You’d probably be surprised at how hard it is to actually find examples of putting a positive spin on “quitting” given the negative connotation that particular word inherently carries. I’ve reflected on this concept quite a bit lately and ultimately decided that the only situation worthy of such ominous finality is one in which you quit believing in yourself.
“A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.” – Napoleon Hill
If you’ve read this far, I want to make sure the bottom line of my message is loud and clear upfront (just in case you don’t end up crossing the finish-line for this entry):
A CONSCIOUS AND DELIBERATE DECISION TO MAKE A CHANGE IN COURSE IS NOT THE SAME AS “QUITTING”
I was on social media one day not long ago and saw this image:
(*queue rather creepy deja vu*)
In a super ironic moment of timing [when I was feeling rather discouraged], I scrolled across that post and thought I had stumbled upon a miraculous epiphany of sorts. It made me recall earlier days and how hard I had prayed, desperately wanting to be in different circumstances (many of which we had, in all actuality, accomplished by the time I wound up sitting there reading/digesting subject quote).
I analyzed the words “If you quit now… you’ll end up right back where you first began” and got to thinking [at least while in that present moment of eyes transmitting words to brain]: I must keep going; there’s no turning back now! Otherwise, if I don’t succeed in staying on this path which we thought was what we wanted, needed, and were confidently investing in, I basically just wasted a bunch of time to ultimately only reach failure.
That mentality drove me for a number of weeks and months until I made a deliberate choice to ‘train for the marathon’ rather than ‘drain myself on a sprint’ [such as I’d been doing]. I found peace in the fact that there’s no need to worry about ending up “right back where we first began” because there is actually only one beginning… everything after that is simply part of our story.
Take a moment to let that sink in. You will never “start over” again on the road trip of life. Be comfortable with changing course and/or finding a new path to explore… doing so doesn’t negate however much fuel and miles you put on those tires of yours getting as far you did before deciding it was necessary to make a pitstop and detour.
If you aren’t navigating along the same ‘scenic view’ as me these days, that is totally okay — simply quit visiting my blog (I only hope your doing so isn’t without a blurred rear-view mirror and open [minded] roads ahead).
Safe travels.
(and PSA because I can’t help myself: please don’t be that jerk who doesn’t stop for a school bus — it’s the big yellow thing with a bunch of flashing lights and cute red sign that pops out the side kind of like an arm waving hello but simultaneously informing you to pump your freaking breaks, ya road demons…)
Signed,
“to-legit-to-quit”
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Thaddeus 