When to Hold 'em and When to Fold 'em?

Perhaps only in athletics is the value of quitting
at the top of one’s game
recognized as a good policy.
Football players, soccer players, etc.,
do not wait until no team will sign them
before moving onto other things.

Yet, how many other life endeavors
do we grasp to their dying breath
before we recognize the inevitable
and move on with our life?

How many jobs have you stayed with
long after your interest in them had died?
How many relationships have you worked on
more out of obligation than desire?
How long have you lived under your parents’ care (and control)
long after it was time to go out and create your own life?
How many projects have you continued with
long after they had served their full value to you?
How many courses have you continued with
long after you had learned all you wanted to learn from them?
How long have you remained
on a career path long after you had known
it did not inspire you and did not get you 
out of bed in the morning?
How long will you remain clinging to life
long after its potential for reward is gone
and the inevitability of suffering is set in place?


Sometimes we go to our grave never having quit
what we should have quit years ago.
Most of us wait until the situation is really bad,
or we are forced to quit,
or until we have a legitimate excuse to quit before we:
end a romance, end a marriage,
quit a job, quit a career,
drop a course, quit a project, quit college,
say goodbye to a friend, move out of our parents’ home,
or even say goodbye to life.

We hold onto our past long after its energy has died,
trying to guarantee ourselves a security that is actually empty.

Take a few minutes to ask yourself,
“What am I avoiding quitting that,
if I did choose courage to quit,
would create a whole new opening
in my life for energy and aliveness?”

Honor yourself for choosing the courage to quit.

?


Better break your word than do worse in keeping it.
— Thomas Fuller (1608–1661, British clergyman, author)