I recently wrote a blog post discussing throwing in the towel and quitting on certain endeavors, businesses, relationships, goals, when they just did not make sense anymore. I think there are times for that particular action. Ever the contrarian myself, I look at many situations in life that it might be best to do the opposite, stay the course.
Sticking With Something Has Its Merits.
Sometimes you don't know something will work unless you stay with it awhile.
It is certainly true in business. It is true in projects you undertake where you understimate the time needed for completion, and even the investment in money and energy needed to succeed. People are the most mysterious if you keep sticking with them long term whether they be family, friends, acquaintances or just strangers you want to keep associating with. There is not an absolute right or wrong judgment answer because I know ex-spouses who attended the weddings of their ex- the second go around and remained "good friends." Go figure, but goodbye sometimes is not final.
In any event, sticking it out, pursuing, not quitting may be the answer in many of our situations in business and life. Sometimes you are just dividing especially people up into non-keepers and keepers. I have always liked this story relative to keepers:
I grew up in the fifties with practical parents -- a Mother, God love her, who washed aluminum foil after she cooked in it, then reused it. She was the original recycle queen, before they had a name for it,,,,,A Father who was happier getting old shoes fixed than buying new ones.
Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barely a wave away. I can see them now, Dad in trousers, tee shirt and a hat and Mom in a house dress, lawn mower in one hand, a dishtowel in the other. It was the time for fixing things -- a curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress. Things we keep.
It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy. All that re-fixing, re-heating, renewing, I wanted just once to be wasteful. Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there'd always be more.
But then my Mother died, and on that clear summer's night, in the warmth of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't any 'more.' Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away...never to return.
So...while we have it...it's best we love it...and care for it...and fix it when it's broken....and heal it when it's sick. This is true....for marriage...and old cars.....And children with bad report cards....and dogs with bad hips....and aging parents...and grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it.
Some things we keep. Like a best friend that moved away -- or --- a classmate we grew up with. There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special....and so, we keep them close!
The bottom line: Keepers are WORTH IT!! Don't let them go....
Comments(25)