Two friends are at the pub on a Thursday night. They are sitting at the bar having a conversation. One person is clearly doing most of the talking. From your nearby table, you overhear part of it:
“I don’t know if it has to be this way. But it has been for me. No one gets it. If they are trying to be helpful, they make suggestions and if they are from the Synod they just make a request that adds to my to-do list. Sarah sat me down the other night and was in tears; the money situation is just getting too much for her. She wants it to work but, having me not earning much and putting cash into it, its been 18 months now. People aren’t even joining us as much as I thought they would —I mean people from the community. Maybe we were crazy to even try this thing. It feels like nothing is happening, I don’t know if it’s worth it anymore. The cost is too high. I cant keep putting Sarah off and saying just two more months, just two more months…we’ve already been round that loop and she’s really worried.
“Honestly, most of the time I don’t even know what I’m doing…some days I don’t even want to see anyone. I don’t want to do the next thing, I just start questioning the whole thing. And if I don’t even know if want it, I can’t expect others to get on board. It’s been ages since I had one of those moments, you know, where it is happening, where people are connecting and they are showing up and I think “Yes, this can work, this is good”.”
“I think maybe we were wrong from the start, something’s not right in the mix….. Then I think about how excited everyone was and, honestly, I just want to throw up. I actually feel sick about it. Just sick about disappointing them. I’ve got another ‘checking in on the project’ meeting coming up and I don’t know what I’m going to say, I haven’t said anything to anyone.”