This month’s CDP message of the month is Confidence! Confidence is a feeling that you’re sure about yourself and your abilities, not in a bragging way, but in a way that makes you feel good. When you are confident, you believe in yourself, you feel proud and accepted and you feel good things about yourself. There are so many ways to work on improving confidence like adjusting your posture to stand or sit a little taller, thinking about something you are good at, trying something that makes you nervous, and making sure to prepare and practice for something that you need to do. Everyone can struggle with confidence at some point or another and all of the instructors at Callahan’s can give plenty of examples of this themselves. However, karate can be so helpful in building confidence for many people. The benefits can include feeling stronger, feeling accomplished in a new skill, or feeling proud of yourself for earning a stripe or new rank. Along with this, students have opportunities to demonstrate moves in front of their class and to participate in events like our forms tournament that definitely practices confidence. Remember, “Confidence is like a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it gets.”