How has Karate Helped You

[emattson]

I’m curious in hearing stories of how studying karate has helped you outside the dojo.

For me, I felt that martial arts philosophy of health and being steeped in karate classes and culture for most of my childhood is why I’m still in good health. One martial art studio performing in a Chinatown festival hung a sign, “Stay healthy. There is no replacement for the human body”. In classes, we spent hours on stretching and general exercises. Decades later, I can walk 20,000 steps in one day, 30,000 when pushing it. This is not to be taken for granted. Two friends younger than I died from poor health. Another friend my age suffered from stroke, another younger than I was hospitalized several times.

Another benefit of karate, surprisingly, was it helped me win my first job. Back in 1991, I wrote a C program to assist dad with Dantests. It tracks scores and assisted judges grade students who are taking tests to earn a black belt or higher rank. The man interviewing me liked how I have real world programming experience and hired me.