Just you ..

 What you mean to others is actually very little. Outside of family that is. 

And whilst karate groups, organisations, clubs and even small private dojo have this 'thing' they call family, they're not. 

This is evident when you stop training with them. Lip service and b.s is prominent. 

Budo, the art of looking inward to oneself carries no weight it would seem. For if it did then outside of Karate you would still matter. 

It's a common theme,  with no difference in the work place either.

But this being said, and I know how negative the above sounds, it does help develop a ' stoic ' nature. It hardens you mentally. Words like self sufficient, tenacity, and endure have a deeper meaning. As a Karateka, you realise that all the things you thought you needed were really just add-ons, and that ' letting go ' as we so often hear, would serve you well here too.

Being yourself. Is this you? Or haven't you met that person yet? 

A poem " the glittering black" kind of sums this up. 

" With the deepest gaze in to the glittering black, to feel the hand of insignificance pat firmly on the back.

To whom does it matter when the farewell clock strikes its final chime 

Save to yourself and those who love you so, beneath the glittering black." 

Be you, train for you, learn to be stoic and know that ultimately it's just you.

Always has been and always will be

And then be ok with it...

.