A Fighter's Heart: One Man's Journey Through the World of Fighting

by Sam Sheridan

Push on when you feel you can’t, and next time that moment will come later.

Something in that attitude seemed like the real warrior attitude, secure in self-knowledge, aware of things that don’t matter and untroubled by them.

By doing something repeatedly, though, and understanding it, you can diffuse and defuse the fear. This is true for sailing, riding motorcycles, asking girls out—even getting hit in the face by a man who wants to kill you.

captured the idea that life is born of struggle and striving, that true joy and understanding do not come from comfort and safety; they come from epiphany born in exhaustion (and not exhaustion for its own sake). Safety and comfort are mortal danger to the soul.

Fighting is a way to feel, an anti–video game, a way to force some-thing to happen. That’s what brought me back to it, because when I’ve fought someone, I know something has happened. How many days of your life pass you by that you could take or leave? When nothing really happened?

But I feel that you owe it to the world to be curious. Somebody asked me if I was looking for something. I am looking for everything.

Why do little boys always play with guns and swords? Because they contain in themselves the schematics to overcome the prey status.

passion” is not for peace, it’s for war. Men, as the evolved protectors of the tribe, are wired to be more passionate about war than peace because the more warlike men were more successful in the darker ages of human prehistory.

But I fell back on those immortal words at the base of all good decision making: Fuck it.

In jiu-jitsu, you work for something and patiently set it up, and the technique can be almost inevitable—not fast, not a reflex, but a slow and steady outthinking of your opponent.

Being willing to lose is important, to take risks, to find new ways of doing things;