By Douglas Ward
How Boxing Changed My Life
After you've been in the sport a while and have coached kids and adults alike, you hear a wide variety of the benefits each person has taken away from their time in the ring.
Boxing teaches discipline, determination and the value of having a real work ethic. You gain a real sense of pride, self-confidence and self-respect. Competing, even sparring, forces you to face your fears and have a level of honesty with yourself that you won't find in most other arenas.
Above all, boxing asks you to grow so much as an individual in all of these areas, at such a high level, that life’s struggles pale in comparison. The real personal growth that occurs in the gym and in the ring, in pursuit of success, enables you to endure more and do more than the average person. The extreme pressure you face in the boxing ring elevates your ability to tackle even the most difficult of life's problems with a different view of what "hard" is.
The character of Jack in the movie Fight Club put it so perfectly when he said, "After fighting, everything else in your life got the volume turned down. You could deal with anything." Fight Club isn't boxing and it was just a movie, but that quote nailed the reality of being in the ring perfectly.
Lace 'em up and you just might experience the ability to deal with anything more fearlessly.
Douglas Ward is the Marketing Director for TITLE Boxing