Jiu-jitsu is a difficult sport. You’re continuously entangled with someone who is trying their best to make you quit. You must get used to the physical and mental pressures, learn to distinguish an
uncomfortable position from a real threat, and defend yourself while planning and executing your own moves. At first, when facing more experienced students, the situations seem insurmountable. You must accept defeat, learn from it, and adapt to improve.

With properly applied techniques, awareness, and your own decision-making, you start overcoming challenges and eventually winning matches. You learn that it’s okay and, in fact, wise to measure success in small increments. With each step forward, you feel proud that your work is paying off.

This experience translates directly to life and your ability to push through adversity by focusing on the process of improvement rather than lofty notions of achievement.

Although the journey is individual, jiu-jitsu is learned and practiced in a group environment with students circulating through partners. This community atmosphere is vital in developing the skills of the sport as well as the practices of reaching out to others for help, helping others, and being accountable. It also avoids the feeling of isolation experienced by athletes in more strictly individual sports.

In a world where we are increasingly distanced from each other by technology and social norms, jiu-jitsu offers a unique “human” experience that cannot be found anywhere else. Such close contact nurtures mutual respect, humility, and inclusion while building communication skills and relationships.