I'm planning on this week, talking to my martial arts instructor when I can, about leaving the school. I've been under him for 15yrs now, but I'm rather burned out now. I have no desire to go anywhere or really do anything there. I'm hardly there as it stands, now. I've been kicking this around since about the first of the year. I've decided to take up my diving full time & I just don't have the time & resources for both. I reached 1st degree black belt, but haven't gone anywhere in 7yrs. He is VERY demanding when you get to black belt level ( He's very much of the old school of thought from Japan (where he grew up & learned the martial arts) in this) & between work & everything else I just can't get the practice I need to keep up my skills. In the last few years my idealology & his have drifted apart & we no longer see eye to eye as much. I'm sure he's going to be plenty upset, because at 1 time he was grooming me to take over the school, but with the good paying job I have now, I'm not interested any more. It is not a decision I arrived at lightly, since the martial arts have been such a big part of my life for so long. I'm just hoping I can leave out of there on amiable terms. I've seen him lose his cool over such things before. It'll be walking on egg shells, I'm sure. The biggest problem will be just getting to talk to him for a few minutes in a quiet atmosphere since he kind of stacks one class on top of another. I guess I'm just asking everyone to say a little prayer that things turn out OK. I consider him a very dear friend & would like to be able to leave on those terms, but I also know how easily he can get upset about things at the drop of a hat also. This will be a big turning point in my life since I have put so much into it for so long, but it's time for me to move on........
