I have no idea where the time went… it seems like a few minutes ago I was leaving the airport and waiting for the monorail and now, I’m all packed and ready to go back to the airport. I feel so privileged to have shared time with so many amazing people and to have been really inspired. I think that is my main takeaway from this Gishiki, I’ve been really inspired. Not only about karate but actually, just talking to people, it has been incredible to hear about people’s life stories, their challenges and how they have overcome same.

I have to say that distance give perspective. I’ve probably lost some of that what with living and working in London. It’s funny, you come out here and find clarity. I love my life in London but I probably do miss out on things due to the fatigue of that same life. There are times when I go home after work and don’t go training, or stay an extra hour in bed rather than go to the gym before work. I’m basically a lazy individual and coming out here I can see that with much more clarity.

People go through loads of things in their lives and a huge thank you to everyone who has shared with me over the last few days, it’s been the best time I’ve ever had and I’m so lucky to have so many great friends. Friends who have and are going through incredible life challenges and all with the most incredible smiles.

It’s always so hard to leave here, I have to try and focus on the time that I will come back overwise I just can’t bare it. Some people go to fancy resorts and do all sorts of crazy things, me I get bored after about 20 minutes and need to do something, whereas here, well my brain slows down, not in a bad way, I’m happy. I don’t worry about all the rubbish I find myself caught up in back home, I just “am” here. Life is rather simple, I wake up, go training, eat and repeat. It’s beautiful in a way and to be fair, most of the time non-karate people don’t get it. So to have so many people who exist to do the same thing is refreshing. I find that I don’t have to tone down the stuff that I do… most people wanted to know why I was going all the way to Okinawa to “just train”. So I had to ramp up the beaches and the R&R time and pretend that I wasn’t going to spend most of the time in a gi.

The last thing I’m going to pack now is this laptop. I’ve been so busy this time that I haven’t had the time to write everyday, which is a good thing. The Tooting massive have been very busy this gasshuku, we’ve had the most amazing of times and I have to thank everyone who made it so memorable. I know that even when I do lose perspective in London then I can go training and things eventually fall back into place 🙂

The time is now to put the laptop away and go to Starbucks for the very last time. It’s been awesome Okinawa, again… can’t now wait for the next time.