DISPARITY BETWEEN EMOTIONAL TENACITY AND EMOTIONAL INVESTMENT_ BY KAREEM ABAYOMI

The way we react, adapt, or cope with situations differs from one person to another.

Some people are emotionally tough, while others are fragile. Some people have a high tolerance for risk, while others, even though they are emotionally strong, lack the appetite for risks, especially financial or investment risks.

These are some of the variables that show how complex humans are.

Recently, I read an article about Roman Abramovich, the former billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club on mirror.co.uk. Fans and players who have played for the football club know that Mr Abramovich was one of the club's biggest supporters. He invested so much in the club to provide adequate facilities that created a conducive environment for players, staff members, fans, and tourists. How about the squad?

He always bought the best players in the market and hired the best managers to ensure the club remained competitive domestically and in Europe. Mr Abramovich sacked manager after manager whenever the team performed poorly.

That's how much he loved the team.

He did everything to ensure the club succeeded and won trophies year after year during his time at the club. Moreover, he watched most of the club's home matches, and cameras often caught him smiling and clapping when the team was doing well on the pitch.

Unfortunately, the Russian billionaire was sanctioned and forced to sell his beloved club by the UK government in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, due to his connections with Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, as the British government launched unprecedented sanctions against the country's elite. The proceeds from the sale and his other assets in the UK were frozen. He was also banned from entering the UK and conducting business there.

Of course, everyone associated with the football club was disappointed by the treatment Mr Abramovich received, given the success he had brought to the club, both on and off the pitch. But it was what it was.

Roman Abramovich is still stinking rich. However, in the 2025 book titled Sanctioned: The Inside Story of the Sale of Chelsea FC, as quoted by mirror.co.uk, Abramovich makes it crystal clear that he is finished when it comes to owning clubs.

"I don't have any interest in any role in a football club, certainly not a professional role," he said. "There might be something where I could help with academies and youngsters, giving greater opportunities to people from difficult backgrounds, if there were an initiative that could make a difference. But as for ownership or a professional role at a club, I am done with that in this lifetime."

This is someone who loves football so much, has invested a lot in it, and has the money to buy almost any club in world football.

And this is a business oligarch who has built multimillion-dollar businesses and would have faced even tougher challenges along the way. But why is this different?

Who knows maybe it's as a result of his emotional attachment to Chelsea Football Club.

You hear things like, "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

But there are things you survive that leave you broken, weaker, hardened, cynical or disaffected.

When dealing with relationship breakups and heartbreaks, you hear people say, "I am done with relationships. I don't want to have anything to do with them again."

When it comes to betrayal of trust, people say, "I can never trust anyone again in my life. Never."

Or perhaps a business failure or bad investment leaves someone bankrupt, and you hear them say, "Business is not my thing. I will never give it a try again."

People have different ways of dealing with difficult situations and tough times, but I have noticed that disappointment arising from emotional investment and attachment seems to have a similar impact on people, whether rich or poor, strong or not so strong.

Regardless of whether people are emotionally strong or not, they almost always react to emotional disappointment in similar ways.

Yes, time heals. But it seems some wounds are simply too deep to heal quickly, and some people may never fully recover from them.

Does that mean we should not love or trust?

Not at all.

As a matter of fact, we cannot do without these two things, being the social beings that we are.

But how do we deal with the inevitable disappointments that come with them?

© KAREEM ABAYOMI 

-Nigeria