I'm Not Going to Sulk

My husband has a way of pointing things out that are true, but very annoying. For example: Last night when I came home all weepy about not getting to be instructed by Ben and Mario at Summerlin, he pointed out that God has turned around several things that I thought were going to be horrible and made them into something great. He very kindly listed them off.

When I moved from Tampa (the city where I grew up and knew a lot of people and had access to a lot of places) to Bartow (a city where I knew only my brother and sister-in-law and that had a Walmart, a Publix and not much else) I was pretty depressed. I'd left my family and friends and had come to a place where I didn't want to be.

But, when I got here, I met a lot of people I now love and now feel like this place is my home. Since I moved here, I got to take on my dream job of being a youth minister, plus I get to be nerdy and write fiction on the side. Also, if I hadn't moved here, I never would have even known what BJJ was.JJ also pointed out that one of the things I always preach to my youth kids is to be flexible and to trust that God has a plan.

As much as I didn't want to hear these positive things at that moment, I slept on it and woke up realizing that he is right(Dangit!!). Things do have a way of working out, and a lot of times they work out better than I could have hoped.

You know, this whole reacting and adapting idea is so much like what I want to be able to do when I'm rolling. It's funny, I have been so focused on relaxing and going with the flow during grappling, but when something didn't go my way in my life off the mat, I forgot all about adapting. Guess I'm still a white belt in life as well!!

Anyways, onto a different topic. Last night, during grappling, I went with a blue belt we call Yeti who I roll with fairly often. He's a great sparring partner and he challenges me while, at the same time, always being careful not to put submissions on too quickly or too hard. He asked if he could go a little harder on me last night, and I welcomed the challenge. I knew he was going to pass my guard and that I would find myself in bad situations. But my goal was to not freak out when that happened and to not get intimidated.

As I expected, he passed my guard multiple times. But every time I tried to stay calm and be focused on what I needed to do to return to a neutral position or to sweep him. He was still moving at a slower pace against me than he would people at his skill level, but I at least felt like I was able move alright. Yay!

On the other hand, I rolled with a white belt guy who is a lot bigger than me (almost 100 lbs more so) and I could not pull of a sweep from guard or half guard to save my life. There must be a few (hundred) flaws in my sweep techniques because that boy was not going over. Something to work on.

So, here's to adapting and growing! Happy rolling, everyone!