Modesty

By Ahas Weerapura, teen 1st dan

Modesty is a quality that is extremely important in nearly every aspect of life. Modesty is important to our mental and emotional health, healthy interactions with other people, and to our self-improvement as a taekwondo student. Modesty can be defined as the quality of not having arrogance regarding your own abilities, accomplishments, and qualities. Modesty is also closely intertwined with humility, which is the internal part of modesty, or being modest with yourself. Modesty also falls into the affective domain of Lee H. Park’s model concept, and affects both of the other domains as well.

Modesty is incredibly important to the individual’s mental and emotional (or cognitive and affective) health as well. It fosters a sense of self respect and satisfaction that doesn’t require any external validation and can't be broken down by other people. This trait is extremely valuable and increasingly so. Modesty can result in benefits like increased self-esteem and reduced self-hatred, and can even assist in better decision-making skills due to having a more grounded and realistic self-image.

Another aspect that modesty is important to is interactions with other people. Modesty is an important social mechanism that makes an individual more likable to other people. Additionally, people who are arrogant and lack modesty are often irritating to the people that they interact with. Modesty can often also assist in the efficiency of social interactions as well. Arrogant people can often say contradicting things to make themselves look good, and when they feel the need to make themselves look good, they can often obstruct interactions that are trying to accomplish understanding. When people are modest and have the aforementioned self-respect and satisfaction, they are better able to convey and delineate ideas, which is especially useful in the professional setting.

Additionally, modesty is important to becoming a better student and improving. Having modesty is an important part of being able to accept mistakes and things you did wrong, letting you fix them and improve. A lack of modesty can cause your level of performance to stay static because you won’t take feedback on the things you did wrong. This also extends to work, school, and even hobbies due to how essential modesty is to improvement.

Modesty is an incredibly useful and pleasant trait to have. It has become exceptionally absent in society, and remarkably valuable as a result. Modesty helps in mental health, interactions with other people, and getting better at the things that you do. I highly encourage you to at least attempt to practice modesty in your daily life, as the benefits will be immeasurable.