How big brands win the competition

I’ve been meaning to write this blog for some time. It’s been a challenge to get the strength to open up and also feel physically/mentally capable of writing this. I finally feel I’ve made some progress, so I want to share my story.

I started out the new year by travelling to Portugal to compete at the European Jiu Jitsu Championship. Although I lost my first match, I was eager to get back to Winnipeg to begin training again. When I got back home, I started to feel sluggish and unmotivated. It turned out feeling sluggish was due to a kidney infection, which caused a very scary and stressful condition that I’ve now been trying to monitor ever since. I am now scheduled for surgery in July, which may only be the first step to a resolution.

Coming home with extreme motivation and determination for it to get ripped away from me has been a very challenging experience. I love jiu jitsu and it has changed my life for all of the right reasons. Normally I wake up at 4:30AM to strength train, work a full-time job from 8-5, and head to jiu jitsu for 6:30PM.

Being in my current situation, I’ve dealt with a lot of extreme challenges. I am tired every day, I can’t strength train, and most of all, I cannot train jiu jitsu. This was devastating to me. I felt hopeless and sad because I felt like I was being held back from doing anything, even just waking up early.

After about four weeks, I began to sit at home and think about how I could benefit from this time off. I started thinking of ways to stay active, like assisting with kids classes twice a week and studying jiu jitsu techniques and modules. I have found new hobbies like building puzzles, completing puzzle books, and watching new shows to keep my mind busy. I have a surgery scheduled in the coming months which has given me hope that I will be training by the first week of August.

I am so grateful for all of the love and support I have from my family, friends, and companies like Hardcore Candy. I’ve realized that just because I am taking time off to recover and heal does not mean that all of the people and things I love won’t be there when I get back to the grind.

As I continue on this journey, I’ve learned so much since this all started. All of this is going to make me a stronger and more resilient athlete. I cannot wait to get back to my training routine and overcome these challenges. One day at a time, one appointment at a time. At some point, I will be back and more mentally prepared than ever.