Saying Good-bye

 In my experience high-performing groups are hard to leave.  I think the highest performing group that I have had to leave was a band that I was in.  We were very diverse but came together based on the love for music and similar values.  We spent a great deal of time together and formed close relationships.  The relationships were sometimes messy and we had to put a lot of energy and effort into accepting these differences and making it work.  I think this is what made it so hard to say good-bye.  So much of our lives were invested in each other and reaching our common goals.  We did not really have a closing ritual but instead the last few times we got together we got into arguments.  I think because we subconsciously were trying to push each other away in order to prepare ourselves emotionally.  In hind sight I think it would have been much more effective to have a party, show videos of our past concerts and spend time remembering,  If we had taken time to express our feelings even mourn the loss I think it would have provided closure for us.  Discussion of future plans and dreams would have helped us celebrate and be happy for one another.