Game On

I’ve wanted to give up a thousand times. I’ve wanted to throw in the towel, take myself out of the game and place myself on the bench. Game over.

The words, “I’m done! I don’t know how much more I can take” run from my mouth.

Have you been there? You’re tired, you’re exhausted, you’re burnt out, you’re stressed out, you’re heart hurts, and you’re mind is spent. You feel like you just don’t have what it takes to keep going…and if one more thing goes wrong…”I’m out.”

Just put me on the bench coach. I’m not good enough. I don’t have what it takes.

Here recently I’ve been doing a lot of reading and writing. One of the books I’ve been reading is about how to become a woman that doesn’t quit. When I first picked up the book I thought to myself I’m not really someone who is a quitter. I’ve always thought of myself as someone that stayed pretty loyal to my commitments and followed through with my actions. However, the book sounded interested so I decided to read it. I was only about a chapter into the book when I realized…Oh no, I am a quitter!! Wow! It’s true and it hit me hard! It’s crazy how we can sometimes be so unaware of certain things about ourselves. I quickly thought of all the things I hadn’t followed through on, the dreams I’d stopped chasing, the passions I put to rest, the people I had given up on and most importantly myself I had given up on. It’s true. I have taken myself out of the game so many times in my life before I was meant to stop playing.

It’s so much easier to quit when things are hard and exhausting instead of powering through to the other side. I think it’s become even more the norm to quit when things get tough. We quit our jobs, our relationships, our marriages, our gym memberships, and our commitments when things are no longer easy. We can’t always see the outcome of sticking it out so we take the easy road. The light at the end of the tunnel seems far out of reach so we decide to stop while we are ahead. As time goes on we stop putting importance on finishing the game.

Here’s what I do know, I was made for so much more, you were made for so much more, than to be a quitter. God created each one of us uniquely and for a purpose. A purpose that only we ourselves were designed to achieve. (More on that topic to come.) And if that is what we hold onto through the defeated days, maybe that’s when we will start to see something beautiful in the making!

After all, who ever really enjoyed just sitting out the game on the bench?!

So if you are over there today feeling like you want to quit, to give up and throw in the towel, I hear you! You aren’t alone. I’ve been there more times than I’d like to admit. So let’s not quit, whatever journey God has each one of us on, together! I can’t promise it’s not going to get tough or by next week I’ll be ready to quit again but what I can promise is that I’m going to try. I think that’s what really matters is that we keep trying. Shall we keep playing?

Where are you at? What have you wanted to quit a hundred times? Share in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you!

Game on.

Keep shining,
A. Flavio

P.S. This post goes out to all my freaky fantasy football fans! 🙂