Letting Go

I have received 3 promotions at Jiu-Jitsu so far, and am close to a 4th. Of those 4, all but one have had a time pressure involved. I hate that kind of thing.

The first promotion was that to Blue Belt. Before my wife and I retired, we always did big trips in the summer. That meant no training for two months. Around the Christmas before, I figured out that I would just miss promotion before summer hit. That would have caused a delay in getting a Blue Belt by much more than the two months of summer break. Being off of training that long would have meant probably a two month refresher period. That suddenly looked like an unreasonable period of time. Either I'd get it by the end of June after a total of 9 months of training, or I'd miss and get promoted in maybe November, after a total of 14 months on the mat. I opted for the former.

This meant I had to get everything done quickly. I took extra private lessons, and practised on my own.

I made it.

My second promotion was to a one-stripe Blue Belt under the old rules. I was facing maybe two years of training before getting there. I did the math, and figured out that I could do it in a year and a half. The reason that I cared was that I'd decided to spend two months training with the Gracies at the main school, and the date for that was set to start just after New Years of 2014. It was a vanity, but I wanted to go with a little decoration on my belt.

This bumped my training up quite a bit in intensity. In the time that the rest of the class covered 4 chapters, I did 7. After that, it was a couple of months of test prep and execution. That was all wrapped up in 18 months instead of taking over two years. I only managed with a lot of help from my instructor, and by having a training partner for the test prep and actual exam.

I made it, and had my one-stripe Blue Belt when we went south.

My third promotion was the only one that came without any time pressure. I got home, and was totally surprised to receive one of the first locally-issued promotions under the new Gracie system. That made me a two-stripe Blue Belt.

I think I liked that one the best.

The promotion I am currently waiting for now is number four, and is to three-stripe Blue Belt. Helen and I are soon going again south again. This time it's only two weeks training with the Gracies. I'd prefer to go as a three-stripe Blue Belt but that isn't the issue this time. The big plan for the following fall is to do yet another LA training trip for a full month. For that one I want to have a full set of four stripes on my belt. That would announce my status as somebody preparing for his Purple Belt evaluation. It would make a difference as to the way I would be treated. To get that four-stripe promotion on time, I have to get this three-stripe one soon. Every day that goes by without my receiving a third-stripe promotion makes things tighter for getting my fourth; perhaps too tight.

I don't like the uncertainty.

Helen has been wonderfully supportive about all the LA training, but she'd really prefer doing a European trip this fall, rather than a return to LA.

I am feeling like I should just go ahead and book Vienna and Venice, and cancel LA for the fall. That would make the timing on a fourth Blue Belt stripe irrelevant, which in turn would make the timing on the third stripe that I'm waiting for right now also irrelevant.

Promotion would happen whenever, and I'd do our upcoming two-week trip south wearing either 2 or 3 stripes. No problem if I am a 3 stripe or 4 for the fall either if there isn't a big LA trip looming.

I don't think they care in Salzburg what kind of belt I have hanging on the wall back in Canada.