Quit to win

Quitting is a word that invokes negative image, except when someone says that they are quitting smoking. We humans are a race with a strong will-power, a race where most of the success stories are written by people who pursued, who kept on marching till they reached their goal. The stories always fail to mention what was the cost of following it through, what sacrifices were made or how it affected people around them. I am not a quitter and because of it I know that sometimes the price you pay for just going on is not worth it.  We all go on not always for noble reasons, our egos, our blind optimism all play a role in it.

Does quitting means you are loser?The stories that inspire us are generally of people who have succeeded because of perseverance. Yet we rarely get glimpse into the cost of following the path unwaveringly. I am all for perseverance, for following your dreams provided you are doing it for the right reasons and if the cause is worth it. There is no use beating up a dead horse. But when do we know it is time to quit or more aptly change the course of your travel?

Many a times in our life, when we hang on to our relations, our jobs, our causes long after they have lost their purpose and our interest. We hang in because quitting is for losers and our big egos cannot  handle the fact that the time invested was futile . Again by the time we realize that the cause/relation/job was not worth it (if we ever do), we are too deep into the crap to come out clean.

Yet it is said to win the war there are times when you have to lose some battles. We all are fighting some battle or other all our life. Quitting is not always defeatist, sometimes it is the wisest thing to do. After all our emotional and material resources are not limitless.

The three signs which I feel signal that it's time to move on are :

1. When you realise that what you have invested is more than the returns you are expecting.
2. It has started affecting your health and your relations with others.
3. Your emotional resources are drying up and you are burning out.

Quitting takes more courage than persevering in many ways. Realizing and accepting that you have made a mistake and to publicly acknowledge  it can be a humbling experience, an experience that either make you better and kinder person or  bitter and cynical.