JUAN MATA LEAVES CHELSEA - LESSONS

It was with surprise, shock and disbelief that I read the news of Juan Mata’s departure to a rival club, Manchester United. The day before, I had read the news on Daily Mail (DM), but I thought DM was, as usual, spreading a rumour; immediately, I went to BBC’s football site, and gave a sigh of relief as there was no such news.

You can imagine my shock, when I decided to take a ‘stroll’ to BBC’s sport site this afternoon, and I discovered the news was already among the stale news. This just about soiled my day.

Before Jose Mourinho came back to Chelsea, this season, Juan Mata had been voted player of the year, for 2 consecutive seasons, by his Chelsea team mates, so selling such a bundle of talent and skills appeared to be pure madness, yet there wasn’t much visible protest from the fans.

Like a BBC columnist stated, if Rafa Benitez, the former Coach, who the fans merely tolerated, had sold Mata, there” would have been mutiny and marches along the King's Road”, but the ‘Loved One’ took that decision.

The Columnist went on to say that “Mourinho's word is law and accepted on trust. He is the untouchable one.” The fans would simply hope he has taken the right decision as he had won a PERMANENT PLACE in their hearts after making several right decisions for them and also making Chelsea a club that contended and won the top spot in the English Premier League (EPL).

Despite my groaning, it suddenly occurred to me that being the best player the seasons the club performed poorly (the last two seasons), might just have made Juan a ‘local champion’ of some sort, not worthy of a space in Mourinho’s EPL-winning team.

LESSONS

-          Winning the trust of people, overtime, is very important. In fact, it would cover for the times when you might take a few wrong decisions. Earning the trust of friends and loved ones might take time, but it would act as an umbrella in the rainy day.

Chelsea fans would have had Rafa’s head, if he had tried what Mourinho tried, but with Mourinho, they had and still have complete confidence in his decisions, with no one chewing his head over a few questionable ones.

-          Because someone is known as the star somewhere doesn’t necessarily mean they really are that good; they may actually be unable to measure up to a higher standard when such is demanded from them.

ARE YOU LIKE MY SIBLINGS? TRUST AgAiN

My siblings avoid buying bread from the market, as they've been deceived into buying bread that's almost stale, a number of times.
Last Sunday afternoon, my mum said she was going to buy bread there, and a chorus of disapproval rose up from them.
Even though I had also been 'bitten' I didn't mind as I'm always open to giving others/things, second or more chances.
Dad reasoned with them that my mum's good at selecting fresh bread and all, but they didn't believe him.
They were of the opinion that until the bread was tasted, one couldn't prove it's freshness.
It was finally proven that mum got 2 perfect loaves!
Funny, but a lot of people are like them.
Some go through life expecting the same thing that once happened to them, to happen again.
Thinking in absolute terms, rather than relative terms, has become the order of the day.
Let me give an illustration of what I mean by thinking in absolute terms, rather than relative terms.
It's common knowledge that daughter-in-laws (DIL) are said not to get along well with their Mother-in-laws (MIL).
THINKING IN AN ABSOLUTE TERM: Now, if I got married with the determination that I have to battle my MIL before I can have a peaceful marriage, then I'll hold on to that mindset, not minding if my MIL is a wonderful woman or a difficult woman, who can be softened, greatly, by care. Instead of this giving me the peaceful marriage I crave, I'll get the exact opposite, especially if the woman falls into either of the 2 aforementioned categories.
THINKING IN A RELATIVE TERM: If I go into marriage holding on to the belief that despite the widely-touted belief that DIL and MIL are like oil and water, I will get the best from the relationship once I do the needful. A lot of people may come and feed me with "you're not going to have a peaceful marriage because you haven't put your MIL in their place" but the exact opposite would happen based on factors I'll discuss another day.
Based on the above illustration, thinking in an absolute term involves "I've been IRREPARABLY hurt by bad friends, so I WON'T have friends anymore"; while thinking in a relative term involves "Even though I've been BADLY hurt by bad friends, I know good friends abound, so I'll be careful not to choose bad friends next time, and if I do, I choose to choose, again".
There's someone hurting, who's reading this post; I ask that you give TRUST a chance, again.
Give Life a chance, again!
Give Love a chance, again!
Give Laughter a chance, again!
Cheers.