Why Giving Up Can Be a Good Thing

“I am under the law of my own consciousness.”
~ Louise Hay

Never, ever give up. That was my motto, my goal, my life’s work and accomplishment summarized in one phrase. Never giving up. So praise-worthy. So upright. So noble.

And so dead wrong at times because sometimes giving up can be a really good thing!

I should have given up on my corporate career even sooner. I should have given up on engineering and gone out to pursue the creativity of my soul.

I should have given up on some friendships at the first sight of disappointment and heartbreak. I should have started my yoga journey earlier.

I should have started traveling sooner – on that front, I did something for you so you don’t regret the same thing! I should have abandoned some projects right then and there and walked out of some buildings and some relationships never to return.

But I didn’t. I couldn’t. It was not in my nature. It was not possible in my mind. It would have been the utter definition of failure and I wasn’t going to have any of that.

I should have given up a lot of times in my life because while my persistence was noble, my cause was wrong. How does your cause relate to your happiness these days?

Yes, yes, I know I have the life lessons but some days, you just get a little mad at yourself for the choices you made – or didn’t make – and for never daring to question authority or conformity.

And if you have a blog, then you can tell your beloved readers about how you feel, because it is smart to spare telling friends who frankly do not want to hear and family who honestly cannot understand. Bless their hearts, but I don’t need love today – I need some understanding!

Just for today, I’d give up the life lessons just to know what I would have made of myself if I had always, always followed my heart and not listened to the pressures of society and family.

What would have happened? What would I have become? What things would I have created? From the few signs I have shown and proven to myself in the last few years when I did start listening to my own heart and mind, and giving my creativity a chance, it would have been something significant. That’s what I choose to believe anyway.

Do you ever look back and wonder what if you had taken a different path? Are you on your own path – the right path – right now?

Louise Hay is a beautiful woman that lived a terribly tough childhood and adulthood and later in life started the self-help movement.

In this amazing interview, she shares oh so much wisdom. She talks about choosing not to believe something anymore because it no longer serves you (if ever it did!). She adds that there are words in our language that we need to stop using so we can be good to ourselves, words that hurt and put us in the wrong, words that do us no good.

Well, “should” is one of her words, the basis of this entire blog post is a word I need to discard. I am working on it, Ms. Hay, but it’s not easy!

Nonetheless, I am fine, or more than fine, I am great. I just find ways to still question life even in the presence of true happiness. Don’t you?

I know I hold my future in the palm of my hands, and protect it fiercely, I shall! So I will finish on a very positive note. Now that I am here, I will not ever again ….

…. listen to anyone tell me what I can or cannot do.
…. care if I come across as too passionate, too energetic, too focused, and too excited.
…. change the precise way I like do things in order to please others.
…. pretend around family or friends about things I don’t care for the sake of politeness.
…. engage in activities that seem fun but make me feel bad about myself.
…. take the advice of anyone to do something in my life that does not feel right.
…. entertain any possibilities of having children under pressures of society or family.
…. worry about pleasing anyone except myself first and foremost.
…. give up on my purpose of doing something incredible and leaving the world better than I found it in a special way.

Selfish, no. Just self-nurturing!

It is the first rule of happiness but it doesn’t come without a price. We all pay a price to follow our dreams. Are you willing to pay yours? Me, I am prepared to pay any price for the pursuit of the priceless.

What about you? Care to spill your guts here today for some past aches and pains, and some current delightful ways you have changed for the better? I am all ears.

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