Giving Up

On my way home tonight, I heard this quote on the radio and it made me think and, amazingly, I remembered it by the time I got home: Giving Up is a Permanent Solution to a Temporary Problem.

It is one of those mantras you need to have ready when you are in a situation that seems hopeless. This too, shall pass, is my usual default when I would rather not be where I am.

I was very involved in the leadership department when I was in college. Over the course of my four years, one of the professors I worked with had me answer the following question as both a freshman and then again as a senior: What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail? He then mailed me both responses when I graduated.

My freshman response was very chipper and all-American with something about being a hero and then saving the world, yada yada yada. The fascinating thing about this experiment is that because I waited four years to answer it again, I did not remember what I wrote the first time and answered it as the person that I had become. My latter response was along the lines of “that I would not try anything. It is because of the chance of failure that I even attempt at all. I do what I do to defy the odds.”

I have never been one to back down from a challenge. In fact, I rolled up my sleeves when most have given up. It is just something in my make-up that helps/makes me take life head on. So today I am dubbing my challenges as merely temporary problems to knock them down to size because the mole hill that my mountain began as is much easier to conquer.

Categories: 365 Challenge