Karate Brings Balance To Life – Tiahni & Nathan’s Story

Nathan has what you’d call a busy lifestyle.  In this day and age, that’s nothing unusual, but it’s still worth noting in order to understand how karate has changed Nathan’s life.  Nathan and his wife both work in quite demanding full-time jobs, most of the time on opposite rosters, which in itself makes life quite challenging for them at times.  They also have 2 young girls and up until recently were foster parents to another 3 children for an extended period of time.

Before getting started at Sunshine Coast Karate, Nathan had let his health and fitness slip as he was too busy just keeping up with the day to day grind. I suspect a big part of that might have also been as a result of putting the kids first which is something that a lot of parents tend to do.  Let’s face it, every parent wants the best for their kids and often without meaning to we let our own lives slip in the process of trying to be the best parents we know how to be.

Here’s an old picture of Nathan & Tiahni from when they first started training.

Nathan and his eldest daughter Tiahni have been training at Sunshine Coast Karate for a few years now and it’s been great to see how they’ve both grown with it to make it a big part of their daily lives.  I think getting started at the dojo for them was largely about making some significant lifestyle changes and creating new habits and they’ve both certainly done that.  Here’s what Nathan has to say about why they got started and what keeps them coming back to the dojo.

Tiahni started because we wanted her to do a physical activity as she spent all her time drawing and reading. I felt that karate was good for the activity and would still challenge her mind. As for why she keeps coming back this has changed recently and I would now say she has a passion for the way it stretches her both mentally and physically. She loves the challenge and the reward. While still having fun.

As for me I started for her so we both did something together and my own health and fitness. I come back because this allows me to let go of my problems and switch off from life. Without this I wouldn’t be able to function daily with the clarity that we all need in life.

Of course with a busy lifestyle it could be really easy for Nathan to make excuses about why it’s easy to sit at home on the lounge after a long day at work.  Instead he’s made the choice to do get to the dojo and do something different.  At first it was just once a week, but that quickly grew into several sessions a week for himself and his kids.  But it doesn’t stop there, Nathan’s also stepped up and joined our leadership team to give back some of what he’s gained from his own training, to help inspire the next generation of beginners following in his footsteps.

Echoing Nathan’s comments above, here’s a short video interview with Nathan that one of our other members Jodie made a few months back.

You’re an inspiration Nathan, love your work!