I want to take a minute to talk about my teammates. My much younger teammates. This was the first time in my life that I was the old guy. Aside from Coach, I have a good 15+ years on most of them. More even. Remember “Triangle Tommy” from yesterday? I found out that he is younger than one of my kids. The simple fact is that there are not too many 40+ beginner Jiu Jitsu students. And that’s ok. If there is such a thing as “Old Guy Strength” apparently I have it. Kudos to me, but I was still getting my ass kicked.
You can tell yourself that age doesn’t matter, but it does. I suppose at some point everyone has that moment when they realize they are traversing the fulcrum of their life’s journey. That is a nice way to say mid-life crisis. Wait. Is that what this is all about? A mid-life crisis. Did I need to get my face smashed to prove that I could still get my face smashed? I gave that line of reasoning a lot of consideration. My conclusion was that this was not the case. So why then? What motivated me to even consider showing back up on Monday? At the time I could not have known what I know today, but I think I caught a tiny glimpse of what was to come. Peace of mind.
Often we say those three words, and I don’t think we ever really appreciate what they mean. I can’t say how or why, but when I left that day, I felt good. My body hurt, but my mind was rested. I can only compare it to those moments during a long run when a mile passes and you have no recollection of a single step. Peace of mind.