Choosing a Martial Art Class

Hi Brendan!

I appreciate a lot your YT channel and Ralston’s work.
Lately I have been more and more thinking about getting back into martial arts. I am 27 and living in Rome Italy. In high school I did a few years of Karate Shotokan (green belt) and before the pandemic I did a couple of years of Krav Maga (yeah not exactly the definition of a martial art, I know ;P ), so that’s my only background in the field.
I have felt some attraction to Muay Thai, Aikido, Judo, BJJ, Wing Chun, etc, or to getting back to practicing Krav Maga to focus on the self-defense side of things, but in reality, I am really not sure, each of them has something that turns me on but at the same time pushes me away.
Ideally I would take many of them, since each has a unique kind of way of fighting and benefit, but the day is only made of 24 hours and there is work and other passions to cultivate so I need to be selective and choose wisely. Ideally, from a martial art I would want something that I enjoy, that keeps the body trained and healthy and that has proven effectiveness in real life fighting and self-defense scenarios.
Taking MMA classes for example would be amazing for its effectiveness and for being a synthesis of many styles of combat, but a turn off would be it being often too savage, the culture of violence that many teachers and people who practice it have, the augmented risk of taking huge hits to the head or some other heavy injury. Systema for example might have some of what I ask but there is not a very good school within reach for me: from what I experienced by practicing it a bit, it seems to be the martial art that is closer to many principles that Ralston teaches.

What are you tips on this? Given your experience, if one doesn’t have access to you and Peter in a short time frame and for a long period of time, what martial arts would you choose (ideally just one), and how would you screen for a good school and teacher?

Thanks in advance,

Cheers

Stefano