Mistake #5: Quitting

Quit. Definition: (v.) to give up or resign; let go; relinquish
Failure. Stop. Cease. Halt. Permanent hiatus. Just couple of other words associated with quitting. I'm sure about 100% of people have encountered the act of quitting before. If you say you didn't you're lying and no one will like you and you'll probably live a sad, sad, depressing life of not quitting. Harsh, but true. Well for those of you "normal" folk who have quit before; congratulations on a successful mistake.

Fighter pilot. Baseball. Basketball. Boy Scouts. Friends. Women. Habits. Beliefs. Jobs. Opportunities. Relationships. Major life choices. These are just a slew of things that I have quit in my life. You can already imagine the backlash I received from my family and friends. The "you'll never amount to anything if you quit all the time" speech was blitzkrieged(made-up) in my direction plenty of times. I've had the finger pointed at me from above and scolding words poured on to me like scalding hot water.

This post isn't at all about glorifying those of you who have decided to quit. Especially those who have quit anything that was tough and are now on your parents' couch, alternating bong hits and triple kills in Call of Duty. This is a message, a PSA rather, to let you ponder for a moment on why you quit and if the juice was worth the squeeze. It's a public service of mine to announce my sympathy for another human being to do well and not mess up. Or at least, recover gracefully when you mess up horrendously. Be careful, everybody's watching.

As seen from above I've quit a plethora on top of plethora of things in my life. Yeah I felt bad about it then, but now I couldn't be happier with my choices. Hell, today I quit my ability to refuse coffee. It tastes so good and provides me with so much happiness and productivity. Moving forward. People always question if quitting is a mistake. Well easy answer, it is. It's a mistake to quit quitting. Because if you don't stop you're going to be doing that your whole life. Sad story right?

The problem is that people fail to put into perspective about what they want and what they think they want. I'm sure a majority percentage of adults have not achieved their childhood dream. Kudos to you if you have and love it. I applaud you. I've been confused many times on what I want. I still don't know a lot of what I want. But, I do know what I don't want. I don't want to be unhappy, miserable, or restricted in my potential for something better. I quit on the first relationship had ever had because I wasn't in love with the insanity or distance. Albeit, it was with a one-time certifiably crazy girl. I easily could have kept pouring my feelings, money and metaphorical heart into a shot at happiness tat I hoped would come. However, I cut my my losses. I quit. I was troubled and minutely depressed, but I saw a brighter light at the end of the tunnel. A light I would see in other girls to come. Spoiler alert: live moves on. It won't wait for anybody. Better get ahead while you're still alive.

Quitting can come with it's conflicting viewpoints and can seem like a huge mistake. There's always the argument about coulda, shoulda, woulda. By quitting you give up the full potential of that aspect of your life right then and there. Done-zo. That's when self-reflecting and rationalization come into play. Because if you wait too long to decide what you want out of life, it may be too late and a chunk of life's opportunities have passed you by. You must think for yourself when it comes to anything really, especially if you find yourself quitting a beautiful girl or what you thought was dream job. No one else will think for you. Trust me I've asked around and no one will accept my offer.

The most important question to ask yourself when considering quitting anything in life is can you see yourself being completely and unconditionally happy being involved with this job, person, activity, etc. for the rest of your life? After all what determines a good day from a bad day is the level of happiness you start out with am I right? If you disagree that's fine. There's a blog soon to come about the issue in the near future.

With all this continuous dialogue about quitting and its repercussions or lack there of, there is a great deal of thought to be put forward here. You could make the biggest mistake by quitting. Or you could have made the greatest discovery of something fresh that you're passionate about that you might end up quitting in the future anyways. Life isn't about dwelling on the things you forwent when you quit, it's about learning and living with the choices you face when you quit the next thing. There just solved another "what is the answer to life" question. I deserve a medal or some sort of acknowledgement. Maybe some food or a little love. I'm a college kid, I already work for almost nothing. Spare something extra for this life changing advice or garbage I'm feeding you.

My final thoughts: Quit while you're ahead, because before you know it you'll be so far behind you're gonna end up quitting in the worst way. You'll end up making excuses until someone takes pity on you. Newsflash: they won't. So make the mistake of forgoing what you're already doing. You'll never learn what's right or what you love if you don't first know what's wrong and what you detest. Take my word for it. I see the future and it's full of quitters. It's the ones who don't stop quitting that make headlines. Quit now. You know you want to. I won't hold it against you. Heck if you hurry up we can grab a beer and discuss quitting drinking. Yeah probably won't happen, but thinking never hurt anybody.

Mold your minds into something worthwhile. Stay as high on passion as long as you can. It's the best drug with little withdrawl effects.

Stay Classy Stay Friendly,
Kyle Out.