Back to School - Struggles in Transformative Thought

A few months back, I enrolled in school. Not many students attend the school, perhaps for good reason. Learning doesn’t come easily to folks my age. It must be in our DNA to avoid things unknown because I avoid uncomfortable situations that extend my reaches. NO MORE. I’m transforming my thought process because my life and family’s lives depend on it.

We continually preach taking training courses and bettering ourselves for the sake of preparedness. However, the first step scares the hell out of us. I encounter something new each day, but taking on new challenges with folks that could crush you simply terrified me. Until I walked into Vida Jiu Jitsu.

If you’ve watched our shows Guns & Gear or First Person Defender, you know the name Greg Lapin. Since

meeting Greg a little over a year ago, he’s been relentless about training and becoming harder to kill each day. He lives it….I did not. We discuss the ideas of transformative thought and changing our mindsets to better our lives. Easier said than done, but I began thinking he was 100-percent correct. I needed a change in thought to transform my skills and become well-rounded throughout my EDC regimen.  

Being a dad, the easiest thing I can do is give orders. I often step back and ask myself why I’m having my 9-year-old do this if I am not willing to put myself out there. For once, I enrolled before he did, sufficiently putting myself in unknown waters.

Jiu Jitsu is very different from any other martial arts I’ve learned. The moment you enter a gym you are family. I wasn’t the new guy or just another white belt. I was a member of a tribe that was there to better each other. All walks of life are on hand to find themselves entangled on a mat. I finally got over the “but I’m new mindset” and stepped foot on the mat and began the transformative thought I’d dismissed all these years. BEST DECISION I’VE MADE.

I’m not going to sugar coat Jiu Jitsu. I’m no spring chicken and the workouts hurt. I’ve never been comfortable having a 185-pound blue belt choking the lights out of me. However, I’ve also caught myself improving upon instincts that lay dormant. Until Vida Jiu Jitsu, not much has challenged me physically. Now, I come home with a new bruise, scratch or ache. Mostly because I’m a glutton for punishment and put in what I want to get out. I go home to a wife who wonders how I could do that to my body, but she gets the overall premise why I’m out there. She thinks I’m so crazy that she’s signed up for the class too.

We are now a Jiu Jitsu family thanks to a lesson in transformative thought by the Greg Lapin. What are you doing today to better your odds in a fight? ~ KJ

Kevin Jarnagin
Kevin Jarnagin (KJ) hails from Oklahoma, but quickly established Louisiana roots after joining the Gun Talk team. KJ grew up as a big game hunter, and knows his way around a bass boat. Whether it’s making his way to British Columbia for elk or training with pistols, Jarnagin always seems to find a gun in his hands and adventure on his mind.

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