This morning I selected a dance workout on YouTube, wanting something a little different. And let me tell you, this thing went from 0 to 1000 in the first five minutes. After a bit, I looked at my watch thinking it must be halfway done.
I was only 8 minutes in.
Still, I didn’t want to give up. I pressed on. And on. And on. I wondered if, for the rest of my life, I’d just be doing that dance video. I modified. I took advantage of the ads to catch my breath or at least attempt to do so.
As a side note, I do cardio most days a week, often 5 days. This was a whole other level of intensity.
Through it all, though, I told myself not to stop. I needed to finish it. I needed to push through.
When it finally, finally, mercifully finished, it took a while for my heartrate to come down and it really dawned on me that I could have pushed myself into injury or even worse. How do I feel now, hours later?
Like I took it too far, I think.
We absorb all these messages about quitting and stopping and not finishing, and they start to become a measure of worth, a measure of our very value. And you know what?
They aren’t.
Sometimes the smart thing is to quit. Sometimes the best way to take care of yourself is to quit.
It comes in many forms and covers all of life’s events. But I’m not sure where this whole idea that misery is the stuff that makes us came from. Probably from the people who profit from our misery, or profit when we are distracted by it.
So if you needed permission, here it is.
If you needed a sign, here it is.
Winners sometimes quit.
Have a great Wednesday.