I'm trying to stop leaving my elbows exposed and allowing myself to get flattened out when I end up on bottom. 

I really try to unless I am learning something for the first time and am already very confused. 

It depends on the day for me. Some days feel more mentally challenging and physically easy while others challenge me more physically. I think it depends on the technique/position we are working from.

Eat like an animal, crawl into the shower, get 3 hours of sleep. 

My favorite technique is the butterfly sweep. It's finally starting to make sense to me lol.

I need a mix of all four, but I can especially appreciate a deeper explanation.

Definitely the first option, since I'd like to try to practice what I'm learning. But I do like keeping things playful overall :)

The upper-belts that could easily whoop me, but choose to learn me something instead lol. Coming to class forces me to be mentally present and channel my negative feelings into something more useful. Also learning how to use my specific body type and size to my advantage is a good motivator to keep coming to class.

My favorite training partners are people who challenge me, but also take the time to teach me if I'm struggling. It's a very selfless endeavor that I don't take for granted. Shoutout to Tony Vargas, Julie Kats, Tim Jurgovan, and many more.