Quitting! A stepping stone towards success.

Failing is lonely and isolating. You get a feeling that you’re drowning in a dark ocean and there is nothing much you can do about it. That sinking feeling is the worst kind of pain one can go through because you know that you’ve put in your best to achieve a particular thing but the ultimate result is not what you had anticipated.

Failing is good, it teaches you what went wrong. Failing often is taxing. It creeps up your mind and you fall hard. Eventually it pushes you towards giving up.

YES! YOU QUIT!

But is it that big a deal?

Do you have to be guilty for calling it off? Come on! Don’t be so hard on yourself. You are a human after all. You spend the days sitting in front of your computer, empty stomached working your brains off and at the end of the day you are not even satisfied with what you have achieved. And you accuse yourself of giving up? You were typing out excel sheets on a rainy Sunday when ideally you could take your girlfriend out on a long drive. Your nights went by on concalls with the foreign investors and meals ignored as if they were trying to intrude into private conversations with the love of your life. What happened to all those sacrifices? Crumpled up and shoved into the garbage bin?

Relax! It’s human to quit. I’d be rather surprised if you didn’t give up because it is only by performing this act that you will get in touch with your vulnerable self, the part that is anxious and tired of trying. You’ll feel low and all sorts of blues that are there. But think of this- When you are at your lowest, the only way forward is up. Congratulations! You’re still able to feel hope, excitement and the absolute thrill. Most importantly, you have better ideas now. You know how to combat the bugs that killed your vibes the last time.

Wait. Don’t you dare assume that now that you’ve reached the buoyancy level, you would never want to quit. You still might. Even when you are in the prime of your career. The reason is that we humans have a tendency to yearn for more than what we already have in hand. Satisfaction is a utopian concept which is mostly never achieved. The moment you reach the level you aimed for, suddenly your aims become bigger and you want to reach out more.

But again, that is human too. I give you that. Let me tell you why. See, you are tired of taking that extra step. You are tired of always trying to come up with something new. It’s normal to feel exhausted of the routine and you might want to give it all up. You might as well be thinking of it already. The most successful people that are out there have faced this time but the only reason why they are successful today is because they wanted to quit, but didn’t.

Perseverance is golden and is hard to achieve. The way is muddled up and you tend to infuriate your wholehearted, ardent self. Decide to be a mean head, not think about anything else but yourself and sink in a little.

Perfect! Go ahead. Take a break. And bounce back to the old enthusiastic you.