Why Don’t You Just Quit!

I have heard that over and over during my life. It was never meant to be a genuine question, but rather a harsh statement. “Give up already. You will never…” fill in the blank with your struggle. There are times when we should use wisdom and change direction in our lives but that’s not quitting, that’s making change.

There are times when quitting seems wonderful. Like, quitting time at the end of a long day of work. Oh, that’s probably your favorite time to quit. But I’d like to talk to you about the times in your life where you quit something you didn’t want to quit.

Take a minute here and think about your life. What have you quit? Maybe learning the piano or a second language. How about diets or exercise programs? Perhaps you wanted to start your own business, follow a passion. Whatever it is for you, ask yourself why you quit? People quit for a variety of reasons; self-doubt, pressure from others to quit, the task gets difficult, endurance fades.

Once you’ve quit, that action usually drags a few emotions along behind it. First and foremost, regret. Now regret is a horrible feeling to carry around. It keeps you looking backwards to a point in time you can never relive again, which is rarely beneficial. The only way to make regret profit you, is to look back, realize what you should have done, then change how you live going forward. But the trap of regret is that it continually reels you back in, drawing your thoughts back to a place where you are helpless to change the outcome.

That helpless feeling regret brings, gives birth to frustration. Over and over you re-live the moment you quit and wonder what could’ve been if you had just tried a little harder. To me, helplessness and frustration walk hand-in-hand. So you stay in the past, in the memory of quitting. A memory you can’t change and only builds frustration. Now that you are good and frustrated at yourself, you start talking to yourself. Not in a crazy way that could get you committed to a psychiatric hospital. No, you start putting two and two together and realize…you are a quitter. You look back to all the things you’ve tried and quit and there’s is only one label for you…quitter.

You are in a deep hole now because what comes next is truly disabling. Self-Doubt. If you are lucky and have a moment of hope, self-doubt will quickly extinguish it. That label of quitter you pinned onto yourself, well now you are starting to tattoo it into your flesh, letting it become permanent.

Now that you fully doubt yourself, you begin to act differently. You hesitate. When new opportunities come along, instead of bravely trying again, you hesitate. The opportunity passes and then you are left with…wait for it…regret. The cycle starts again and you long for an escape.

There is a way to escape this draining cycle. Don’t Quit!!! Okay, so you tried drinking more water, but soon stopped. Big deal. Try again! You tried a workout class and hated it. Big deal. Try something else to get fit. Don’t stop trying. Try again. Try something else. Try, try, try.

Some people may laugh at your efforts. Ignore them. Some people may grow weary of you saying, “I am going to try to eat better.” Ignore them. Look for people who never quit and listen to them. They sound like this, “I totally screwed that diet up, but if I make it a little easier, I bet I can do better this time.” Or maybe this, “I have tried to workout three times a week, but I hate going to the gym. I think I will try walking my neighborhood.” These are the type of people who hit a wall, get knocked back or just pain old fail miserably at change, but they don’t quit. They learn from it and find a way to move forward.

You’re reading this for a reason. I don’t want you to hesitate and miss your chance to Get Up Again!