By Liz Beddow
I have never been one to look many belts ahead where I thought I could actually become a Master. I’ve been training with Chief Master Wegmann at Vision Martial Arts since 2002. If you looked at my family to see who would go this far, I would not have been the one picked out of the lineup first. I liked sparring and board breaking…you know, the parts where you got to hit things, but I always struggled to memorize forms. Once I finalized and memorized it, I could do the form in training, at home, and the second I had to show it off, “poof,” it’d be gone like I never practiced. Anxiety can do that to you. Needless to say, I’ve seen a lot of no changes.
It wasn’t until 2019, when I earned my 5th Degree Black Belt that Mastership was close, and suddenly the world shut down. Then I had to have a complete hysterectomy that led to a complication where I couldn’t lift my legs to kick. Two years of physical therapy helped get me back on track to where I can. Then, something amazing happened. My husband and I adopted our beautiful son. We met him as a tiny 4lb, fierce little thing. As we became a family, we noticed he had some physical challenges. He started physical therapy to get his left side moving. He started OT after his entire body shut down and needed to be brought back to life. We were told our goal was to provide love, calm, and support. It made us step back from our busy lives to help him get stronger. My son motivated me to get moving on those days that I didn’t want to. He would do his PT exercises, and while he rested and ate his bottle, I would do mine. When it came to test, I took it one step at a time. My first midterm was on 3 hours of sleep with an agitated baby. I decided if I didn’t pass that one, I would wait another year to try again until he was stronger, and it was easier to travel. But I passed. And then the next one, and the next one. Training while sleep-deprived and exhausted was exactly what I needed to show up for my testing. That’s where the discipline overrides the want. There were many times I did not want to train, just like now. I would want to sleep or want quiet time. But the discipline taught through Songham Taekwondo is what has me doing my Mastership workouts, reading, and studying for the exam instead.
When you look at my son, he doesn’t look like he has challenges. Don’t get me wrong, he is a bright, happy, healthy boy. One of his challenges is he also has what’s called hypertonia. It’s tight muscles that spasm. The spasms can last seconds or hours. He also has episodes that look like seizures but aren’t. He will have tremors, stop breathing, and then after it passes, a meltdown. These can be caused by being overtired, overstimulated, or stressed. Anything can throw him off. We have learned to see the signs that he needs a break while the overstimulation is happening. Sometimes it’s as slight as a clenched hand or a split second of a look that to most would think he’s surprised, but to his dad and I, it’s fear.
As I am writing this, we are in the middle of a stage of “uncomfortableness.” He has woken up every night for hours with my husband and me rotating, taking care of him. He
is growing, which makes his muscles tighter and the spasms worse. We are exhausted, and I can’t seem to get through one of the color belt forms, which is making me a little stressed since it’s part of my Mastership test. I know I will be working out tomorrow, maybe not as hard as I would want it to be, but moving forward is sometimes done slowly.
Our days are pretty much the same. We will get up with him and divide and conquer. Mondays and Wednesdays are our staff training. We each go to one while the other stays home with our son. Tuesday and Thursdays he has PT or OT which I will do while my husband gets household chores done or work.
If it’s an easier day, I will get a couple of hours to get ready for tomorrow, read my book for my mastership, and do all my social media posts for my sponsors for my fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. Currently, I think I will only have energy for 1.
I am thankful to have the flexibility in my work schedule that I do. There are days I need to be home and days that I am working from sun up to sundown. But I love what I do. Helping parents see the benefit of Songahm Taekwondo and students see that they can be good at something is exactly why I teach martial arts. Training for my Mastership has given me an appreciation of where our organization came from, 
and it’s a core foundation. Every Master, Senior Master, Chief Master, and Grandmaster has had to overcome something to get to where they are. I am honored to be in a class of Master candidates who are juggling life, work, parenting, and being a caregiver, all while taking the training to our next path with the respect it deserves.
I feel I could go on and on about what I am the most excited about on this journey, but nap time should be ending soon, and I have forms to practice 😉
Liz Beddow is a 6th Degree Blackbelt and. Director Of Operations at Vision Martial Arts. Vision Martial Arts. Apex, North Carolina,
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