I am sitting here under the golden arches of McDonalds getting an internet connection before the trial starts this morning. I had an early morning because I woke up thinking about some smut I heard last night about Greg Derrett and myself (not romantically, ewwwwwweeee, but rather as instructors). It started me thinking about when I recently changed to a new brand of turf shoes to run agility. Mostly I am a loyal person, I find something that works I stick with it even in the face of that which is shiny and new. However when I make the decision to change, then it is easy to find fault in that which I previously stood by. If some tells me, wow don’t you love those new turf shoes and crap, didn’t you just hate those old ones, we can waste a good 10 minutes of our lives, 10 minutes  that we will never again get back,  doing nothing more then slamming that old brand of turf shoes. 

I guess loyalty is one of the reasons that I still follow Greg Derrett’s handling system. The other is that it works and I win alot:) As I have told students that have jumped ship to follow other systems, “I prefer to dance with the man that brought me to the party.”  I have won a lot of championships and invested a ton of time in my relationship with this handling system. So I am not going to get to the top and then abandon that which brought me my success.

Although I am the first one to try something new in my training, I do so with great deal of thinking, experimenting and record keeping before I do. Just because something is bright, shiny and new doesn’t make it better. But there will always be those that like to try the newest fad and I am not judging you if this is you, just explaining a bit more of who I am and why. I think my loyalty may have something to do with my upbringing. Let me digress and tell you about my family. . .

 I have 8 brothers and sisters who have (I hope I am right) 18 offspring of their own plus (4 more from those offspring, I am a Grand-Aunt:)). My father had 2 brothers and 3 step siblings (his mother died at a young age and his father remarried). My mother had 9 brothers and sisters. Do you get the drift here, we have a freaking huge family. I don’t even know how many cousins I have, like a zillion or so. So within this massive collection of people, there are likely hundreds of us, there is one ultra unusual thing about almost all of us. This is a freaky fact, something I think National Geographic should be interested in doing a documentary about; within this massive group of people there has only be two failed marriages and 1 divorce versus well over a

At the 2007 Worlds with Lynda Orton Hill and Greg Derrett

At the 2007 Worlds with Lynda Orton Hill and Greg Derrett

 hundred or more marriages. All of my brothers and sisters older than me have been married for over 25 years each. My parents were married for 45 years when my mom passed away and all of their sibs (with one exception) are either still married or died being married to the person they first fell in love with. Loyalty is in my blood I think. And don’t get me wrong, those are happy, communicative relationships, they are fun couples to be around, not ones that are just “staying together.”  And no, we are not catholic:).

So that tells you about me and loyalty. However the point of this post is, if you choose to leave an instructor, philosopy, training or handling system you don’t need to toss away the relationships with the schooling. Try not to get into the former turf shoe mode of mindset because if you do, you are going to waste your time trash talking about something you formerly held very dear. You are going to be tearing down people this time, not just a brand of old sneakers. You do not need to justify your change by degrading what you have left behind. Moving on doesn’t need to mean burning the bridges that once connected you to the past. Your own journey is taking you in a new direction and it can be taken in peace without judgement, really it can. 

Remember that half empty glass is still half full.  

Today I am grateful for the strong sense of loyalty God has blessed me with. It is much easier for me to live me life when I don’t have to keep changing my mind about the people and things I hold dear!