When It's Time To Go

There comes a time when we are presented with an opportunity for
something better than what we have. A new job or promotion which
will take us closer to what we have dreamed, or you get a letter in
the mail saying you may already be a winner.

You might even feel like chucking it all and joining the flying
Wallendas as you tour around the world on your tightrope of fame, or
maybe you'll just feel the need to get off the hamster wheel and
find something new.

It's all good. It is your life, and you have the right and
responsibility to yourself to do what you need to do, want to do, or
just would like to do.

Maybe you hate the idea of leaving a job you like a lot but know
there is something better you are moving towards. Perhaps you have
just been there because you couldn't see yourself doing much else
for one reason or another, until now. Or, like so many, you cannot
wait to tell those so-and-sos what you really think of this place as
you walk out the door, head held high and never looking back.

But as you think about it, there come these mixed feelings. Yes, it
is time to move on with your life. But I have so much freedom in
this position. Not sure at all what I am getting myself into moving
forward. They never respected me nor what I brought to the table,
forget them. I was good at what I did. I hope they can handle things
without me. Boy, will they be sorry I'm gone.

It isn't always easy moving from one part of your life to another.
If it was a place we liked most of the time, we hope that those we
leave behind will be able to handle things without us. On the other
hand, when we don't feel appreciated as we leave, we hope so
strongly that the place will just shut down by time the door closes
behind us.

Truth of the matter is, life goes on. The places we leave will be
fine. Sure, they may scramble a bit to get reorganized, our former
bosses may feel hurt that we would dare leave them, and we will
definitely be blamed for anything that just isn't right for about a
year or so later.

But we can't let that stop us. Sometimes, we overstay our welcome.
You see it in sports when a once great athlete tries to stick around
for one or two more seasons too long.

But, nothing is forever, much less any one job.

Probably, one of the hard things to deal with is the feeling of
being replaced. I've been lucky. The last two jobs I left, I was not
replaced. Well, at least not right away.

It takes away the option of being able to go back. In a sense,
you're stuck with the decision and have no other real choice but to
move forward. And that, despite what we feel, is a good thing too.
Safety and security are can be the worst things for us at times.
They keep us grounded, they keep the status quo, and the longer we
stay, the harder it will become.

There are countless hall-of-famers in all walks of life. Sad thing
is not everyone gets to be enshrined in the hallowed halls like they
do in Cooperstown, Canton, or even here at the bowling hall-of-fame
in St. Louis.

One thing those we immortalized have in common is that someone else
at one time or another replaced them, just like they had replaced
the ones before them.

It's part of the whole circle of life I suppose. Even though so
often it feels as if we are going nowhere and life as we know it is
just standing still, it's not. It's constantly moving forward. And
we will all reach these points of decision at one time or another.

Let's hope we don't start asking ourselves "What If" when it's our
time to go.