yk when i was little i didn't rly get why ppl made such a big deal about "self defense classes" being empowering
but now looking back on my martial arts times, i totally understand
there's so much shit i'm glad to know how to do if i have to, but ofc being younger i didn't realise that that was one of the only ways you could learn those things
like. for one. it went against the shit school said that self defense with force is always bad.
and i learned to be competent around weapons, both disarming + using
plus to this day i can muscle-memory into a ready stance and i've retained all the blocks and jabs and stuff
can't rly do the kicks anymore but that's more of a disability thing since i can't stand for more than 60 seconds at a time fskjg
but even so, knowing to angle your body away from attack and how to block and stuff, is still useful even in a wheelchair, even if your feet aren't in a stance
and it's very very good and useful that it comes as second nature w/o needing to think about it, even now
