For many people, the first months of the year are a burst of energy as we set goals, make plans, and chase dreams with renewed vigor. But it’s also a great time to quit.
Quit toxic people and relationships. Quit the toxic mindsets and bad habits holding you back. Quit over-filling your plate. Quit the unneeded sources of stress in your life. When you quit these things, you’ll have more time to devote to the important stuff.
Now is a great time to give your life a thorough spring cleaning. Assess your existing commitments and your new plans for the year, and make sure there’s enough time for everything. If not, cut the weakest links.
I used to be involved in a wonderful critique group that, for years, was a big part of my life. Then, last year, I started taking on more and more other responsibilities—I got involved in Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, bought a house, and started planning a wedding. At the same time, my group got some new members, and suddenly I had twice as much work to read each week. I stopped submitting my own work for critique, because I was so busy reading others’ work that I no longer had time to write.
Ultimately, I decided to take a break from the group. It was bittersweet, and I missed it. But worse than that was the overwhelming guilt I felt at first. This was my baby, the group I’d started years before and worked hard to nurture into its current state. These people were my longtime friends. Not to mention that I feared my writing would suffer without any constructive feedback.
Over time, however, I realized I’d made the right choice. Leaving the group reduced my stress, put me in a much better mental state, and allowed my own writing to flourish.
I realize now that the guilt I felt stemmed from my fear of being a quitter. I don’t like quitting. When I commit to something, I’m prepared to see it through. But life goes on, we grow, and our goals shift. The critique group that changed my life in 2015 was, by 2017, no longer serving my personal goals. Sometimes, we have to be selfish in order to thrive.
Darby Karchut, my writing mentor and fellow kid lit writer, gave me one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever heard: Protect your time. This is true for all of us, but writers in particular. The one thing we need to accomplish our goals, the single most important resource we have, is time. And we only have so much, especially when we factor in our day jobs and family responsibilities.
Are you using your time wisely? Or are you wasting it on people or activities that no longer serve you? If so, it’s time to be a quitter.