In several situations in the year past, I simply stepped away after trying to manage a situation that I clearly was unsuccessful at managing. The first was school during a pandemic--I felt that we had a successful spring of pandemic teaching, and I felt I had some great ideas to make the most of pandemic school in the fall, but my ideas were discounted, so I stepped away.
Similarly, recently, I felt I had some good ideas about managing a family situation, but again my ideas were mainly discounted, so I'm stepping away.
And there was a union issues I disagreed with, and again rather than fight as one against many, I stepped away, and the vaccine roll-out fiasco too--I'll get the vaccine, I expressed my opinion, but clearly, no few to none are listening.
There's a part of me that challenges myself with questions such as did you work at being a good team member enough, did you listen to the other ideas, why couldn't you be led rather than lead? In each situation, I did think about those questions, and in each case, I simply felt I didn't have what it took to be a full member of those teams in the current situations. After analyzing many aspects past and present, I felt it was better to peacefully step aside than stay involved in those uncomfortable, problematic situations.
I haven't always done that--there have been situations in life that I believed in so deeply that I worked for what I believed in against all odds. Those were situations within my grasp, and situations for which I had good camaraderie--there was a lot of positive growth and change in those instances.
But in the situations above, they have the common traits of being BIG issues where few that think like me and somewhat short lived challenges--challenges that will not last for years, but instead will exist as challenges for a shorter span of time. These traits prompted me to step away rather than fight for change.
Instead, I want to invest my time and energy into matters that have long lasting positive effects, matters that I can truly impact with good time, energy, and results. Those initiatives and efforts exist--that's where I'm headed.