Why The World Needs More Quitters
Admit when you can't live in chaos anymore.
getty By Taylor DuVall
Our world tells us not to quit. And for the most part, our world is right.
It’s good to be a person who sticks it out through the mundane or difficult times, a person who keeps pressing on even though life gets hard. But sometimes quitting is safe and healthy.
Sometimes the world needs more quitters.
As human beings we often take on too much. During college years, we work multiple jobs, take an insane amount of classes, and try to squeeze in some friend time and maybe even have a relationship.
As we age, school morphs into hectic full time jobs, girlfriends and boyfriends become spouses, and kids start popping up everywhere. Then you throw in hobbies, various groups, vacations, religious activities, working out, social media, and family get-togethers, and our lives begin to spin a mile a minute.
We start rushing. We start running. We start standing while eating and checking Facebook while studying for Chem class. When you’re looking here and there and everywhere, nothing can get your full attention. Yet, we still manage to say “yes” to more and more.
We desperately need to start quitting. Cut out the fluff and focus on what is important.
Trim away the excess that takes up too much space in our precious time. When we quit the things we do not need in our lives, we make room for everything we do need in our lives. It may be a job, a toxic friendship or relationship, a social media platform, a bad habit, an addiction, or your night out drinking. Or, maybe it’s a few good things that must go.
If you’re involved in three different charities and you cannot function due to the time commitment, maybe it is time to step back from one or two of them.
Quitting must come with a deep inner-inspection and a reality check on priorities. When we begin to create our dreams and plans, we can start saying “no more” to everything that does not serve them.
If your main goal is to open a restaurant, staying at your banking job and playing twenty hours of video games a week may not be the best choices. If your plan is to be a mom, holding on to a relationship with a man who never wants kids is only wasting your time. If your dream is to be a concert pianist, saying yes to every party you are invited to is not going to benefit your practice time.
We do not need to be involved with every group, with every activity, or, more importantly, with every single person. Some people drain our emotions, bank accounts, and time. Furthermore, if any person in your life is abusive in any way — mentally, emotionally, physically, or sexually — quit them immediately.
Now, being human means doing mundane things we do not always like. Quitting the extras is not an excuse to let the daily important things slide.
The dishes still need to be washed, the car still needs to be cleaned, our bodies still need exercise, and our parents still need to be called. But we can start figuring out what is truly unnecessary, and we can let those things go.
Sometimes it’s not OK to be a quitter, but sometimes it’s downright necessary.
Admit when you find yourself up to your eyeballs with things to do and you can’t live in chaos anymore.
You get one life — just one. If hours and hours of it are ticking by with things that don’t matter or things that are toxic to your life, do not put up with it any longer. Leave some breathing space in your life, and be a quitter.
Taylor DuVall is a writer, editor, musician, book publisher, and poet. Her work has been published on Thought Catalog, Huffington Post, HelloGiggles, Skirt Magazine, and more.