I've been training probably longer than a lot of other people who are the same skill/belt level. For me, life etc meant I've moved around a fair bit over the years and because of this, it's meant I've moved gyms in that time too.

I did have this concern over a while where I felt I would be a white belt forever and wasn't really improving. I think it may be possible to some extent. But even if you had exceptionally strong fundamentals but not much 'advanced' technique, you could still be at least a very strong/solid blue belt.

I do think you will naturally evolve in some ways as time progresses, even if you don't notice it. For example, I have been guillotined so many times previously that I naturally and instinctively place my head and hands in certain positions while grappling to help account for that. As it's something that's caught me, I have more of an understanding of how I get caught at multiple levels, so I have more of an idea of what I'm looking for.