Lessons at 75%

Random lessons from a month of wandering around rural Japan.

It's been a rough month, the most demanding physical and mental challenge I've faced since the Army. Nevertheless, I feel I've already learned more in 1 month of trekking in Japan than 5 years in the military. This is stuff that applies to surviving the trail, but I'm gonna try to adapt it to everything I do.

1. For every ailment, a cure. Blisters? Dr. Scholls Blister Treatment! Ankle ligament pain? Pain relief pads! Feel a cold or fever just waiting to come on? ADVIL!!! Feeling homesick and wanna get the damn thing over with? Walk faster! Every injury or ailment on the trail, I've found a solution, a salve, or just used plain old rest (or a dip in the onsen) and things just seemed to sort themselves out. This gives me confidence that my tendinitis is not a death sentence, but a temporary setback. . .maybe even an opportunity.

2. If you take care of your blisters, they become crazy hardcore skin armor. My feet are like a collection of burls now. No, not legendary singer/songwriter Burl Ives, but those weird knots you see in redwood trees. They're hard as hell; normal wood has a little bit of give when you hit it, but if you punch a burl, you're gonna break your hand. That's my feet, and that's because I treated the blisters. So if you take care of your wounds early and don't let them fester, they'll become another level of strength, not a nagging weakness.

3. Need help? Ask for it! This has been a tough one to learn, but being lost in a foreign country leaves you with little option but to leave shyness to the wind. I've flagged down folks on motorcycles, knocked on random doors, and asked everyone from old grandmas to Japanese soldiers for directions and guidance. I've always tried to take care of problems by myself and left asking for help as the last possible resort. Maybe its time to reverse that policy.

4. Exhausted and in agony? Take a goddamn break! This was another lesson that I learned the hard way. In the Army, they taught us to man up, push through the pain, and complete the mission no matter what. I took this philosophy into my post army life without any major problems. . .until I started to try to play piano with increasing amounts of pain. Lot of good that did. And once again, in Shikoku, I often tried to walk too many kilometers, too late in the day, and ended up hurting myself. After the third time I think I finally learned this one. Take a break, dummy! Shikoku ain't going anywhere, and you wont be either, if you don't give your body time to recover and heal.

5. Practice gratefulness. This is one you learn real fast on the island. Its raining? At least its cool. Hungry and tired? At least I`m losing weight before the wedding! Got a new blister forming? Awesome, that'll distract you from the pain in your ankle! I am not joking about that last one, I literally allowed some new blisters to form to take my attention from other nagging injuries. Be grateful for pain! Its a signal you're alive. I just got a weird blister between my toes that popped and festered for an entire day. I couldn't even feel it, and I got super worried that I would have to amputate it or something. But I treated it with neosporin and a blister patch, and the next day it stung! I could feel pain from my toe! I was so relieved. So yeah, be grateful, for everything, even pain.

6. Trust your instincts. There's been times when I knew where to go, or when the ferry back to Shikoku was gonna leave, or some stupid thing, but I still asked someone just for a second opinion. They told me something else, and I went with it because hey, they live here and I don't. Turns out I was right. Might as well have just gone with my gut; if I was wrong, then at least it was my mistake, and not the advice of someone that turns out didn't know shit.

On that note, despite all the love in Shikoku, not everyone has been helpful. Shop ladies have told me to leave the store when I was soaking wet with rain. Train station employees have brushed me off or endlessly passed me off when I asked for directions. My buddy from Australia wanted to stay at a temple, and the security system activated and told him to get the fuck off the temple grounds!!! Jesus! Even a pilgrim in Shikoku isn't gonna get the benefit of the doubt all the time, it turns out. Even in Japan, there are Haters. They`re not bad people, or evil, they`re just hatin' on a pilgrim. I'm sure they have their reasons. Which brings me to my final lesson. . .

7. You know why they hate us? Because they ain't us.

I think that about sums it up.