I am not a quitter. And I am sure you are not either. No-one likes to think of themselves as a quitter do they? It's the ultimate loser-ish label to apply to yourself. I think the belief that "quitting is bad" is a great foundation for pushing us onward, faster, higher, harder. Not quitting means we get extra creative when we are looking to overcome obstacles, we use our initiative to come up with ingenious solutions under pressure. Not quitting, tenacity, determination can be overwhelming forces for good.
Until they aren't. You know, sometimes quitting is exactly the thing we need to do. Sometimes the thing we absolutely need to do is quit. Walk away with our head held high. Move on. Let go. Sometimes the cost of not quitting is just too high a price.
There is a fabulous Zen proverb that I like. Short and sweet.
Let go or be dragged
Letting go is much more empowered than quitting. It's consciously releasing our grip on something that, on reflection, no longer serves us. It's realising that holding on so tight is actually dragging us somewhere we don't want to be. It's letting go of the university course we hate that's driving us to depression, it's letting go of the increasingly needy relationship that's sucking us dry, it's walking away from the job that sounds shiny and great on the outside but is a living nightmare on the inside.