The Brazilian Jiu Jitsu/Judo/Grappling journey is a long and painful one, there are extreme peaks and equally low valleys that will be experienced along the way. The plateaus seem to last forever while the gains only seem to last for moments. These factors are bad enough on their own; however, toss into the mix outside factors, haters, doubters and you are sure to add to the frustration.
Obviously, for jiu jitsu practitioners, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a main focus in life. Countless hours are spent throughout each week either training techniques, talking techniques, or watching techniques. Your Facebook feed is a cornucopia of jiu jitsu knowledge; saved links to Youtube videos and past matches that you have yet to watch and review, and with each day the cache grows. To you and your training partners, this is the norm, though. To onlookers, it borders on obsessive, an addiction almost. I
A few people, whom you are friendly with or are even family members, might ask you: “Why do you keep doing this?”
Judo Olympian and BJJ black belt Matt D’Aquino offers great advice on how to deal with doubters and negative people that try to affect your journey:
