Don't Let Fear Hold U Back!

Sometimes we retard our progress in life. The fear of failure, the fear of what others will say, the fear of looking stupid, the fear of sucking. Why?

I still do it to myself. I hold my self back from getting my weight down. I'm scared I'll fail so i don't try. That's so bullshit. (Sorry Homer)

I used to feel fear when I was just training BJJ. I was shitting my self on the hour long drive down the coast, building up my anxiety in my head. Not so scared of getting hurt but scared of being bad and getting owned by everyone in the gym.

I use the word fear because it fits, any one who says they fear nothing is either really stupid or full of shit. I think fear is healthy and is just another emotion to be used in your favour.

Grappling is one of the only sports where u compete at nearly 100% with your team mates every time you train. This is why it is so practical, the techniques are all pressure tested. But it can also stunt peoples development in the art.

Whether we like it or not we all have some sort of competitive drive, some more than others. I didn't want to get tapped by anyone and I felt less of man if I got caught or even pinned by my team mates. My fears were holding me back.

Once i started to let go of the fear of failure I really started to get better. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a total noob at jits. I think that feeling will never leave me. BJJ is so complex, there is always areas to work on. It's a life long journey. But once I started to swallow my ego and just concentrate on the techniques and concepts, things started to come together.

I learned to use my fear when I trained. I used it to heighten my senses and focus in on the task at hand. Now when I roll at training it's really enjoyable. My fears have turned into something else.

When I'm totally immersed in the roll I'm almost emotionless, unaware of my surroundings but completely in tune with the movements and totally connected to the art. I don't have that feeling every roll but there are small sections of rolls I have with certain training partners that are almost out of body type shit. Flowing between transitions and submissions...... 

Man, I'm sounding like a hippie!! At least Slayer or Pantera is playing in the background at the gym and not Simon and Garfunkel.

I think there are lots of areas in my life I can apply this to. By letting go of my own bullshit, being aware of my fears and using them to commit to whatever it is I want to achieve. 

If I had let my fears get in the way I may have never even started BJJ or rang my beautiful wife for the first time. I would have missed out on two of the greatest things to ever happen to me.

Don't Let Fear Hold U Back!!

Rex.

This is one of my favourite quotes.

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt