“Don’t be a quitter.”

We’ve all heard that phrase in movies and popular culture in some way. We’ve been fed the idea that it’s a bad thing to quit, that our character will come into question, or that we’re weak and can’t cut it.

But quitting, for intentional reasons, can be a very healthy thing.

Maybe the thing we’re doing doesn’t align with our goals or who we are anymore. Maybe we got more clarity on how we want to move forward in our life, and the thing we’re doing doesn’t support that. Maybe what we committed to isn’t what we thought it was, or has become harmful in some way.

I think we often don’t quit things soon enough when we know we need to because of a fear of what others will think. A relationship we know isn’t right for us, a job that’s sucking the life out of us, or a habit that’s negatively effecting our health.

A caveat to all this is that we can quit things poorly or well. Something David Whyte speaks to in his poem “To Break a Promise”.

Quitting something doesn’t mean you’re not a committed person. That is a deeply harmful, twisted lie used to manipulate, shame, and control. Knowing when you need to quit something means you’re more committed to being a healthy person who’s living true to yourself, and actually to those around you as well, than harming and lying to yourself.

Be a quitter.