Brown Belt So Far

 So in the midst of all of this Trump talk I did mention that I earned the rank of brown belt from my jiujitsu academy, Fight to Win. To say that I am proud of this honor is severely understating it.

To get purple belt from FTW I had to test for it. When my name was called to come up for the belt I choked up. The only reason I didn't choke up is because I thought Steve, my master instructor, wouldn't want me to (cue laugh track) but trust me, I was INCREDIBLY proud to get purple belt. I worked so hard to get it.

Brown belt is more of a time in grade thing per se but I can tell you there are some...things that happened to me during my purple belt run. I really should take some time and think about those things in detail but off the top of my head I can tell you that things slowed down for me. If you have watched any football one of the best improvements you can ever hear about a player is that the game "slowed down for them". To me what that means is your brain slows down to simply trust your body to do the moves it knows to do which frees the brain up to consider things you need to learn and ways to get out of situations. Which means you start seeing the things you need to improve on and the things you did ok. 

Look, I know I'm talking about an art and I probably ain't doing it in a way that anybody who has tried to describe this but I'm trying, I promise. Purple belt was a fun belt for me. Shortly before I got it I made a pledge to myself to strip myself of anything I felt I was entitled to at the gym and mentally it just freed me in so many ways. I came in to learn for myself and to help others and I have continued that mindset to this day. There's so much to learn. Any time spent worrying about entitlement just takes away from that. 

When Steve called my name for brown belt I was honored to receive the cheers and well wishes from the team. I came into the school raw as any white belt and now I'm someone that people have to game plan for how to beat my top pressure. When I say things in class, people listen. Really listen. I have taught a class or two or three and I feel like I'm doing a good job of commanding the room (even though there's soooo much more in that department to learn from both a teaching and technical aspect). I'm starting to learn the aspects of working from bottom and doing so in a way that can preserve my energy. There's just so much to learn.

You feel like you are starting to get it at purple belt and while that is true you get brown belt and realize you don't know anything. Which is true also. I told you, I'm talking about an art. It's like trying to describe how eating a great piece of bacon makes you feel. It's like trying to explain why you love a friend like a brother. I hope my words here make sense but know that I am trying my best.

That really explains a lot of brown belt too. The things I am good at I need to get great at. The things I am bad at I need to get good at. I need to learn, now, how to get in front of people and teach technique. Because the next belt is black belt and that is the first instructor belt. 

I want to be ready to be able to call that belt my own when its time. And when I get it I’ll probably realize that I have so much to learn about being a black belt; an instructor, so I'll have to take what I know and deconstruct just to reconstruct. I can't wait to tell you that story :)