I'm sure it's something you've heard before, Don't Quit. For me, the philosophy is not foreign. In fact, it is an idea that was drilled into my mind by my parents as a young child. My father was sure to let me know that before I signed up for any extracurricular sport to be sure that it was what I wanted to do because quitting was not an option. I heard him loud and clear, but came to understand what he was saying the one year I signed up for volleyball. I have nothing against volleyball, I'm just not good at it. I was the shortest person on the team, I couldn't jump high, I hated falling on the floor in attempts to reach a ball that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't reach. It was embarassing when ball after ball got by me while the other players on my team seemed to hit the ball effortlessly. I told my parents that I wanted to quit and I felt that I was quitting with good reason: I sucked at it. My father quickly reminded me that quitting was not an option and if I chose to quit I would face consequences at home for doing so. Needless to say, I finished the season. I wasn't MVP or anything close, but I finished. The lesson in that for me and it applies to so many other things in my life is that: sometimes the reward is just finishing. You automatically gain something just in completing something, especially if it took a lot of strength and courage to do so. I never played volleyball again, but I did finish the season in spite of the difficulties I faced in doing so.
While fasting, it really just hit me like an "ah-ha" moment, right when I was about to reach over and eat just a few of the fries from my daughter's happy meal, I asked myself " Are you going to quit?" I immediately remembered the sentiment from childhood, that quitting was not an option. I quickly understood that I have to make my mind up in the BEGINNING of a fast to finish. Quitting cannot be an option. The very idea of knowing that you CANNOT QUIT, just like you can't stop breathing or you die, strengthens your resolve to stay focused and steadfast on a fast. I'm not sure if I'm verbalizing this correctly, but you have to know that you just can't quit- no matter what. You have to make your mind up to endure, to keep going, to not stop until you reach your predetermined goal. I said I was going to complete a forty day fast, so I am going to complete a forty day fast. Is it easy? Heck no. But, quitting just isn't an option for me anymore.
You may not know exactly how hard this fast is going to be when you start, you may not know how bad you're going to feel when you're suffering from a detox headache. you may not know how tired you're going to feel on day 3, or day 5. You may not even know how hungry you're going to be and how you will be tempted, how you will be invited to a party and really want to indulge in the appetizers, or that the smell of pizza will make you want to eat the whole thing. But as long as you know that you WILL.NOT.QUIT, no matter what, then you need all you need to know. At the beginning of a fast, or before you even determine when that fast will be, you have to know before you start that you will not quit because you can't.
You're coworker just happens to bring in cake on Day 2 of your fast- you can't quit.
Detox kicks in, you didn't know it would be like this - don't quit.
You're invited to a baby shower, a party - you can't quit.
You still have to prepare dinner for your family- don't quit.
The hunger pains haven't gone away and it's Day 5- don't quit.
Until you take quitting out of your mind as an option, success on any fast, of any duration will prove to be very difficult for you. I would even venture out to say that you won't complete it because you have the option to quit until you take it away.
Quitting just can't be an option anymore. Make your mind up and do not let anything or anyone keep you from keeping your promise to yourself. No holiday, no temptation, no detox symptom will be enough to cause you to break your fast early if you have already determined that nothing would cause you to quit.
Knowing that quitting is not an option anymore is what causes me to know that this time will be different than all the last fasts I've attempted. This time I know I won't quit, because I can't. The sentiment is as strong as anything else in my life that I can't quit, I can't quit being a mother. Before I had children, I had no idea how difficult motherhood would be. I didn't know that I would get divorced when my youngest child was only 1 year old and the difficulty would increase tenfold. I didn't know that I would have to clean up puke out of the backseat of my car, I did know that motherhood was a permanent title. Even when I don't feel like being patient, not being a mother just isn't an option. Do you see where I'm going here? Take away any other alternative other than finishing and you will finish.
Repeat it in your mind until you understand the committment it requires to know: quitting is not an option. I can't quit. I won't quit.
Removing the quitting option for success is not just for fasting, it's for anything in life that you want to be successful at.Make your mind up right now and just do it.
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