“Long is the way and hard, that out of hell leads up to light.”

Was proud of this achievement earlier this year.

I still am, but after a few months of reflection, it still rings true what all the good grapplers tell you:

Belts don’t mean much. Skill is what’s important.

But even this goes away.

Over time the body and its abilities will degrade no matter what we know or learn, and we will no longer be able to apply what we know in the physical realm the way we used to.

For some of us, this is already true.

I think what mattered was the time devoted - to the art, to the grit, to the people I’ve trained with, to getting back on the mats after countless injuries…

“This world is rough and if a man’s gonna make it he’s gotta be tough.”

This is just one way to find that toughness, but I can think of worse ones.

Keep at it.

A bunch of overstock apparel added to the store (free US shipping), print extras of my new kids rune book “Odin’s Runes,” and the brand new print edition of my grim Arthurian novella, “The Empty Grail.”

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