Quitting isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes quitting is the best thing for us and for those around us. However, quitting can be one of the most difficult tasks we can do. For example, if you’ve ever smoked and tried to quit you know how hard it can be. The pain you suffer from the withdrawal, the shakes and twitches and most importantly the desire for just one more drag from a cigarette. It’s a really hard task for some to do.
We know that quitting an addiction or an un-healthy habit is good for us. But what about the issues that negatively affect our mind and spirit, shouldn’t we quit those habits as well? The answer is yes, but it can be just as hard to let go of an attitude or release bitterness and anger as it is to quit smoking and drinking. Some of our attitudes and anger issues we’ve lived with for so long that living without them would feel abnormal.
Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary has two definitions for the word quit that I found very interesting. The first one lists the word as an adjective and defines it as, released from obligation, charge, or penalty; to set free. That sounds a lot like forgiveness to me. When we stop worrying about the past or failures we’ve made and we decide to accept the fact that our past no longer defines us and move forward, we’ve quit.
The second, quit is listed as a verb. It’s defined as, to set free, to depart from or out of, to leave the company of, to relinquish, abandon or give over. Again, that sounds a lot like forgiveness. When you set someone else free of an obligation or charge, you’ve quit them. When you realize that certain places and certain people are no longer where or who you want to be around, you’ve quit them. However, just like drinking and smoking, we know it’s bad for us, but to quit is so very hard to do. And like most cases, rather than quit we continue to indulge ourselves and eventually we end up hurting ourselves or hurting someone.
In order for us to accomplish the task of quitting, we must first learn to do three things.
1) We need to have a DESIRE FOR CHANGE. Understanding the need for change is vital to our success.
2) We must have COURAGE. The unknown can be scary and we’ll need the courage to continue. Ambrose Hollingworth Redmoon wrote, “Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” Our healthy peace of mind and stability is more important.
3) We must have a strong DETERMINATION to accomplish the task. The goal is to over come….you can push through it and defeat whatever “it” is. But you must be determined to do so.
Just my thought on a page….
Tim
