Praise

 

Try and imagine something that is really, really fun. Maybe for you it’s dancing, or playing golf, or surfing, or fiddle playing. Maybe going to a movie is your favourite activity, or catching some live theatre, or just possibly hanging out in bars.

Whatever it is, you’d probably like to do it a lot. Would once a week be enough? Would doing it every day be too much?

I don’t feel that if somebody adores skiing, that they should be praised for the many hours they put into their activity. They are doing it for their own enjoyment, and would likely stop if the fun ever went away.

Of course, they shouldn’t be condemned for following their passion. That would be nuts. If somebody likes riding horses, and they want to do so every day, more power to them if they can pull it off.

For me, the best activity is Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.

It is fun learning something I’m interested in. It is fun training all of the moves and trying to improve. It is fun rolling around on the floor trying to defeat one another like a room full of puppies playing.

Somehow, I keep running into praise about how dedicated and disciplined I am. It seems I’m an inspiration.

I do train a lot. If I were to pick the perfect schedule, there would be an average of at least one Jiu-Jitsu session on it each day. Maybe some days more than one class; perhaps some days off of training.

This is more classes than are possible at the school in my little town. I attend both of the classes they put on, and also meet three times a week to work in a small group.

Getting more training involves traveling to train in Vancouver. It pretty much kills the day getting back and forth, and people there often praise me for being so hardworking and committed and other dandy stuff. Would they compliment somebody who travelled into the city because they liked to go shopping? I don’t think so.

I’m simply doing it for fun.

I guess for most people Jiu-Jitsu doesn’t have that effect. Many have stories to recount about times when they had to drag themselves to class, or they had to push through a plateau. I’ve never had anything like that. It is always fun.

I am not dedicated to my art, or struggling through any sorts of hardships. I am simply enjoying myself.

This is not to say that I mind being complimented on my discipline, or my work ethic, or dedication, or whatever. Maybe if they think there are such people out there it will help them through one of their slumps.

It might surprise them to know that if Jiu-Jitsu ever stopped being fun for me I would stop doing it.

Recent praise from my brother-in-law hit me with another similar, but different compliment.

He said that when somebody says they did their best he compares them with me, and thinks that they really didn’t do as much as they could have.

Maybe they just didn’t find an activity that they found so incredibly enjoyable that they would ignore any temptations to stay home, or to go do something else.

Anyhow, those are my thoughts on why I hang out on Jiu-Jitsu mats. I train a lot, but not due to any noble motivation.

I just like to smile.