sunday scribbling - quitting

Am I a quitter or the opposite?

It's not as easy to answer as one would think.

First of all, there are two sides to quitting: there's either abnegation or there's lack of persistence, which makes the act of quitting a very dubious one. When you say you quit, you may have given up smoking or perhaps you've given up a diet. People will applaud you for the first one and boo you for the second.

I've quit a few things in the past:
I quit piano lessons.

I quit eating meat.

I quit my first choice for high-school.

I quit trying to make someone love me when they didn't.

Many times for me quitting things means I've gone off them, I no longer enjoy them and search something different. That shouldn't be called quitting, just moving on. But it does involve a certain lack of persistence in something - but should we persist in something we're not so fond of anymore? Probably not.

I never quit my resolution to become a vegetarian.

I haven't quit the story I'm writing (yet).
I didn't quit a relationship even when a positive outcome looked impossible.

Sometimes knowing when to quit is the key. And when that moment comes you know, it feels natural; sometimes the moment is only when you reach the deep end but perhaps it had to be that way.

Other times quitting is a dream. It's a good, releasing and fulfilling dream when you have to do something you don't want to. Often it works for me to imagine that I've quit even though I never actually do. It takes some of the pressure off. It's an option and when we have options we are much happier people.

More scribblings here.