Funny, how vitally connected we have all become. Whereas, half a millennium has come and gone since Columbus set sail on a westerly voyage to the Far East, (and having traveled a couple hundred yards from shore, all contact with his benefactors was lost), now we routinely stare into a computer screen, in real time, and talk to family and friends around the world. (I once did the Skype thing with my son in law, as he sat in an Army tent in the wilds of Afghanistan. But that’s a whole ‘nother subject).
Where was I? Oh, okay.
The topic to which I previously alluded?
“When It’s Okay to Quit.”
Speaking of quitting, I suppose if old Chris C. had quit, a couple billion of we North and South Americans, living and dead, would have been born in altogether different surroundings.
(For that matter, due to the whims of fate, such as wars, wildfires and wrecks, we might all have had a different combination of parents, and we would not have been born, well, who we were born).
Pt. 2
And by this time, you might surmise that I am close to quitting that to which I began to allude on the previous page.
But I assure you, this is not the case.
To mess with a line from Hamlet’s soliloguy,
“To quit or not to quit, that is the question.”
I mean, we’ve all been there.
In my second fifteen years of life, I quit all of three dozen jobs; (which I had at one time begun). Even now, on the wall of my den hangs a lovely plaque commemorating my dubious achievements for that decade and a half.
United States Chamber of Commerce
American Record: Sundry and Diverse Occupations
(I had you going didn't I)?
But I think I must be an expert on the subject of quitting.
Perhaps this is why, at this juncture, I so value the attributes of commitment, responsibility and maturity, (and deplore a lack of commitment, irresponsibility and immaturity).
However, in spite of it all, I believe there really are times when it is not only okay to quit, but when to do otherwise would be to tread on the fringes of insanity.
Pt. 3
I mean, after all, it has been said that the definition of Insanity is
“Repeating the same mistakes (on a chronic basis) and expecting different results.”
I tell a story to my counseling clients about the woman who happens to be walking down the sidewalk of her little town, and suddenly she falls into a manhole. Well, that might be referred to as a mistake. However, if the same woman walked down the same sidewalk for the next thirty days and fell into the same manhole, well now, that could only be referred to as a purposeful (but very stupid) decision.
My friends, there is a time when it’s not only okay to quit, but when doing so is absolutely imperative.
Now, to be fair, thus far my focus has been directed towards those decisions and activities which may engender some pretty provocative and negative results. But, of course, there are any number of lesser circumstances and scenarios when quitting may, very well, be a good idea.
In spite of the immense value I place on commitments, responsibility and maturity, I’m convinced that there is a time and place when it’s not only okay to quit, (but when it is in the best interest of him or her who must make the decision to do so).
Following are some random, (but not all inclusive) possibilities:
1. When it quits being fun and becomes an abject drudgery to continue
2. When for all your effort, there are few tangible results
3. When a more significant goal replaces one of little or no import
4. When it’s simply not worth the cost
5. When you recognize the need to save yourself from yourself
6. When you realize you’re in the “wrong race.”
7. When that which you are about becomes detrimental to yourself or others
8. When you receive wise counsel from trusted family and friends to rethink the pathway you have been following
9. When whatever you happen to be pursuing flies in the face of your system of values
10.When you recognize that whatever you happen to be pursuing is entirely beyond your interests, aptitude or abilities
(What do you know, Laine. I finished this blog without quitting)!
By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "(Mc)Donald's Daily Diary" Vol. 54. Copyright pending
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If you would like to see the titles and access hundreds of my blogs from 2015 and 2016, do the following:
Click on 2015 in the index to the right of this blog. When my December 31st blog, "The Shot Must Choose You" appears, click on the title. All my 2015 blog titles will come up in the right margin
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