Somehow, over the years, several things that were unhealthy became a way of life and natural for me.
Over the past several weeks, I’ve shared a lot of things that I had to quit on my journey to a better life. To recap some of them:
- I quit needing to be right all the time.
- I quit talking down to my wife.
- I quit drinking alcohol.
- I quit blaming others for my problems.
- I quit blaming myself for the death of our son, Kyle Jr.
- I quit blaming my wife for the death of our son, Joey.
- I quit blaming God for the death of both our sons.
- I quit cussing (well, most of the time).
- I quit hanging out with the wrong people.
Times I Wanted to Quit
Fact is, I quit many things that I needed to quit, but I didn’t quit the good things! Back in 2003, when we first started on this journey to a new and better life, there were a lot of things that were introduced to me that I didn’t quit. Some examples:
- When I first quit drinking, I wanted to quit quitting so bad. There were some days that were so hard. All I could think about was how bad I wanted to drink and escape.
- When we first started marriage counseling, we both had thoughts and discussions about quitting our marriage.
- When I had my heart attack and had to quit smoking, I wanted to quit quitting more than I can say. Anybody that has quit smoking knows what I’m talking about.
- When I was told that I had to let go of the things my father did to me and forgive him. As I worked through the process, it was painful and I wanted to quit, but I was able to forgive him.
- When someone told me that it wasn’t God who killed my son and I decided to be open and start asking questions, there were times I wanted to quit.
- When I first tried to quit cussing, it was hard. My language had become so natural to me but I didn’t quit quitting.
‘Praise God’
There’s a story here I want to share. So I fished a lot with a really good friend and we decided that we were going to try and clean up our language. When we were fishing, most of the time when we would get a snag, we would get frustrated and cuss. One day, I said to him, “When we get a snag, instead of cussing, let’s say ‘Praise God.’”
In the beginning, it would go something like this. We’re fishing along and I would get a snag. “Fu oh, Praise God.” Sometimes I would slip and other times I would catch myself before the full cuss word came out. I remember one specific time, I got a snag and before I could cuss or anything, my friend said, “Praise God” (with a big smile on is face)!
But after a while, we would snag and “Praise God” just came out naturally.
Deciding to Quit Quitting
When we want to change something unhealthy in our lives that has become a way of life and natural to us, we have to decide and agree to quit quitting.
What is it this week that you want to quit quitting? Send me a private message and share it with me.
If you would like a free copy of the chapter I wrote in the book Don’t Quit: Stories of Persistence, Courage and Faith, please private message me your email and I will send you the PDF.
Go out and make it a change week.
God bless you!