Breathe: A Life in Flow

by Rickson Gracie

This fight exposed me to the most primal kind of fear that comes from within. My insecure state of mind came from the fear of losing. If you fear something that has not even happened, then quitting becomes a form of self-protection. Fear is not the enemy; it’s simply a self-protection mechanism that must be managed.

With kids, you have to accept the fact that you are not in control of their outcomes. You plant the seeds and nurture them as best you can, but at a certain point, you have to let go. No matter how much knowledge, love, money, or advice you give them, they will fly once their own wings are strong enough. Then they will chart their own courses through life. A father must accept his children for who they are, not who he would like them to be.

In life, there will always be people like the big judoka, and it is important not to respond to their egotism and arrogance with egotism and arrogance. I did not engage in the way that he expected, so I defined the terms of the conflict and beat him easily.

Mike Tyson put it best when he said that social media has made people “way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it.”

The Japanese have an expression, ichi-go ichi-e, which roughly translates to “once in a lifetime.”

Fuck the plane! There is always another flight, but I don’t want to ever regret not taking my daughter’s call.