Some decisions in life prove to be life altering, such was my decision to start studying Martial Arts. I had always had an interest, but had never tried any until a 6 week women’s self defense class was offered where I was employed at the time. I took it and figured I had learned just enough to get myself into some serious trouble should I ever need to defend myself. I looked around and the closest karate school to my home was on Main Street in Rogersville, Tn. Kelly’s Heroes. I went down, signed up and changed my life.
I had no idea at the time where this side journey would take me, but it grabbed me and challenged me and gave me the leverage I needed to end an abusive relationship. With my feet solidly under me, I threw myself into my study and competed all over the south and northeast. I made great friends, I won grand championship trophies and was eventually nominated for and accepted into the Isshinryu Hall of Fame. Life changing.
This past weekend The Original Neanderthal was privileged to be able to give back to the school that has given us so much. We sponsored two exceptional karate-ka as they competed in Kelly’s Heroes annual karate tournament. Giving back to our community is important to Savanna and I and giving back through this school more so. Congratulations to Abby and Sawyer for a great showing in the tournament.
Life changing. Starting a business is the same. Win or lose, find your niche or go broke, life will not be the same going forward as it was before stepping out, embracing the challenge, and stepping into the unknown future. Nothing is guaranteed. Like stepping into the ring and discovering that your opponent is not standing across from you like everyone thinks, your opponent is inside your skin.
Who are you and what are you made of? What can you do to overcome the obstacles placed between you and your goal? How bad do you want to succeed? How much blood, sweat and tears are you willing to put into it, because nothing worthwhile in this world is freely given. How many times are you willing to get up when you’ve been knocked down? How many times are you willing to step in and try again when your last efforts were a total disaster? My husband says that some people just know how to win, I think those people are people who just refuse to accept failure.
Success with the Original Neanderthal is our goal. And we will not lose sight of the things that make up success. Sometimes the difference between success and failure is how one defines success. To me, being able to have a business that is profitable, that will allow us a platform to encourage people; to give back to the community and support the people who have supported us will define our success.
For some reason our society seems to glorify selfishness and many folks seem obsessed with themselves. That is such a small picture of the world, it is depressing. Step out look around, reach out and touch a life, it is amazing what that will do. Life changing. Think about it.
Theoriginalneanderthal 