“When things go wrong, as they sometimes will;”
“When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill;”
“When the funds are low and the debts are high;”
“And you want to smile but you have to sigh;”
“When all is pressing you down a bit, rest if you must but don’t you quit.”
“Success is failure turned inside out;”
“The silver tint on the clouds of doubt:”
“And you can never tell how close you are;”
“It may be near when it seems far.”
“So stick to the fight when you are hardest hit.”
“It’s when things go wrong that you must not quit.”
These are the words of John Greenleaf Whittier from his poem, “Don’t quit”.
What resonates with me from this extract is the way in which Whittier describes the exhaustion and pain that comes with wanting to give up.
He highlights the toll that life will take on you on your journey to your desired destination.
Sometimes after you have put in a lot of effort into a task or goal, and it is taking much longer than what you had expected, you find yourself getting weary and discouraged.
I have since learnt that it is completely normal to feel that way and that one must acknowledge when he or she has reached that point.
I have, however, learnt that is the point at which you must not give up.
Rest, but don’t give up.
It is so easy to back out and take the easy way out of situations because it requires less accountability and less strength of character but what is the price of that?
Possibly, regret.
It is the regret of wondering what could have happened if you had forged ahead despite the exhaustion, challenges and pressure.
It is the regret of not witnessing how much you can endure, even when it seems impossible to do so.
It is the regret of never knowing your potential in that particular situation.
To me, that is too high of a price to pay.
I recently had the most exhausting four weeks I have had in a while and upon the end of that four weeks, I can’t believe that I am still standing to tell the tale.
I believe there is this trigger that goes off when we are faced with a challenge in which we must either sink or swim.
My uncle called it, “just swimming”.
Most times, when we are placed in the deep end, it is easy to surrender to the pressure and tell yourself, “I will never be able to do that.”
The truth is, you can do anything you set your mind to with the right support and guidance.
Four weeks later, although it was not without error, I have managed to swim.
It is amazing how the instinctive lessons and survival instincts you acquire do not show themselves until you are about to drown.
Then, of course, the universe conspires to bring to you everything you need to get by.
That is also the beauty of word of affirmation.
What you speak is what will become of you and your surroundings.
Once I told myself that I will make it through, it became a commitment and challenge I made to myself and the universe.
While I got tired I remembered that if I quit I would be failing no one but myself and that is the last person I would want to let down.
Newt Gingrich once said, “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.”
Get tired and rest but just never quit.
