Maybe I’ll just chalk this up to being a Gemini or something (Astrology, Woooo!) , but there are days where I wish I could split in two, just to get everything done.
At my job I am sometimes required to attend events on the weekend. And more often than not that’s when a jiu jitsu tournament is scheduled. My personal wish is to split into two, one going to each function and we all walk away happy.
But sadly, I am not Multiple Man, and so I have to use that funny thing called compromise. Usually work wins out, because you know, I like my job, but they also understand my passion for jiu jitsu and understand when I can’t make certain events for tournaments. It’s something that I appreciate and try my best not to abuse.
It’s not an easy thing for most people, compromise. We like when things go just our way, especially the older we get (as I had the pleasure of learning from a variety of customer service jobs). But, I’m sure we all have had to make that compromise: when we really want to go to a tournament, but something comes up (I see this happen especially with married couples) and so we compromise. There’s the balance we have to maintain between life and jiu jitsu. Very few of us can sleep on the mat and do nothing but train, we have lives we need to tend to: friends, families, work, loved ones. Compromise certainly is not a bad thing, in fact it’s quite necessary, but it is also necessary to ensure there is balance on BOTH sides.
Honestly I’m not sure where I am going with this, it’s just something that I have been dealing with for the past couple of days, and it’s Monday (actually that has nothing to do with anything, but felt like pointing it out anyway).
What causes you to compromise with you time on and off the mat (that sentence made sense, right)? Family? Friends? That plan for world domination you have been working on for the past couple of years?
A Skirt on the Mat 
I haven’t had any recentl plans for world domination, but two things primarily cut into my martial arts time: Family and second job…My family lives down in South Jersey, and I live up in Central Jersey, so there’s a good 75 miles or so between us…so when I go down to visit it often interferes with my training schedule…
Also, in the fall, I teach the color guard of a marching band, and this takes up 4 out of 7 days…and of course, one of those days are Saturday (sigh). In fact, I’m just trying to figure out how to ask my band director so I can take off a saturday at the end of October so I can go to a stripe test for bjj…*sigh*
Whooooo… you are touching a nerve with this post. I have been struggling with this question (jiu jitsu vs. time with husband) for a while now.
I have no good answers, as he will tell you. Quickly. And sometimes loudly.