Kirsty, who joined Worcestershire Martial Arts in August 2017, works in a family Company and spends most of the week working from home. Kirsty is passionate about her work, but also isolated by it due to being unable to make new friends or meet new people.
Over time this took a negative effect on her mental health and general well-being and after speaking to a couple of friends about how she felt, Kirsty decided the best idea would be to start a new hobby and try to meet new people, although she’d no idea what hobby to try.
Fate intervened when she attended the Worcester Show where Worcestershire Martial Arts were exhibiting and performing a demonstration in August 2017. After speaking to several club members, Kirsty could quickly see that there were real friendships in the group. Determined to give something a go and try new things, she decided to come along to a lesson, although she was very nervous and almost convinced that she wouldn’t be “strong enough” to do a martial art. After a very enjoyable first class, Kirsty decided to join the club.
It’s now been over a year since she joined, and Kirsty feels that Worcestershire Martial Arts has given her everything she was looking for. She still works from home for most of the week but being a member of the club and making new friends means that she no longer feels isolated.
“I used to feel really lonely and left out when my husband or friends had plans with their colleagues,” Kirsty says, “because I knew that wasn’t an option for me. I’m not from Worcester so I don’t know a lot of people. I felt like I had a very small group of friends in comparison to others and I used to think it was impossible to meet anyone or make new friends. Now if I go shopping in town, I bump into people from the club. We get together and go for drinks. I feel like a member of a community, it makes me really happy.”
As well as making new friends and becoming part of a community, starting Taekwon-Do has helped to increase Kirsty’s confidence. When she first joined the club she was worried she wouldn’t be strong enough to take part, but now she is stronger than she has ever been and especially enjoys learning new Taekwon-Do patterns.
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