood, I feel my father had a futuristic vision. He knew that if I could
plant a seed of self-discipline, punctuality, perseverance, and dedication in me. I would surely grow out
to be an extraordinary athlete. I have had a lot of setback and disappointments in my life, but my
routine and my goal always used to be constant. A strong mentality is what matters in the end. Survival
of the fittest as they say.