The Fine Art of Giving Up

Giving up on something — or someone — is seldom easy.

Well, at least it's not easy for me.

I suppose it might be easier for those who are among life's dedicated quitters; those who pack in trying to accomplish something the moment they encounter any kind of bumps in the road. They are typically also the ones who leave relationships and friendships as soon as there is any kind of friction, generally throwing up their hands and declaring that "it's just too much work and too much hassle."

I have met my share.

I fall at the opposite end of the scale, and have often been described as "loyal to a fault," often to my detriment. I suppose I can agree with those assertions to the degree that my loyalty has periodically turned out to be rather costly; where a retrospective look perhaps would have informed me that I needed to get out of there.

I guess I had reached almost 40 years of age before I finally discovered that there are times when giving up is actually the best possible choice in a situation.

Perhaps I was always so resistant to that idea because "giving up" — to me — would bring up unwelcome echoes in the deep recesses of my mind... in the form of the words from my family that basically amounted to declarations that giving up was the equivalent of failure. Oh, and in our family failure was simply not an option. Not then, not now, not ever.

In retrospect (again) I end up looking back on those early days of my life and recognizing that I was surrounded by a lot of very unhappy marriages and miserable job situations!

In a strange and ironic sense, my parents broke the chain of misery by pretty much being the first in my extended family to divorce, when I was about 10 years old. It was just not done. Divorce was for weak-minded quitters.

Of course, I'm not advocating in favor of ending relationships... but the "never quit" assertions were misguided in the sense that they were not really about choosing what was best or right, but simply about proving that you never quit.

It was definitely not a healthy approach to life!

Mostly, it was just an ego-contest for a group of people deeply rooted in fear of being regarded as "losers" if they were to ever admit that something they willingly undertook had actually turned out to be a less than stellar idea.

Perhaps what helped me break away from that history — on a personal level — was reaching a point of feeling "down and out" in my life to the point where I simply didn't care what anyone else thought about my choices.

I no longer felt shame in saying "You know, I gave this a fair shot, and I just can't get it to work."

And that is — quite possibly — where you need to end up before you can embrace the fine art of giving up.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week ahead!

How about YOU? Do you find it easy to quit something (or someONE) when things are not working? Or do you stay at it much longer than you should have? Regardless of which applies to you, where do you think your choices come from? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)

Created at 2025.07.28 00:40 PDT
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