RTDM: Cheyenne Hall
Cheyenne Hall
Pharmacist & Mixed Martial Artist
Morgantown, WV
We want to get to know you! Briefly tell us about yourself: Where you came from, where you've been and how you're living your dream?
My name is Cheyenne. I live in Morgantown, WV and I'm a pharmacist by day and a mixed martial artist by night. I call two small West Virginia towns "home": Spencer and Lenore. I left Spencer at the age of 17 to attend college at WVU and 7 years later, obtained a Doctorate of Pharmacy degree. During the last year of my studies (our year of clinical rotations), I began practicing Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It wasn't long before I was competing in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournaments across the country and falling in love with martial arts.
How do you define success?
To me, success is to wake up every day and do the best you can with what you have. It isn't the same from day to day. On fight day or tournament day, success for me is to go out into the cage or onto the mat and try the hardest I can to implement the strategies I have been working and to represent my team well. However, I have struggled with bouts of depression off and on throughout my life and on those days, success is just getting up and making it to the gym. Daily success isn't always going to feel like getting your hand raised in an arena.
What did it take to make your dream happen and how do you make it sustainable?
Persistence, discipline, and hard work. It also takes sacrifice. When I was in pharmacy school, I had to sacrifice time, money, relationships, and much more to achieve my degree. It was difficult. Fighting is a lot like grad school in that way. I have devoted time, money, blood, tears, and a whole lot of sweat to this dream. I have ended relationships that were not in line with my goals. It's easy to look at someone's social media highlight reel and say "Oh, it must be nice," but it's the behind the scenes, day-in and day-out work that really propels a person forward toward their dreams, and it isn't always easy.
What are you most proud of? Go ahead, boast a little!
The first time someone wrote me to tell me that their granddaughter had seen my page and a few of my Jiu Jitsu videos and was now going to go out for the middle school wrestling team, whereas before she had been too afraid, I really felt a sense of pride. Winning is fun, don't get me wrong, but the more rewarding and substantial sense of pride comes from knowing that you're helping to empower others to go after their dreams. Similar instances have happened since then, and every time I am reminded why I do this. It gives me pride to know that my struggles and triumphs have meaning.
What was your biggest obstacle/fear and what was your turning point?
My biggest fear was probably unpreparedness. When I took my first fight, I had no idea how I was going to feel in the cage. Would I adrenaline dump? Would I freeze up? Would I be completely comfortable? Would I remember all the techniques I had drilled? Would I remember ANY of the techniques I had drilled? My turning point wasn't until I stepped into the cage for the first time. My fight was outside at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh. I heard someone in the crowd yell "Let's go, Cheytown!" (shout out to my friend Moe), and I realized I wasn't nervous. I've been an athlete my whole life and this wasn't unlike any other sporting event I've participated in. In that moment, before the fight even started, I knew that this was something I wanted to keep doing for a long time.
What’s the best advice you’d give to a younger you?
I would tell her to be more judicious with who and what she gives her time and energy to. Time is a nonrenewable resource and it's important that we share ours with people who will better us. I would tell her to choose the woman she's becoming over the people holding her back. I would tell her to stop caring what anyone thinks. I haven't cared what people thought about me for years now, but that being said, it took a lot of years of caring what people thought about me to get here. I would tell her that their opinions don't matter. I would tell her that her hardships have meaning and one day, she will encounter people who need to hear her story because they are where she once was. I would also tell her to spend as much time with her family as she can. Those are the important people. Oh, and I would tell her to grow out those horrible side bangs.
How do you stay motivated and purposeful when you feel overwhelmed?
You have to have a "why." Why are you working towards this goal? Motivation is crap. It never lasts. Sure, it might be the first thing that gets you to buy a gym membership or makes you choose spinach instead of Oreos at Kroger for once, but it's not sustainable. It is fickle. It's not going to get you through 6 a.m. workouts before you have to go work a 12-hour shift. It's not going to get you through a Thanksgiving surrounded by delicious food that you can't eat because you're cutting weight. It's not going to get you the results you want because it is too capricious. You HAVE to be disciplined and remember your "why."
Tell us a time when a perceived failure was actually a blessing in disguise or served you in a surprising way.
Two years ago, I competed in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at the Arnold Classic as a white belt. I weighed in and barely had time to change before they announced my first match. At these tournaments, your division is decided by weight class and belt rank. In addition, if you want to sign up for an extra division, you can sign up for the absolute division. This division contains all weight classes and, in this instance, belt ranks. My first match was in the absolute division against a purple belt girl (2 ranks above my belt level). I got caught in an arm bar and waited longer than I should have to tap. I went on to roll the rest of that day and win the blue belt division (as a white belt). I went straight into my first fight camp (for a fight that would later get cancelled due to my opponent missing weight) the day after the Arnold's. Little did I know, I had a stress fracture on my left ulna. This was from that loss in my first match at the Arnold's. During training, my arm hurt some, but not enough to warrant me going to get it checked out. I had things to do, goals to achieve, people to choke. It wasn't until a month later during training when my arm broke completely. An x-ray and a few hours later, I was going to have to have surgery. I went from being in the best physical shape of my life to not being able to put my own hair in a ponytail in a matter of hours. It was devastating at the time. For a few weeks, it was a struggle not to let my situation be a discouragement. However, during this time, I was doing what I could to better myself. I started a new strength and conditioning training program that allowed me to strengthen parts of my body besides my arm, I did bag rounds of only kicks, I worked on my cardio, and I spent time with family and close friends. I could feel my mental strength growing every day. Today, I am thankful for that experience. I am more resilient. I look at things more pragmatically. And now, my left arm is partially made of titanium, and thus, less susceptible to arm bars.
What is your favorite vice/guilty pleasure/strange habit? Come on now, we all have them!
Pizza. I LOVE pizza. I've eaten a whole large pizza by myself in one setting and my friends and I once won a pizza eating competition together. I'm pretty proud of that.
What's the smartest investment you’ve made for yourself?
The smartest investment I've made for myself is my education. Being highly educated has allowed me to be blessed with a good job, and that income allows me to chase my dreams, do what I'm passionate about, and travel like I always dreamed I would.
What’s MOST important to you right now?
Right now, what is most important to me is just that I make forward progress every day. I am currently waiting to be matched for a fight in early 2020 (hopefully), and in the meantime, I am trying to get a little better every single day. in all areas of my life. I am trying to get a little better at my job. I am trying to get a little better in training. I am trying to be a little more attentive to my relationships with my loved ones. I am trying to make progress on my current personal goals. Little increments of progress add up!
Share 1-2 books that have impacted you the most:
"Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual" by Jocko Willink, "Can't Hurt Me" by David Goggins, "Outliers: The Story of Success" by Malcolm Gladwell, and "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" by Marie Kondo. Sorry, it was too hard to choose.
What have you learned to say no to?
I've learned to say no to things not in line with my goals. I love going to dinner with friends and going to football games and social outings as much as anyone, but I have also learned that one cheat day on my diet in fight camp takes two weeks of hard cardio for me to work off. People mean well, but in order to dedicate the necessary time to reaching a goal, you can't say yes to everyone all the time, no matter how much you love Pies & Pints.
What's something surprising about you?
One of my goals for the near future is to build a tiny home or shipping container home! As someone who is learning to live more minimally and who doesn't have a family to house at this time, I love the idea of living in a tiny home and how efficient that would be for my current needs. I can't wait to get started on it.
Who is a Risk Taker Dream Maker(s) that has inspired you? Why?
Professional Boxer Samantha Pill @sammijo218 on Instagram.
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