A Love Letter to Jiu-Jitsu
It’s more complicated than you might think.
We’re well past the honeymoon phase, Jiu-Jitsu and I. In fact, it’s right around our 6th anniversary. We’re long past the honeymoon phase. I mean, you could say we’re basically married.
Like any relationship, there are good days, bad days, and days where I don’t really feel much of anything at all. Sometimes I think I’m going to do this forever, and some days I want to quit and ride off on my horseback into the sunset.
But I guess that’s love.
Today’s one of the especially good days, so I figured I’d write something to express the gratitude I have for the sport that’s given my life purpose for the past 6 years. I have mixed feelings about gratitude. Expressing it obsessively dulls the power of it, but in my experience, if you constantly shove down how you really feel, regret will consume you. Plus, apart from pity, there’s never a bad reason to show your gratitude.
The Early Years
It all really began when I was a senior in high school. At 17, I awkwardly stumbled into a Jiu-Jitsu academy desperate for something that resembled purpose just a few weeks after I had finished my underwhelming wrestling career. At first, all I really wanted was an outlet for my misplaced and overgrown teenage…
