The Good Part of Giving Up

I continually feel that I was misguided by motivational posters in elementary school that shouted "Never Give Up" and "You miss 100% of the shots you do not take" over stock photos of a basketball hoop. This is true to a point, but that point is really important. That point comes when something just isn't suiting your needs anymore.

It's good to give up on something that is optional and no longer brings (or never brought) enjoyment. It's good to give up on something that is a fantasy construction that no longer fits your goals in life. It's especially good to give up on something that is using large amounts of money, time, and other resources and is getting you nowhere and bringing no fun.

Giving up always comes easily to me when it involves a knitting project. The yarn isn't wasted -- you just pull apart the wonky, half-made sweater and roll back up a skein, as if the whole thing never happened. Same with making greeting cards. When I run out of space and can only manage a poorly planned and penned "happy birthd", it is easy to flip over and try again.

Alternately, it is really difficult when something has been important, time consuming, or semi-enjoyable. I found myself writing a daily log because I had done it for so long, it needed doing. I could not imagine a life where I would be unable to reference a specific past date to see what I had worn, what I had done, friends I had talked to. But, I found myself constantly writing "then I wrote in this log for a few hours". Eventually, I realized that spending all that time working to preserve my own history meant taking away a lot of time from actually making a meaningful life.

On another note, sometimes I just have to give up 'trying to do' things. I give up trying to exercise for the day (or week). I give up trying to read dull books. I give up trying to have a productive work day. I give up having a clean house. Those days happen where I think, "I'm too tired and I can't care! I'm going to just sit down for the reset of the day and not work at myself. The fur will be on the floor to clean tomorrow, and that has to be fine." It's exhausting to constantly try to improve ourselves and do all the right things every day. But no one is really watching. We must look inward.

"I really don't think you have that kind of time"

This quote feels appropriate here. Found in Anne Lamott's book Bird by Bird (and in this podcast episode from Gretchen Rubin).