You realize it's one thing to learn a move and a completely different thing to actually do it when you need to. Grips grab ungraciously, shutting down every idea you ever had. If you can even remember one. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and no one is more desperate than you. While you choke on your own Gi, you choke on the new understanding that you are totally ineffective in all of your frenzied fury.

There are countless close calls in a White Belt Minute. Can you even survive the whole 60 seconds? Maybe not, at first. You will question yourself 1000 times or more, think of every excuse, then throw yourself into the moment and give it everything you've got. Seconds tick by, but it feels like ages.

An eternity goes by in a White Belt Minute. You live, you die, and you are reborn again. Baptized in bruises and sweat, it's both terrifying and amazing as you realize the limitless ways in which you can and WILL be submitted. Treacherously inventive. You battle through the thoughts that yell at you to QUIT! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! GIVE UP NOW! You quiet the urge to panic or puke under pressure.

You challenge yourself and survive through adversity in a White Belt Minute. You lose control, you realize your weakness, and you question yourself. But because of that, you learn self-control, become mentally stronger, and find the answers you need so that your elbows are tight next time, and they can't get that kimura on you.

A White Belt Minute can seem like forever when you are trapped in time and pinned under pressure. But add up enough of those moments, and you create the beginning of the story of your Jiu-Jitsu journey.

Looking back on a White Belt Minute, I remember the perseverance it took to survive it, the determination to drill and to practice until I got better, and the absolute triumph I felt when just one thing went right. I will never forget the feeling I felt when I passed guard for the first time successfully, discovered my love for the guillotine and other vicious chokes, and when I realized how much my mentality and physicality began changing for the better.

It all started with a White Belt Minute.