Just a side-note: Although there's still plenty to add to this discussion, apparently
the OP has left the building. He posted a handful of times last December and hasn't put up anything since.
Now back to the discussion- Each of us has to evaluate our experiences training and make decisions as to whether we want to continue. Making a change can be a
pro-active decision. It's NOT the same "quitting" if it's the best choice for moving ahead.
Personally, at the beginning of the pandemic I decided to close my public class and break with the particular association I belonged to. I thought it through carefully and came to the best decision for me. No regrets or shame.
I did continue to stick with that association as
a student, and traveled about 1,000 miles annually to their main school for a seminar and private training. I did this every year except for 2020 during the height of the pandemic, in fact, I did catch Covid while training there in '21.
Getting sick was not that bad (I had a fairly mild case). What was worse was my poor reception by the head instructor ...ever since I closed my school and stopped paying his
exorbitant association fees (I actually ran my school at a loss for the last year). Ever since I told him that I was "retiring" he would publicly demean me in front of other instructors during training, and was always "booked up" when I tried to schedule private lessons.
Well, OK. I'm a big boy and don't really mind the occasional slight, but I
did object to the way this man would openly share his
very strong political and religious biases both during training and when our group gathered for lunch and dinner. So, I made the decision not to spend a couple of grand this year to make the pilgrimage to the annual seminar/get-together. Apparently, I'm not alone. I received word that many other Sr. ranking instructors have been "slipping away". There is a reason why we don't discuss politics and religion on this forum!
So, yeah it's a shame not to be part of a tight-knit group and have access to continued training, but on the other hand, sometimes it's time to get your priorities straight and make a change.