As the new year begins, everyone is talking about starting new things—new habits, new projects, new plans. But I suggest it’s time to quit something. Be a quitter! While not advice I’d typically give, I have to say, there are some things worth quitting. Sometimes life truly begins when you say, “I quit!”
Fearing change
There’s fear and then there’s fear of change. A fear of snakes, flying, or even dying are common fears that can be overcome in life, but a fear of change prevents you from truly living.
Like Bilbo Baggins of the Shire in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, you might be afraid of change. If you had a hobbit house, you would hunker down and avoid the outside world. But also, like Bilbo Baggins, if you sheltered yourself, you would miss out on some amazing adventures, even those fraught with danger, pain, and sorrow.
Sure, not all change is good, but good can come from all change.
Putting yourself down
I said negative things about myself daily. For years. Until one day I finally realized that by putting myself down, I was essentially saying that God made a mistake.
I’m good now. I started saying (out loud) daily affirmations about myself, even when I didn’t fully believe them yet. I found positive things that God said about us in the Bible, and I declared them. And everything changed.
Over-thinking
I’m a thinker. A logical, reason-it-out kind of person. My mama would say I was a “why” child. Why is the grass green? Why do I have to go to school? Why, why, why . . .
I am an inquisitive one, that’s for sure. But all that inquisitiveness can lead to overthinking, which is not a good thing. Not only is overthinking a time waster, it’s also a stressor that leads to anxiety and worry. Overthinking goes on and on until the reality train has left the tracks.
Trying to please everyone
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve tried to please someone, I’d be on an extended vacation right now. When I tried to be what I thought others wanted, I didn’t even know who I really was anymore.
Trying to please everyone else causes us to lose sight of who God made us to be. Once I quit trying to please everyone else and focused on pleasing God alone, I became my best me.
Living the past
Thinking about the past can be an all-consuming pastime, but that is no way to live. Imagine all the miracle moments you miss while you’re obsessing about the past. Those little everyday things happening right now? They are what make up a life.
We all have a past, but the past has passed. We can’t change it, and we don’t get a do-over. What we can do is quit living in the past and find the good in the present.
Tammy Darling is the author of 1,500 published articles and three books. She writes from her home in rural Pennsylvania.
