Today I received my purple belt. It was a surprise. In fact, while they were talking about who they were giving the purple belt, I was sure it was one of the other students. It wasn�t until they mentioned...

Today I received my purple belt. It was a surprise. In fact, while they were talking about who they were giving the purple belt, I was sure it was one of the other students. It wasn�t until they mentioned Judo that I realized it was me (of the 4 of us who were 4 stripe blue belts, I�m the only one that trains Judo.)

While my coach was tying the belt around me, he shared some wisdom with me (that I will keep to myself.) But after listening to him, I realized that they don�t just give purple belts out, especially not at Vaghi schools. I might not be a world champion, and I don�t have to be to get a new belt, but that doesn�t mean I haven�t earned it.

That�s hard for me to grasp at times. Even after class, people were telling me congratulations. I had to filter the thoughts that were coming in to my head. Someone would say �congrats� and what I heard in my head was �yeah, I don�t know why I got it� or something similar. But that�s not humility, it�s self deprecation. I�m fairly good at self-deprecation.

As CS Lewis says, thinking less of myself isn�t humility.

So what does that look like in BJJ? I have earned a purple belt. But that doesn�t mean I did it on my own.�I have an entire team that got me to this point.

There�s two aspects there:

The first point is easy for me to embrace. The second point, is where I struggle. But it�s something that I�m focusing on.

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