I’ll begin with setting some context. I was pretty over weight with plenty of excuses spanning from kids, family, depression, work, time, etc. In no way am I diminishing these reasons since we each have our own battles to fight and using whatever resources at hand. For example, depression. At one point, doctors set an expiration on me indicating a high percentage of mortality and even higher percentage of disability. This fueled my reasons to be somber and often made my excuse acceptable. I eventually ballooned to a heavy weight which made quality of life worse. I’ve tried to curtail this trend, and ultimately kept yo-yoing since all my attempts were temporary. It wasn’t true change. I had the mentality of “once I get to my target weight or size, it’ll be easier…” We say this to endure whatever deprivation or punishment we put upon ourselves. Once we realize this change isn’t sustainable, we revert. What I’m saying is no different than all the other folks that have successfully emerged from the weight struggle. I’m not saying the struggle never goes away, however, I’ve come to find my resilience and discipline improves in time. Also, take the time to study in depth before you dismiss anything. Even with the worst things, you can extrapolate some nugget of wisdom from it.
Running was one of the very first things I’ve tried. I ran for a week every day and felt terrible each day that followed. I’ve abandoned it entirely and stated that I’m just not a runner and my body isn’t built for it. Weeks pass and I was talking about my displeasure in running with a friend. They insisted I’d give it another try and suggested some reading material to help get me started. Seriously, what else is there to running but go faster than walking. However, this study opened my eyes to proper acclimation and technique and I use this principles in many other things that I do. The easiest thing to do when you’re running is to stop. We are not forced to proceed unless you’re being chased, but many times if we are tired, the choice to just stop is an alluring and easy one.
With your Jiu Jitsu training, it’s no different. We can tap to stop someone from crushing us. Or even sit off to the side and wait for easy rolls. Looking for these types of outs don’t make us better. In fact, this is how you plateau. In order for us to break through these barriers, we must figure out why we hit that wall of discouragement and work toward improving it. There is no magical technique that will suddenly make things all better, but there are techniques that you can adapt quickly and incorporate in your game. But study them and give it ample time and tries before you ultimately dismiss it. If anything, you will discover perhaps a tiny nugget of information from your trials that can benefit you.
These discoveries with self-awareness is what appeals to me. If I address them, it can only make me better and ultimately, that’s my goal. And this is a sustainable mindset. Happy rolling!