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Category Archives: Quitting

Persist!

13 Friday Oct 2017

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Attitude, Commitment, Discipline, Inspiration, Persistence, Quitting, Strength

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Discipline, Dreams, Drive, Endurance, Fortitude, goals, Patience, Persistence

Day in and day out, the grind towards what we want to achieve and the end point until our goals are reached is often tiresome! It can drive us to the point of fatigue and even abandoning what it is we are pursuing! But in our makeup, our very biology, we have tenacity and persistence inherent within us. Life seems to persist through God’s design, for His purposes, and by His grace, in spite of what we do or attempt to do. Life and all living matter persist, beyond our own efforts to destroy things, beyond our knowledge, or in our careless abandonment, we can see it all around us. So, in our pursuit of life’s goals and our dreams, we shouldn’t let a few moments or periods of fatigue, brain fog, or disappointment take from us our inspiration, our intention, or our indefatigable drive! We’re made of tougher stuff than that!

We must persist in our efforts. We must learn by habit how to rely upon our muscles of patience, fortitude, and determination to see us through, rather than giving up somewhere along the way! At those key moments when all seems so overwhelming and the road ahead looms too long or taxing for any further effort, we need to hunker down into a stubborn gear on our inner gear shift, which takes us over the rough spots and the most challenging part of our goal ascent! Impossible you say?! I would argue that it’s harder to live with quitting, which forces upon us a lifetime of regret, wasted potential, and the repetitively spent energy of what if! One moment of fatigue can lead to a lifetime of why? Why did I quit? Why did I let my dream slip away? Why did I fail? Why didn’t I see it through? Why? Why? Why?!  

If you want something bad enough, you have to develop the habit of the “hunker down”, using the muscles of determination, patience, and fortitude when other fleeting emotions or feelings are telling you otherwise! I’m not suggesting you keep running into brick walls of impossibility, but if there is even a thought of finishing what you began in some pursuit of a goal or dream, then don’t let the efforts required in doing so dissuade you! The efforts are part of the big reward! The efforts are what make the end goal so much more enticing! Without the sweat, dogged pursuit, planning, and execution, there is little in which to be proud, to feel rewarded, or to claim your prize. There are no participation trophies for all. Only those who put in the time, effort, and endure for whatever amount of time is required to reach their goal will win!    

Reaching the goal is only a victory if you had to overcome some obstacle or find a way through some roadblocks. If it was easy, it wasn’t a very big goal! If it was something everyone could do or have, then it isn’t really much of a dream specific for you! I’m suggesting that you have within you limitless potential to overcome, to reach higher, to go further, and to attain some new level. But if you don’t persist in that disciplined challenge in a temporary moment when the pursuit seems too hard, difficult, pressing, taxing, overwhelming, or just too tiresome, then you will never know your full potential! Persist! If you want something, remember why when you hit the wall, and persist! 

The Thrill/Agony of Life . .

08 Monday Aug 2016

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Attitude, Choices, Courage, Inspiration, Lessons, Maturity, Patience, Quitting, Second chances, Strength, Success

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Never Quit, Perseverance, Resilience

Yesterday was truly the “thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” at the Rio Olympics! There was a horrible bicycle crash when the leader in the women’s race went down and laid immobile on the side of the roadway on a very steep, winding and rainy descent. She ended up breaking three vertebrae in the lumbar region of her spine. It almost appeared as though she had died as she lay there motionless, the accident was so horrible to watch! Offset that with the world-record shattering swim of Katie Ledecky and another gold for Michael Phelps, both of the American swim team; or with a 41-year old gymnast still competing in her 7th consecutive Olympics, seemingly defying aging just because she can! 

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If this teaches us anything, it is that daily life mimics the microcosm of the Olympics. One minute, we’re in our rhythm, enjoying the ride and then we’re flat on our backs (literally or figuratively), having experienced something truly random, shocking and devastating. Or we might be working daily towards some truly big goal, not sure if we’ll make the grade and capture the prize for our efforts! Yet, one day, if we commit to something, we surely will make either the goal or the changes in ourselves which occur in our attempt the prize we gain!   

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Perseverance, effort, commitment and training our minds, bodies and hearts for success are key. Whether we have a major setback, such as that bicyclist’s fall, or a great success, like Michael Phelps and the American swim team, we need to remember that life’s constant lessons continue as long as we breathe! We shall have great days, bad days, days when the sun shines on us and days when the dark cloud overhead seems eternal. But human beings are resilient, meant for unlimited potential and capable of so much more than we ourselves can even imagine, as long as we don’t give up on life when the going gets tough, or when we have known the agony of defeat!  

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The Recipes of Life . .

21 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Attitude, Choices, Confidence, Faith, Lessons, Patience, Peace, Quitting

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Fortitude, Perseverance, tenacity

I am trying a new recipe this morning, and I was starting to get a bit concerned about whether or not it would work. It’s one of those with yeast, which requires a period of activation and rising to do its part. And I hope it will turn out well, but I see a parallel with life in this simple task of hoping in the yeast to do its part. Life for the most part is a series of actions, purposeful and not, which add up to some outcomes and consequences which either seem positive or negative by our appraisal. So life is just a sequence of things we hope for and changes we make when our hopes are dashed. No big deal! 23-09-2013-00-Success-Quotes

 

Why then do we put so much emotional weight on everything we haven’t got a full grasp of control upon anyway?? Do we suppose that we’re better-fated, better-intentioned or just better than others – so that everything should go our way? Even if we’ve prayed and asked God for His favor in something, it doesn’t mean that He will agree that we’re making the right steps, moving in the right direction or are ready for whatever it is we’re looking to find, do or be! Relax; life is about starting some recipes, attempting new things, trying to make something from nothing by mixing intentions, aims and hopes all together. And if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again! Don’t get so discouraged because it wasn’t easy, perfect or natural for you. If you happen to get fortunate with whatever it is you are attempting, then great! But if it doesn’t work after a while and a few go-arounds, perhaps look for a new “recipe” or way to do what it is you wish to!178962_476497912365218_1729959021_n

 

Don’t let the emotional weight of doing, being, making and hoping overwhelm the entire process. Life is all about the trial and error, the endeavoring and the accomplishing, learning and growing in ways you might not yet have even imagined. But don’t give up hope that you’ll either make this recipe or some other way ultimately work. Discouragement doesn’t taste as good as finding the right recipe!

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Give Up

16 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Giving Up, Quitting

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Quitting

positive-thinking-wisdom -12I believe we humans give up too easily . . on ourselves, on others, in hoping and with our faith in humanity and life itself. We begin our lives needing everything.Having everything given to us because we cannot get it for ourselves. We learn to get what we need for ourselves or as we experience hard times in obtaining what it is we need, even at the most basic levels, we often get caught up in a negative mindset. That mindset is brought on by feelings of not attaining, not achieving, not getting and not having. We want so much, we desire so much and we need basics in life – like food, water, shelter and clothing.

Even with the most positive of hearts and minds, we can learn to be hardened to the ache of disappointment, broken-hard-heart-25the failure of not achieving, the need left unfulfilled and the loss of losing what we treasure. Hardening from within isn’t an act of courage in the face of our pain, it isn’t the way to becoming or even having what we want. Hardening in response to what we perceive as pain is merely the way we try to protect ourselves and our hearts from more disappointments, failures and losses.

We build walls of hardness around the soft, tender nature of our feeling hearts and reasoning minds to keep the world from hurting us, from breaking us any further and from seeming to take from us! But we don’t keep humanwall-50the world away when we become doubtful, hard and unloving as a response. We merely keep ourselves from anything which is positive, gentle and loving! It is difficult to be tender, to risk, to love, to be exposed in life. It is often going to be the case that things don’t go as we planned, that we’re surprised by loss, filled with grief and exposed to pain.

It is often the opposite as well! It is only when we allow ourselves to not be hardened by pain, anger, loss or unfulfilled hopes that we will experience the thrill of achievement. The wonder of beauty. The pleasantness of  pleasure.  kindness, tenderness, love, compassion, and all the positive aspects of life! Don’t let yourself become negative, hard and callous to life . . it won’t stop anything negative from coming into your life, nor does it stop the pain. It just prevents you from also knowing joy, peace, contentment, hope and love!

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Cheryl Ries-Author & Model

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