Before	After

Here's the amazing thing about MFF - the team's joy in my successes and encouragement during my failures is genuine. Every day, I left class smiling and delighted with life. - Ninja Jonathan

I do my best to be a “stand up guy.” I finish what I start: homework assignments, 42 oz. porterhouse steaks, every episode of SeaQuest: DSV, even when Roy Scheider left and the series totally jumped the shark. I take care of my things: I still have t-shirts from the 80’s. I also know a little about teaching and customer service: I worked at the Apple Store for god’s sake. So when I signed up for Snatched, I was ready to see through hype. I don’t need to enjoy it, I’m going to finish it regardless because I’m a stand-up guy. Who needs all this unicorn shit? (I speak metaphorically of course, as literal unicorn shit has many pharmaceutical, alchemical and thermogenic properties).

Here’s the deal with customer service: customers can be needy, but it’s your job to make them smarter, happier, and more confident than they were before they met you. That can be exhausting. Sometimes it’s all you can do to force a smile when you’re asked a question you’ve answered 20 times before. But here’s the amazing thing about MFF—that smile never felt forced. The team’s joy in my successes and encouragement during my failures was genuine. I admit, I soaked it up; and I couldn’t help but radiate that joy and grace back to my coaches, my fellow Snatched-ers, and every single person I saw for the rest of the day. In the words of Brian Patrick Murphy, I got taken to church. Every day, I left class smiling and delighted with life. Sure, some of it was endorphins, but mostly it was the hour of authentic, undeniable positivity that the MFF team infused into each session. I wasn’t just finishing this thing, I was loving it.

So I’m all hopped up on MFF love juice (you’re bottling that shit right? Cause if not, you’re sitting on a gold mine) and everything’s going swimmingly, and what happens? Totally unrelated to Snatched, I end up in the fucking ER. I was pissed at my body for failing me and I was beating it up more. What happened to taking care of my things?

Snatched is all about meeting your body where it is, and I came to understand that your body is one of my greatest gifts—well, my body. Your body would be a spectacular gift though. My birthday’s next month. Just sayin’… and as such it deserves care and attention, not punishment. I mean, your iPhone can get you laid, but your body does the laying. Polish that shit up!

To sum up, am I wearing my “athletic cut” shirts that I haven’t worn in years? Yes. Do I have more energy? Yes. Do my pecs look better than ever? Hell yes. But have I cultivated positivity in myself and started to share it more with others? Have I learned to show myself the same grace the MFF team showed me? Surprisingly, yes. Thanks for that, Ninja Masters, with all sincerity. Thanks to you, I’m much more of a stand-up guy.