I Quit...Wait, Maybe Not...No, I Quit...Let Me Think About It More

I quit! This is a phrase that just doesn’t come out of my mouth well or enough. There have been many things that I should have walked away from or learned a lesson quicker than I did. Of course, there are times when it is easy to walk away. When the yard is mowed, edged, and weed eaten, and you stare at the glory of the yard you are good. When you shake hands at the end of a golf or tennis match, complete the race, or hear the sound of the final buzzer you know the end has come. How do you quit when you don’t know if there is success or just more wasted energy? What earns the moniker, “He put up a good fight”, or “At least you got experience and know what not to do next time”?

These questions have haunted me for years and with many different experiences. There have been some amazing successes and there have also been some, what could have beens. During the successes, the effort was at a high and in the end seemed to justify the work that was required to get there. The funny thing is the failures, or experiences, also required a lot of effort and tireless energy. What led to success was not that much different from what was also deemed a failure. Is there something inside that drives us more on one thing versus the other?

Still, is there a point when you just should walk away? The investment you made that just hasn’t panned out. The diet you have tried. The career you thought you loved. The sport you took up. Is there a stopping point or just a reevaluation of what you really want out of it? I wish I had the answer because it would shore up many frustrations that I have and surely others share as well. What makes quitting so difficult to me is knowing that there has been so much blood, sweat, tears, and time put in to make it successful. I fight thinking that there is something else I can do to change the outcome to something that is more in my favor but I don’t know if it will really matter. Quitting has such a negative connotation but failing is how we learn what doesn’t work. Having this knowledge still doesn’t prepare us for the emotional rollercoaster between stop and go. Although this line of thought is something I think about daily I also know there is so much good that happens every day it is something that passes as soon as the next task hits the table. I am sure there will be a time that the answer hits me. I hope the lesson is swift and the consequences for not deciding are not too costly. Trust your gut and remember, everyone has an opinion but you are the one who needs to live for you. Go get what you want and ponder that consequences aren’t necessarily always negative.