Jiu-Jitsu and Resilience:

Just another “Jiu-Jitsu saved my life” story

Like everyone else, my life has had its ups and downs, high points and low points, peaks and valleys and crevasses. Until I thought it would stay in the plains sometime between January to May of 2016. Anxiety and insomnia were getting the better of me for months. I saw a therapist, I started taking medication, I took up meditation… still I felt helpless and hopeless. What compounded my predicament was that Jiu Jitsu was my only exercise and hobby but I could not go to class that often because I felt so weak not just due to the lack of motivation, but also due to the lack of sleep. I was in a very dark place, the darkest I have been in by far. I was vacillating between taking my life or joining the Air Force. Or at the very least, getting a motorcycle.

Finally succumbing to taking various sleep aids because my issues were taking a toll on my work and certainly my health, I finally recovered enough to make it to the mats with more energy and focus. I quickly realized the difference it was making. On the mat, I do not think about my problems. Well, unless my opponent was about to sweep or submit me, but that is a different problem in and of itself. And besides, I can always tap and start over. I can only wish I could do that in real life. I started going more frequently. The butterflies stopped migrating to my stomach on my way to the Jiu Jitsu academy. I was getting healthier. Emotionally, mentally, and physically. I can confidently and proudly proclaim that Jiu Jitsu saved my life.

~JL