ESL: Coping With It All
Finding Time for Extra Curricular Activities
Last week looked at the importance of taking time out during your hectic day to relax and take things in. This week: finding extra-curricular activities in your ESL home.
However, closing your eyes for even a minute, let alone an entire lunch hour may result in you sleeping right through the rest of the day, grounds for being fired as you may already suspect. So what are you to do?
It may not come as much of a surprise to you to hear that sports are often the best way to help reinvigorate your mind and body. Exercise is a proven means of helping not only adults, but children do better in their day to day life. It stimulates your muscles and feeds all of your body, including your brain. People who exercise on a day to day basis are proven to be better at handling stress and coping with unforeseen circumstances.
I found myself getting overly tired by the end of the day when I was working as an English teacher in South Korea. Alone, missing my wife who wasn't scheduled to join me for another two months, I found my days becoming unbearably long, especially the latter part of the day where my classes would run until 20:00 hrs in the evening.
Speaking to a co-worker, she got me in touch with a Tae Kwon Do club just down the street from where we worked. Having done it the year before, she was very keen on returning telling me that it was a great way to relieve stress. Now, for those of you who are rolling your eyes and may be thinking sports are simply not for you, allow me to assure you that I am the least sport oriented person you will ever meet.
I was slightly reluctant if for not other reason than I wasn't keen on being a white belt in a class of children, teenagers and young adults whom the majority were black belts. We have this somewhat annoying competitive streak in North America that seems to limit us from joining activities for fear of having our egos bruised. Thus, taking the initial steps towards joining not just a martial arts course, but a foreign martial arts course was nothing if not daunting at first.
Nevertheless, I found myself face to face with Master Lee, a Tai Kwon Do expert who not only made the course one of the most enjoyable I have ever taken in my life, but whom introduced me to a sport that allowed me to release so much tension and stress. It was a brilliant course, one that allowed me to also be rid of my frustrations and anxieties over other aspects of my life that didn't even have to do with work.
Master Lee was a very personable man who made me laugh on numerous occasions. He expected from each and every one of their students their personal best. Despite my preconceptions of having to break a plank of wood or kick a ball positioned on top of a punching bag I found that instead, it was just a great cardio vascular work out that helped me get through the first two months of my new life in South Korea.
Tae Kwon Do may still not be for everyone, no matter how laid back the course may be, but don't let that stop you from exploring other options. Yoga, Tai-Chi, Karate, and even going to a local gym and having a swim or doing weights are all at your disposal should you find yourself working in a major city. For the more academic minded, there are always courses available at local universities, including language courses which cost fairly little and at times are even free.
Having something other to do than going to work, partying on weekends and getting ready for bed at night is a sure fire way of getting you started on the right side of bed every morning.
Copyright © 2006, Mario R. J. Corbin and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.
