Frustration

All of us, at one point in our lives we have been frustrated. Training BJJ is no different. As a sport BJJ is an amazing outlet for stress, improving physical fitness, meeting new people and bettering one ’s self.

For those that chose to embark on the journey there can be many obstacles to overcome along the way. An obstacle one has to overcome is walking in through those doors to sign up for a class. This act alone puts you ahead of so many others that chose not to push their comfort boundaries. With cool calmness or heart pounding anxiety you step onto the mats and thus you have conquered an obstacle.
The physical portion of BJJ can be daunting especially if this is your first athletic endeavor. What you observed as being easy suddenly becomes overwhelmingly technical. That first class when you’re the only one who cannot shrimp, many thoughts run through your mind. The utmost important thought that ought to be running through your mind be it a whisper or a deafening roar is I WILL NOT QUIT!!

Don't give up like this!

Frustration, if left unchecked can easily become an all consuming entity driven to overwhelm you. It will haunt you, push you, bend you and for some it breaks them. It can be surprisingly quick how one can go from pure joy of accomplishing a challenging technique to the defeating frustration of not being able to pull of that technique while rolling. Again and again you make multiple attempts all met with nothing but your opponent defending and you ending up in a bad position. We all have been there, getting shut down, losing position, points and the match.
There are two paths that you can take when frustration rears its ugly head. The easiest path one can take is to quit, give up and walk away from the sport. Giving up on the sport means giving up on you, please give yourself more credit than that. The other way is to cross through that ring of fire, learn from how you felt at that point in time because for most it will happen again, this will teach you how to overcome that feeling.

Losing sucks, it is a harsh mistress to learn from. Do not let frustration/losing define you; accept it for what it is, a response/feeling that comes about when you fail to achieve a predetermined goal. This is why one must become comfortable with frustration, an old saying “keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer” When frustration sets in acknowledge it, but do not become stuck in it, if it begins to grow you must extinguish it before it turns into a raging inferno. Putting it past you will be the only way to grow and become a force to be reckoned with when you step onto those mats.

Tags: BJJ, bjj kingston, bjj kingston ontario, brazilian jiu jitsu, martial arts axis