I’m writing this on December 24th, and as far as I’m concerned, this is the real date of Christmas.
You see, my parents were European, and they celebrated Christmas on the 24th; Christmas Eve was the big deal, not Christmas day.
Earlier in December my brothers and I would go out into the back 40 and cut the very biggest spruce tree we could fit into the living room of the log home.
Inevitably the tree stretched all the way to the wood ceiling. so when we loaded it up with real candles (yes, we used real burning candles) it almost lit the ceiling on fire… twice.
Thinking about those family Christmases makes me think of my mom…
You know how some old people become small mentally as well as physically?
They do the same things every day, they talk to the same people, and tell the same stories every day? Their worlds shrink and become smaller and smaller.
Well, that was NOT my mother.
She was an inveterate traveller and loved going to new places.
She signed up for university courses into her late 60s and early 70s.
She read books and collected interesting people.
This idea of lifelong learning and growing applies to EVERYTHING that you do.
The parallels in jiu-jitsu are obvious – you should always be working on at least one area of the sport that takes you outside of your comfort zone and forces you to grow.
DON’T become one of those peaked-in-high-school black belts who always harkens back to some mythical, magical time when men were men, jiu-jitsu was great, and you never need to learn any technique, strategy or training method that was developed after that time.
Stay curious and cultivate that curiosity by intentionally, deliberately exposing yourself to new experiences and learning new skills.
Seek out situations where you are not the smartest person in the room.
Here’s the thing though – this approach of continuous learning goes way beyond jiu-jitsu.
If you walk away from the mats tomorrow and start pushing yourself by going back to school, learing three new languages, or walk every branch of the Camino de Santiago, then I’ll be happy for you.
Have a merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, or a fabulous Festivus!
Then get back to growing.
Stephan Kesting
We shall not cease from exploration,
And the end of all our exploring,
Will be to arrive where we started,
And know the place for the first time.
TS Eliot