Stability?

So in the past two years I have seen several friends and associates leave their jobs as consultants. These are great consultants and good people. I've called each one of them and asked what their motivations for leaving were. I find two reoccurring themes in these conversations.

First I hear the common refrain that they want to be home with their families more often. I get that. I don't have it, but I get it. To be honest, the day that traveling for work becomes a problem for me or my family I will make a hasty exit. So no harm, no foul on wanting to be home with family.

The other common reason I hear is that they wanted more stability. This one I don't get. I keep hearing that changing clients, projects, and work locations is somehow unstable. I don't get that; that is the part that thrills me. Granted, I spend more time at most client locations than many people I know, but changing locations, projects, and clients every two years is what keeps things fresh in my world. I love that aspect of my role as a consultant.

That said, I recognize that there is a lot of anxiety inducing activity in changing engagements frequently. Meeting new people, learning new processes, and finding a good lunch buddy are all problems we face when we start a new engagement. 

So I wonder if the issue is that consulting firms don't do a good enough job of preparing a landing spot for us. There is something to be said for creating camaraderie through shared suffering. But is it that we aren't doing enough to help our consultants settle in, or is it that our consultants aren't prepared for the difficulties they will face with each new engagement?