Life rarely cares about one’s plans. I’ve said this often. Quiet waters also make for the dullest sails and your ship won’t go far without a little wind. But once in a while, you have to ask yourself, when do the choppy waters calm? It seems to me that I’ve been dealing with almost two decades of people leaving for various reasons. Depending on the arena they happen to be playing in, that departure can leave voids that make things all the more difficult.
It’s a phenomenon I’ve unfortunately seen in many arenas. In karate, I’ve had students that I’ve contributed months and years of training to, only to have them walk away to join a different style or dojo. One good example is a young guy I trained for several years. He started training with me when he was in his early teens and eventually stopped coming to class. He showed promise, but it wasn’t until years later that I found out he had joined Tae Kwon Do. If that wasn’t enough of a piss-off, he considered himself better off. He wasn’t a big fan of how long it took to promote or gain stripes on his belt and that seemed to be all that mattered to him. He certainly got that quickly enough, in Tae Kwon Do. Good for him.
I’ve experienced the same in some of the professional circles I’ve walked in. I’ve managed and trained staff for twenty five years. In those years, I’ve seen many people come and go. And with good reason; some of the industries I’ve worked in weren’t conducive to retaining staff. I’ve had to learn to make my peace with people taking my time and resources to learn and develop, only to leave me a short time later. One comes to expect it, especially when it involves the fact that some folks are simply expected to move on eventually. It hits a bit closer to home when it’s someone that you thought would stick with you for longer.
I had to experience this, recently. I took someone in, trained them, developed them and made them what they are. Although that loyalty should have bought me a longer and more substantial period of time with them in my inner circle, I found out recently that they would be moving on. Someone close to me commented that it seems as though everyone seems to leave me eventually. That definitely seems to be the case. Maybe this phenomenon will come to an end, eventually. Who knows? ☯️
The Blogging Buddhist 