I constantly think about quitting.
Photo by Anwaar Ali on Unsplash
It’s not something that will ever go away. I’ve come to realize that thinking about quitting is just part of the process. My brain always wants to come up with some reason why this is all a waste of time, and why I should try something else instead. Or stop trying altogether.
Quitting seems easy, but it’s actually the harder path.
Quitting means you spend the rest of your life wondering what might’ve happened if you hadn’t.
It means living with the regret that you gave up too early.
It means starting over. Again. And again. And again.
Photo by Scott Gummerson on Unsplash
It means carrying the weight of a version of yourself that looked at a challenge and said:
“No, I’m not strong enough.”
“No, I’m not fast enough.”
“No, I’m not capable enough.”
“No, there are people better than me… so why even try?”
That’s what quitting actually means.
How is that easy?
Living with that version of me is exhausting. I think about the moments I’ve quit before. I walked away from ideas and dreams because:
Fundraising felt like too much work
Selling felt uncomfortable
I was afraid of rejection
I feared judgment online
I thought others were more talented
I didn’t want to be laughed at
So I quit. I walked away.
Those decisions are in the past. I can’t undo them. I carry them with me, but I don’t have to repeat them.
I don’t have to quit again.
Not this time.
Not this dream.
Not this version of me.
I don’t have to quit writing for you. Or writing for me. Or writing for the people who haven’t discovered me yet.
I don’t have to quit building something meaningful. Something I believe in. Something that might help even one person out there keep going.
I don’t have to quit pursuing this dream of becoming the person I’ve always imagined.
I can keep going.
I can keep trying.
And that’s exactly why I’ll succeed.
