My daughter, Senpai Zoë, hugs (holds) me after the fortieth fight.Aaaahhhhhh, I feel like I can breathe again. It's now a month (yesterday) since my shodan grading. I've been ill and miserable for most of that time - and that was so unexpected. It really took the gloss of my achievement. I started to wonder if I had really done the grading at all - I was feeling so old, and tired, and lethargic.
But yesterday, and today, I have suddenly started to feel like myself again. I have some energy, I have a little excitement brewing about my next steps in the karate journey, and I can look at the grading photos and think, phew! That was me and I was OK!
My kyu grade days are over - I'm feeling sad about that. I had some great classes and teachers in those six years. Someone told me recently that moving up to our black belt class is like the transition between secondary school and university. The teaching is less structured, the learning is at your own instigation and pace, no one hassles you or reminds you of your syllabus. You have to work out what to do and why. There is no more being drilled in the basics. You need to be totally self-disciplined. The journey really does start again.
I had my first shodan class yesterday - a full hour of bo work. Loving the stick!
