"Could we wait long enough to bide my time? Could we stay and say enough to change my mind?"~ 'We Could Run Away' NeedToBreathe
I recently almost gave up on something that I really wanted. My mind, being a powerful and deceitful thing, convinced me I didn't really want it that bad to begin with, and that it wouldn't really be quitting, it would just be me changing my mind if I decided to walk away. It got me thinking about all the other times in my life that I almost quit, or the times I did. I remembered all the things I gained from persevering, and questioned all the things I could have gained if I hadn't quit all the other times.
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I used to view pain as as a reflection of my strength, or lack there of. But in reality, pain is often just a lie trying to tell us to quit prematurely. It's a temptation, not a weakness. It only becomes weakness when we give way to it.
Why do we have the pressing desire to simply play things safe? We walk away when it gets uncomfortable, hide when we're scared, quit when it's hard, and forget why we started in the first place. It's certainly safer this way, no sacrifice made, no comfort zone broken, no fear faced. But if we never break out of our molds, we're never going to experience the things that shape us, develop us, and have the potential to change our lives. Instead, we remain confined to the prisons of our self made comfort zones, allowing fear, laziness, and doubt to keep us from possibilities bigger than we could imagine.
Something almost always has to be sacrificed in order to gain something new. We may never even realize how badly we need that thing we gain until we put in the work and the sacrifice to stay longer than our minds tell us we are capable of staying. We could choose to give way to temptation and run when our minds tell us to, or we would evaluate the real motive behind this impulse and decide to stick it out.
What's that thing you are running from, about to give up on, about to abandon? Why did you embrace it to begin with? Remeber what got you started, and if there is still truth to that, hold on to it. Hold your ground. Don't quit. Don't run away. Quitting is always easier easier in the moment, but it is also always more disappointing later.
You can always run away, anyone could run away, but it takes bravery to stay. It takes bravery to remember why your here to begin with, and decide to stay when the water gets deep, and you get tired. You could embrace the pain and call it quits, or you could stay, find your second wind, and embrace the challenge to find the reward. Choose to be brave, don't listen to the fear.
"Don't forget that in the pain you can be brave." ~For King And Country 'Priceless'
