Why Giving Up Isn't Really an Option
If you're about to stop trying, don't.
Most of us have taken up new activities, hobbies, or just tried new things since the onset of the pandemic.
And since the world has become so competitive these days, giving up has presented itself as an option more than expected.
Before you even consider dropping what you have been doing, you should know a few things:
1. Failure isn't actually a failure.
If you’re thinking about giving up, you probably think that you failed to succeed and therefore you should be giving up.
But what if every time you thought you had failed, you weren't actually “failing”, instead, just going through the process. What if your “failure” was viewed as an inevitable step and didn’t carry with it the weight of utter hopelessness it does now.
Stop viewing every time that you don't succeed as a “failure”, instead relplace “failure” with the word with “step 1 or step 2..”.
Imagine what it would be like if everyone viewed failure as a step of the process and nothing else.
- Step 1- start
- Step 2- fail
- Step 3- fail
- Step 4- fail
- Steep 5- fail
- Step 6-Succeed!
Now I know it isn't really that simple; some people may go through 10–50 “failing” steps, but that is the beauty of it!
Everyone's story is different.
You just have to keep trying.
So if everyone had this perspective, the thought of giving up would never cross anyone's mind.
Because although everyone's process is different, eventually, there is success at the end of the road.
2. It's part of the circle of life
Last summer, I visited my dad's farmhouse in a rural village in India.
As I sat down to cool my legs in the nearby stream, I noticed these tiny fish ferociously trying to swim against the current.
Let's name one of them Ross, for the sake of clarity.
Most of the time, Ross only swam up to a few inches, before he was viciously swept back by the water and was left clinging on to a piece of algae for dear life.
He was back to square one!
But surprisingly, without hesitation, he started swimming up the stream again unfrazzled, as if nothing had happened.
Ross then tried again, made it a little further this time, but was still swept back by the current.
The difference, however, was he was able to cling onto algae that were a bit farther than the previous one.
The result? Each time Ross had moved a little bit farther.
If he had given up after the first 10 tries, he would never have gotten to where he wanted to get to.
He had to swim up the stream because it was part of his life cycle.
After witnessing this action with fascination, multiple times, I realized something.
Ross had to swim upstream because it was part of his life cycle. So what if we thought of failure as nothing but a part of our life cycle.
If we think of failure like this, then, in theory, you can't possibly “give up”.
What if we were like Ross? What if every time we failed, we blindly got back up and tried again.
What if we skipped the part where were sad, looking for outside approval and comparing ourselves to people who were better?
Most of the time, we are prompted to give up, not because we think we should, but because of what we see and hear from the outside world.
When we think that we have not been successful, our inner critic turns on and we feel like giving up.
What if we just kept going, regardless of what anyone thought…
3. It’s the only thing that you control
Your effort is the only thing that you can really control.
You can’t control the number of awards you reap or the appreciation you get.
In other words, you can’t control your result/outcome, but you do control your hard work and effort.
So the best thing you could possibly be doing is trying.
Do what you can control and leave the rest to the universe
4. You're not actually doing yourself a favor
Sometimes we think that we are doing ourselves a good favor by giving up what we think we cannot do.
We think “why should I put myself through so much stress and pressure, only to find out that I will never be good enough?”
But what I think is you’re probably missing out on a golden opportunity.
Most of us don't even try long enough before we quit.
In a world of instant gratification, persevering no-matter-what is a challenge.
Why do we think that there is a time frame to succeed, and if you don't succeed in a certain time frame, you should give up?
Well, newsflash, THERE IS NO TIME FRAME FOR SUCCESS!
We usually get the wrong idea when we watch or read stories online about people who are doing the things we are doing.
We often think that if it takes us significantly longer to accomplish something, then we were doing something wrong, or the activity just wasn’t right for us.
But why are we limiting ourselves, when there is actually no time frame?
5. Stop weighing your success through outside validation and you'll naturally gain the urge to keep going.
Yes, we ALL do this.
Especially because if you tell people you are good at something, they often like seeing rewards or recognition to back that statement up.
So when we look back at what we have achieved, if we don't see any outside validation, we are discouraged.
Well, in that case, every good author had to be a bestseller and that's just not the case.
If you’re not receiving outside appreciation for your work, so what? Do it anyway. Don't use it as a reason for you to stop doing what you are doing.
“Before you give up , think about why you held on to it for so long.”
Finally, the key takeaways
If you are on the verge of giving up what you think you aren't good at, then I hope that you reconsider giving it another go.
If you think you’ve failed, you're probably just going through the natural process of life, and eventually, you will succeed.
Most of us give up just before something magical happens and we miss a golden opportunity.
Don’t be the “what-if-I-had-continued-to-do- it?” person.
Just keep swimming and you’ll get there
I truly hope you enjoyed this article and learned something valuable.
Thank you for reading!
