What a ride!

Training Jiu-Jitsu is kind of like being on a roller coaster; it can be exciting, fun, scary; and it's full of highs and lows. During the peaks you feel like throwing your hands in the air and screaming for joy, and the valleys make you want to curl up and cry. I actually prefer those extreme down times to when things are on an even keel, because they can lead to the greatest growth. Nothing makes you analyze your training more than when you hit rock bottom.

Yet, there are times when I step off the ride and I feel so bad that I can't remember why I got on in the first place, and it doesn't seem like very much fun anymore. For me those times usually come when I wonder if I will ever be able to understand and do Jiu-Jitsu on the same level as my peers (and by "peers" I mean anyone of the same belt rank, not necessarily my same sex, age, and size...stupid, I know). Those are the times when I feel like giving up, but I'm just too stubborn to go out like that.

Shihan says that when he first started training Judo, he quit after every class.  He would say "That's it, I'm never doing it again!". Then a couple of days later he would go back, because he just couldn't stay away. He hated and loved it all at the same time. He first "quit" Judo over fifty years ago, and he was just recently promoted to 8th Dan.

The down times are normal, wanting to quit is normal...people quit all of the time. What is not normal is continuing to train after wanting to quit, time and time again. That is what sets apart the people who succeed from the ones who don't. It's easy to stay on the roller coaster when it's all fun, but to be able to keep riding when it's making you feel like crap is a hard thing for many people to do. Even though it sometimes seems like my roller coaster car is stuck upside-down in a loop, I plan to ride until I die.

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!” ― Hunter S. Thompson

Ginger Snaps