I think i’m gonna be promoted soon. Don’t want to tho b/c I feel like I’m not good enough & enjoy being a blue belt. I know it’s not my place to judge and there is nothing I can do which kind of helps actually. Anybody been there?
Do you know what the difference is between a gnarly blue belt and a shitty new purple belt? Nothing. Someone at your gym has to be the worst purple belt. Why can’t it be you?
You already know how to fix it once you get promoted. If you feel like you aren’t ready, go train until you are. If you feel that your promotion was on time, go train and show how right your coach was to promote you. If you feel that your promotion is long overdue, go train, and show that you’re well on your way to your next belt.
Embrace the grind, and enjoy your purple belt when you get it. Just know that once it starts feeling really comfortable around your waist, you’ll be on deck for your brown belt.
Great reply thanks! Liked the part about belt comfyness.
Reading responses as a newish blue belt with imposter syndrome. Feel I’m ok, but not ok enough and have (if I’m being honest with myself) avoided training due to worry that I’ll be ‘found out’. Thanks for the questions and replies. Thanks also to whomever created this as an alternative to fucking Reddit.
Everyone has been there. I’m coming up on brown and I think that’s ridiculous. In the end, who the fuck cares. Just focus on getting better than you are now and ignore the strip of cotton that keeps your gi closed.
Mind sharing how old you are? I’m 40 and while this imposter syndrome thing was something I had about many things in my twenties, it dissapeared around my mid-thirties to be honest. It’s not that I think I’m the best at those things now. But I can recognize that I am competent in them. Same with BJJ now. When I got promoted a year ago it just felt normal. I was happy ofcourse since it’s recognition of my improvements. Same now, I don’t expect to be promoted to purple anytime this year, but I can recognize that I’m still improving despite still having major flaws in some aspects.
For me most importantly it’s still so fun to recognize that every improvement opens up more possibilities of improving elsewhere, even if it’s just a detail. But than sometimes all those details combined unlock some sort of realization and often ability to move a certain way, that I finally get to solve one of my major flaws.
I’m 30 and I honestly felt like I was getting worse at bjj for a while. I think it was just a plateau that I recently overcame. Having some time to process being a genuine purplebelt, something that I wanted to be for a long time, starts to feel good now that I actually got it. Gotta work on my ego and learn to relax again on the mats.
