What kind of martial arts/self defense system would you recommend to me?

[JR 137]

To be fair, when I was 19 years old and barely a beginner in the martial arts I was offering ill- informed lessons and advice to my friends and family based on the little bit I had read and experienced, with not much understanding of what I didn't know. If the internet had been around at the time I might have done what Nic is doing now, so I can't be too judgmental.

Me too.

I think it's more of a case of when you know a little bit, you think you know way more than you actually do. Then once you start learning a little bit beyond the basics, you come to the realization that there's sooo much you don't know.

I was 19 when I started. After white belt, I thought I was so much smarter than the average bear. After 4 years of that, I earned my black belt. I started consistently training with the black belts in black belts only class and realized I didn't know doo-doo.

I'm back at colored belt (4th kyu) after a 15 year hiatus. This time, I know more than most equal ranked students, but not much. But now I'm smart enough to know I'm just barely scratching the surface. Pretty sure I'll be doing that for quite some time.