In a former life Mr. Burrito Bowl was heavily into the singlet wearing sport of wrestling.  Not wrestling as in WWE, more like, “Hey why is that kid not drinking any water? Let’s for sure not date him,” type of wrestling.  Basically the sport kids played when they weren’t popular or tall enough to play basketball. 

I had a real love/hate relationship with wrestling.  On the one-hand, wrestling isn’t fun.  It’s hard work and sucks most of the time.  On the other hand, wrestling gives you sense of pride for having not died while performing your sport.   If you can get through a good high school wrestling program you can do almost anything you put your mind to.  

Despite stunting my growth an inch or two and making me borderline insane in high school, wrestling taught me several life lessons I still keep with me today. 

1) Once You Stand In Front of the Entire School in a Skin Tight Singlet, It’s Harder to Get Embarrassed

When you wrestle it’s just you out there, in all your glory, in front of God and everybody.  The general attire for a wrestler is a singlet which consists of a thin spandex material that hugs every crevice of you for dear life.  Have you ever felt shy about how you look standing fully clothed in a large group of people?  Now imagine the entire group of people are looking just at you and you’re more or less naked.  NOW, imagine a similar sized dude is going to try to hold you down against your will in front of all those people.  

After you wrestle, everyday life occurrences just seem less embarrassing.   

2) Life is Easier When You’re Not a Whiny Little B*tch

Just diving right into the deep end with this one.  It’s true, life is easier when you’re not a whiny little b*tch.  Wrestling is hard work.  It sucks most of the time.  I remember watching the basketball team warm up for practice by stretching and getting positive re-enforcement from their coach while we were doing wind sprints in the next court over.  

“I feel like we should start our practice like they do,” some dumb kid would say.  “Oh, well if you’re still having feelings it must mean we need to do more wind sprints,” was a typical reply.  In life, and wrestling, complaining doesn’t get you very far.  

In the workforce you notice the people who had tough love coaches and parents who wanted to make strong young men and women.  You also notice those people who never had to stick their head down and push themselves beyond their perceived limits.  Knowing how to put your head down and work hard is something I’ve kept with me long after the pain of the wind sprints is gone. Sitting in the pain of being hungry and thirsty and still forcing your body to keep going gives you a mental strength few possess.  

Having the mental strength to get through adversity is a character trait that I developed through my years of wrestling.  

3) Wrestling Gives You an Appreciation For How Great Life Is When You’re Not Wrestling

Sitting in the pain also makes you appreciate when you’re body isn’t in pain.  Cutting weight makes you appreciate all the times you don’t have to be cutting weight.  Right now you can just walk over to the kitchen sink and get a big drink of water! *whispers* (You can drink as much water as you want.  Explosion Emoticon Face). How lucky are you?! 

I honestly never take a drink of water out of a faucet without thinking about how lucky I am to be able to do it.  It’s been over 15 years since I had to cut weight for wrestling and I still to this day never take a meal for granted.  Wrestling isn’t the only sport that gives you an appreciation for how easy everyday life is, but it might give you the starkest contrast.  

Pretty much any day that you aren’t wrestling is easier than any day that you are wrestling.  If nobody shoves my face into a mat for the entire day it means I had an easy day.  In everyday life I’m allowed to drink water, eat dinner, AND I usually don’t get my face dragged across the floor.  When you think of it like that it’s pretty easy to be thankful for how easy life is.  

4) Wrestling is Fair, Life Isn’t Fair

My favorite aspect of wrestling is that it was fair.  If you wanted the varsity spot you had to beat the other kids in your school who wanted that same spot.  You got the opportunity to beat them head on, on the mat.  It didn’t matter if the other kid was the coaches son, or the most popular kid in school.  If you could beat him head-to-head, you were varsity and he was relegated to junior varsity.

Life isn’t fair.  In regular life there is favoritism and not everyone starts out on even footing.  You might get passed up for a raise or a promotion even though you’re the better candidate.  You might not get the job because of something outside of your control.  Life isn’t fair.  Wrestling might not be the best to teach you that life isn’t fair, but it gives you the mental fortitude to deal with reality as it is.  

Some kids are stronger or more athletic than others.  In that sense, wrestling isn’t fair.  But that’s not wrestling’s fault.  That’s life.  You all get the same opportunity to compete in wrestling and that’s as fair as any of us can ask for.  Which brings me to my next point.

5) Wrestling Promises Equality of Opportunity, Not Equality of Outcome.  

In wrestling we all get the same chance at success, but success isn’t guaranteed.  Wrestling teaches you that you might work your ass off, do everything to the best of your abilities, and still come out on the losing end.  I know a lot of people are concerned with the participation trophy mindset that today’s youth are being indoctrinated with.  

In wrestling and in life you don’t get the trophy just for showing up.  You have to earn it.  I’m concerned that kids who aren’t exposed to the feeling of defeat will be at a huge disadvantage when they go out into the world.  

I want every child to feel special and important but not have a sense of entitlement.  When you get thrown on your head and held down it diminishes any sense of entitlement you may have had.

Here’s a great Wait, But Why article about why generation Y is unhappy.  A lot of it has to do with always being told you are a special snowflake your entire life but then getting out into the world and nobody acknowledging the fact that you’re special just for being you.  It’s a great article, you should read it.

Why Generation Y Yuppies are Unhappy

6) Wrestling Teaches You to Take Responsibility

Speaking of life not being fair, not everyone is going to win in wrestling.  When you lose in wrestling it’s not the same as losing in basketball.  You’re humiliated when you lose in wrestling on a very personal level.  The entire school watches you being man-handled while wearing tights.  It’s hard to come back from that.  When you win, you feel like a conquering king.  Albeit a king wearing tights, but still, a king nonetheless.  When you lose, you feel a mixture of embarrassment and frustration. 

When you lose in wrestling you have no one to blame but yourself.  You can’t look at a teammate or coach and blame them.  It’s just you and the other guy out on the mat.  You have to take responsibility for yourself.  You can have coaches and training partners that share the burden of victory and defeat but when the match starts it’s just you. 

People need to know how to emotionally deal with embarrassment and shame to some degree, because those are human emotions we all come across.  When you lose in team sports you can pass the blame to someone else.  When you lose in wrestling the blame falls squarely on your shoulders, and you have to learn how to deal with that.

7) Wrestling Won’t Make You Uncomfortably Popular with the Ladies

High School girls generally do not find wrestling as attractive and manly as they should.  If you’re looking for a way to keep the ladies at bay, join your local wrestling team.  I get the sense that teenage girls think wrestling is weird and somehow not awesome.  Teenage girls are little self-absorbed shits though, so who cares what they do or don’t like? 

Wrestling will teach you a lot of lessons you can use throughout the rest of your adult life.  With other sports you’ll be distracted by all the girls chasing you down and asking for your number.  Wrestlers don’t have that problem.  I guess this last one isn’t so much a benefit in the short term but in the long run it probably makes you a better person.  

Anyway, wrestling is a pretty good sport if you don’t want your kid to grow up to be a whiny little b*tch.  

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Here’s a few more articles that relate to mental fortitude and just generally not being a whiny little b*tch.  I think you’ll like them.

The Power of Stoicism- Standing in the Cold

A Penny Per Rock- The Original Side Hustle

Eight Easy Steps to Help You Reach Your Goals