Hi Everybody,
A bit of a counselling perspective on what’s been happening on these Boards over the last couple of months. I think we’ve entered a slightly new phase. Let me comment.
On this Board we are an extended family… and we’ve mostly sorted out our relationships. Every once in a while a new person comes on Board and we have to adjust to them, or crazy Uncle George wakes up and starts spouting nonsense, or little fights break out. The pessimists and the optimists, the intellectuals and the emotional, the knowledgeable and the untrained, all sort of know their place. We generally survive contact with each other and our greater ‘familyhood’ keeps us together.
But into all families come changed circumstances. A patriarch dies, a key member moves, a disruptive person joins… and we have to rearrange ourselves and that’s uncomfortable.
Families also have myths that keep them together… stories that describe who they are… tales from history that sit in the background and inform decisions.
That’s us. We’re a sort of family.
And now an incredible disruption has come into the family.
We’re winning.
We’re bullies.
We’re the beasts from the east.
We’re overcoming adversity.
Our story of being lovable and hard-working losers had slid away.
And it’s messing with our psyches and our relationships.
We’re noticing each other’s personalities and their responses to situations more than we are hearing their comments.
Crash- if I may be so bold as to mention you because we’ve interacted for years. You’ve been quite critical of aspects of the club in the past. Now you want us to stop and appreciate the new state of affairs. That’s your personality, I’m guessing. You adjust to situations in a certain way. And you give good advice. We need to.
But…
Me, I’m a bloody mix of optimist for others and pessimist for myself. But since I have an emotional connection to the Cats I always feel pessimistic about them. That’s been strongly influenced by history. So I find myself constantly wondering when the sky will fall on this team. IF we keep this up for a couple of years I’m pretty sure I’ll adjust. But it’s hard man, it’s hard.
Adjustment IS hard for most of us. Sometimes we aren’t even aware of how it affects us.
Right now ALL of us on this board are sorting out our emotions regarding our change of circumstance. For someone like me it’s a great time because I can sit back and observe and analyze. I’ve even stopped most of my silly stuff during this period because I usually use humour to deal with bad times and things have been going stinking good this year overall.
I see a call for fan cockiness and half of me says, ‘time to feel good about ourselves’ while the other half of me remembers how much I hated that in other teams and wants to avoid it. I’m not about revenge of getting my own back. Others feel more keenly on these points.
I guess all I’m doing is asking for a little charity, a little self-awareness, and a little commitment to our overall purpose and central myth---- that the Cats are worthy of our care, attention, and even devotion. Then we can fight like family! But one that respects its members. We’re all different… and that’s what makes this forum worth reading.
All the best everyone. Oski-wee-wee!
Crazy old Mark
