training jiu jitsu

I've been trying to snag somebody, anybody, in a collar choke while they are in my closed guard.  Finally got one yesterday and while I wouldn't flaunt in front of my partner, I humbly accept this good fortune as a good sign of my progress.  I need some more of these little victories.  

What do you consider a "win" during your training?  For me, a "win" could include a clean sweep pulled off from open guard or an escape from mount (even if I end up tapping later in that roll to a superior opponent).

Today I had a realization about the way jujitsu is helping me deal with stress. I walked in the door for my noon class with an elevated heart rate, heart palpitations and overall jittery and tired feeling, all due to stress.

Two important things happened:

I spent over an hour focusing on improving my spider guard. I didn't think about work, family issues, or anything else that is creating stress hormones inside of me. I made some huge progress today with my positioning and once we opened up the mats I applied what I learned and had some pretty good success and pulled off some sweeps I've not been able to do before.

I made my body work today instead of just letting my mind control all of these physiological responses to stress. And as I rolled with my training partners my body began to fight the effects of elevated cortisol levels within. As I walked back to my car still sweating profusely, I felt different. Something very good happened to me in that hour and a half. 

It makes me wonder if perhaps jujitsu is saving my life, keeping me from that heart attack that so often comes to people in their 40s who are stressed out to the max.