Missions Accomplished

 I could make excuses as to why the heck I haven’t written anything in so long but I have been paying attention to the lessons of the Stoics recently: you make time for what you want to make time for. I haven’t made time for writing and since I’m talking about the Stoics they actually recommend that you journal DAILY…I’m not sure if this is the forum to do that in that there are some things I can say that are my opinion (which I don’t mind sharing) but there are other things that are personal (which I absolutely DO mind sharing). Still, there’s been plenty in my life that’s worth talking about that I have mentioned before so hopefully I get to them in the next few write ups.

I GOT MY PURPLE BELT and while I’m not going to turn this into some epic tale I will absolutely say I’m proud in any good way a man should be proud of an accomplishment. With the benefit of some hindsight, let me weave a (probably not so quick) story:

I mentioned in some blog or the other that I did not pass my first purple belt test. I wasn’t upset about that in itself because I had been told by numerous advanced belts that basically no one passes the dang thing on the first time and I’ll never be confused for a jiujitsu prodigy. I don’t think there’s such a thing as a 44 year old prodigy, right? ANYWAY. I was later told that I didn’t do anything over the top egregiously wrong but that the general consensus was that I “needed more reps”. Hey, I can argue what that means and what it doesn’t mean but the bottom line is that my school started offering more opportunities for reps that they hadn’t in the past and I took it upon myself, for myself, to be there for most of those opportunities, going as much as 5 days per week leading up to the next test that was in July. 

Every story of triumph needs a setback, right? Sure. Shortly after I made my declaration to go to class 5x per week and take my vitamins and say my prayers and the hopeful music was playing in the background…I got injured in practice. Specifically, I was executing a body fold takedown with a 275lb guy and made the mistake of talking while I was supporting his weight, hyperextending the leg of which was bearing the weight. It hurt, yes. But I could walk still and it wasn’t affecting anything I was doing on the mat so I made the (no doubt militarily ingrained) decision to not get it checked out until after the next purple belt test, which I knew was going to be in a few months.

Now, my head instructor, Steve, left open the possibility that I could get the belt outside of a promotion ceremony…about 3-4 months later there was a promotion ceremony at another school within Fight to Win and while I didn’t get the belt there, I was told I was on the right track which I took to be a great sign; Steve is notoriously to the point when it comes to letting you know what you need to know about your development. He told me that I wouldn’t have to take the upcoming test, just keep repping it out.

Well, the test date was about mid July and as that date approached I wanted to be double sure so I asked Steve did he want me to take the test. He said “yes”, but the main reasons were because he wanted me to do it for my own personal development; that he’d appreciate it if I did. I wasn’t upset about having to take the test again because hell, I had been preparing to take the dang thing for the better part of the year (and last) anyway. Let’s go, I’m ready. Round 2!

Every story of triumph needs an increased level of difficulty, right? Sure. The air conditioning had been out at the school for a few weeks and so coming in to train was kind of difficult in the summer months…the day of the test was no different. 90 degree day outside with humidity pretty up there for Charlotte. Which meant inside a closed space it was going to be hotter. I believe 8 total people were testing that day and each person has an uke(training partner) to demonstrate their moves…that makes 16 people, in addition to Steve and Jon (who runs a second Fight to Win location) AND any other advanced belt (purple belt and above) who came to observe the test. So let’s say just about 30 people in an enclosed space on a hot summer day in Charlotte. 

Yeah.

The test lasted about an hour and forty five minutes. That’s 105 minutes of constant movement in the already mentioned hot weather of physically demonstrating everything you were asked to demonstrate based off of an extensive list. I took my time and paced it out as best as I could, battling the heat and the fatigue, and when Steve called the test done and to go get water I got up to go get mine…slowly. I was wiped out.

I forgot that Steve also likes to go over commonly missed mistakes and so he stood us all back on the wall so he could demonstrate those. I was panting like you’d see an overheated dog pant and when I wasn’t catching my breath even though my heart rate had slowed down I realized I was suffering from heat exhaustion. I was super grateful that I prepared for the test by drinking a lot of water a couple of days leading up to the test…best shown at the time by me standing in a pool of my own sweat. I leaned against the wall and when I went to shift I did a VERY unsteady wobble. Whoa. My uke, Mark, asked if I was ok and I answered honestly, “No.” I have been in enough military formations to know not to lock my knees and so I toughed it out while praying Steve would shut the F*** up soon (never have wanted that to happen before!) and when he was done Jon basically told me to go sit down by the fan. It took me hours afterward to recover…that dehydration headache is real, y’all.

It was definitely worth it when Steve called my name to receive my purple belt. The applause was so appreciated and I was so proud I had to hold back tears as I walked up to get the belt. That whole day is one I’m not soon to forget.

Oh yeah, the leg injury? Fractured knee cap. Bone spurs in my patellar tendon. MRI on Friday. We’ll see what the road going forward is after that. But once upon a time my toughness was questioned as far as my dedication on the mats. I never set out to prove that narrative wrong, per se. Life found a way, I guess.