Sometimes it’s hard to know when to quit. We’re told that quitting it bad, that only losers quit, that with hard work and determination we can reach that goal, that everything we want is out there if we don’t give up….blah, blah, blah. What we aren’t told is that sometimes the best thing to do is stop. That sometimes the cost of doing is too much and will keep us from ever enjoying the goal once we’ve reached it. We aren’t told that sometimes the first goal can be based on misinformation or missing information and therefore be wrong. That circumstances can change making the goal the worst thing for us to aim towards once they do.
Quitting is neither good nor bad. It simply indicates the ending of your association with some type of activity prior to the end result being achieved. Quitting can be negative such as when someone quits giving a patient care and medication that they need. Or someone saying they’ll do something, having others depending on them, and then just quitting in the middle. Quitting can be used to harm others or just be selfish.
But quitting can be amazingly positive. If a job you’re doing is not what you thought it would turn out to be or is splendiforously not right for you, then quitting rather than suffering for no reason is the best option for everyone. If the relationship you’re in creates nothing but suffering and drama and neutral to negative experience for everyone involved, then quitting is definitely the glowingly right choice, whether it’s you telling them to “take this relationship and shove it” or you telling them to “Get out!” Quitting can remove us from things that are holding us back, causing us harm and free us to live an authentic, moral, ethical, spiritual and joyful life.
Quitting is not easy. I’m a Capricorn which means when I say I’ll do a thing, I will wear myself down to the last nerve and muscle fiber to make it happen. However, over the years I have figured out that quitting is sometimes the better part of valour. I have quit jobs because the corporation was doing quasi-legal things. I have quit degree programs because my need for personal healing trumped any school schedule or program rules. And I have never regretted those decisions. They were the best thing for me at the time and provided an example for others that they could follow in order to support themselves in a healthy way.
So don’t get trapped in structures of your own making. Don’t feel that you have to just because you said you would. It may be embarrassing, difficult, uncomfortable, but the truth is always the best option. And if your truth is that you need to fold ’em and walk away, better to say so sooner rather than later. Of course, make sure you don’t turn your back to the table, have your pistol loaded, and have the safety off.
