Melanie Gibson was an independent woman with a good job, multiple
college degrees, and a condo in the trendy part of town. She also had a
few mental illnesses, a minor substance abuse problem, and rotten
relationship skills. She was a high-functioning crazy who needed a good
kick in the pants, literally and metaphorically.



In early 2013, as a last desperate means to save her sanity, Melanie
turned to a nearly forgotten childhood activity: the Korean martial art
of taekwondo. As if the universe were listening, she discovered her West
Texas childhood taekwondo instructors’ Grandmaster operated a taekwondo
school a few miles from her home in Fort Worth, Texas—and she decided
to start her training over as a white belt.



In taekwondo, Melanie felt like she had a fresh start in more ways than
one. She found an inner peace she’d never known before, a sense of
community, a newfound confidence, and a positive outlook on life. The
kicking and screaming she was doing in class quieted the long-term
kicking and screaming in her mind. Funny and frank, Kicking and Screaming: A Memoir of Madness and Marital Arts is the story of Melanie’s life-changing journey from troubled, lost soul to confident taekwondo black belt.