New Beginnings

The pandemic has not been kind to me. One of my frustrations is that I haven't been able to teach women’s self-defense and I haven’t been able to able to write. Let me catch you up on what’s been going on and then I’ll be ready to get to work again.

 

My husband, Chad, and I have owned a restaurant. Pre-pandemic I was a mild-mannered restaurateur by day and a martial artist and women’s self-defense instructor by night. Owning and operating a restaurant during a pandemic is extremely difficult, bordering on impossible. Training in the martial arts during a pandemic before vaccines were available was difficult, and I want to give special thanks to Eric, my partner in Street Shield Self-Defense, for helping me continue training in our Okinawan martial art system by encouraging me to create a garage dojo and also by training with me via video. Trying to teach women’s self-defense while also owning and operating a restaurant during a pandemic proved to be too much for me. Eventually Chad and I had to close our restaurant and we’re now building new lives for ourselves. My new life will be focused on martial arts and teaching women’s self-defense which are my passions.

 

However, I also had some joys in 2021 that I would like to share:

Chad and I went on vacation with friends to Oregon and Washington state.

After Eric and I were vaccinated we resumed trained in person.

I traveled to Minneapolis for the 500Rising Instructional Foundations in Women’s Self-Defense course for the second year in a row.

In November I started posting again on our Street Shield Self-Defense Facebook and Instagram pages. Each month has a theme.

November’s theme was Boundaries. With the holidays coming up, maintaining Boundaries with family can be important.

December was Self-Care. It’s easy to become so caught up in holiday activities and creating special holiday experiences for everyone that we need to remember to take care of our ownselves. What does this have to do with self-defense? The first step to self-defense is understanding that you're worth defending, and that starts with caring for your ownself. 

January’s theme is New Beginnings. This ties in with the New Year and  resolutions, plus I had planned on resuming blogging this month and here we are with my New Beginning! What does this have to do with self-defense? The best thing you can do for your own self-protection is becoming your preferred version of yourself, because the happier you are with yourself the harder target you are. This is true whether we're talking about potential Threats who are strangers, acquaintances, or people close to you such as intimate partners. Therefore becoming your preferred version of yourself is one of the the most important things you can do to keep yourself safer. This why I say, "Self-Defense is Life Enhancement. The things we do to keep ourselves safer also make our lives better on a daily basis."

February’s theme will be Relationships. Tying in with Valentine’s Day. 8 out of 10 rapists are known by their victims, usually an acquaintance or an intimate partner. This makes managing relationships very important for personal safety.

March will be Strategy and Planning. Many people don't succeed in keeping their New Year’s resolutions because for them the dead of winter should be a time of rest, for those people Springtime makes more sense for starting major life changes. Therefore March is a good month for strategizing and planning whether you're taking specific steps for your personal safety or becoming your preferred version of yourself.

April will be Renewal. This ties-in to spring, and implementing those March plans.

And that’s as far as we’ve gotten. We'll decide themes for May and the following months later.

Eric and I hope to teach in-person classes again some time in the Spring, it mostly depends on me and what’s going on in my life as I’m rebuilding it. In the meantime, we have this blog and other social media. 

Please join us on this journey.

 

Stay safe and be bold.

 ~Amy.