Rolling

When I first started Jiu-jitsu, the white belts who had been there longer than me kept telling me, "Just roll," every time we grappled. I got frustrated because I didn't understand what they meant. Everything was about strength for me. I was trying to muscle my opponents into my submissions.

I'm still doing that a little bit now, but I'm figuring out how to rely on balance and technique more. I am beginning to understand what my higher ranking friends were trying to tell me when they said to "just roll".

Also, I'm relaxing a lot more; letting go of my ego and just trying to learn. I'm not killing myself trying to get submissions. I'm looking for them, but I'm not straining and fighting. I'm trying to go with the flow, defend, get into a dominant position and then find a joint I can isolate. I'm definitely still a sucky white-belt. But I think I am a little less sucky than I was when I first started. That's not much, but at least it's something. ;)