Knowing When to Get Off the Train

There’s a Japanese proverb often shared in reflective traditions:

If you realise you’re on the wrong train, get off at the nearest station — the longer you stay on, the harder it is to return.

Lately, this has stayed with me.

Not because it’s about trains, but because it captures something I see again and again — in individuals, in teams, and in leadership spaces.

Most of us don’t stay in situations that no longer fit because we’re unaware. We stay because movement feels risky, and momentum feels familiar.

We keep going in roles, patterns, or ways of working because we’ve already invested so much of ourselves. Time. Effort. Identity.

Stepping off can feel like admitting failure, even when staying quietly costs more — energy, clarity, and a sense of alignment.

Momentum can be persuasive. It tells us that continuing is safer than stopping, even when something no longer feels right.

The work I do — across hypnotherap