I Want You To Quit

A friend and mentor of mine told me a great story that affected him. It was originally told to him by one of his teachers. It goes like this:

Two ants are walking along looking for pebbles to build their ant hill.

They come across two big pebbles. The first ant says, “Hey, these would be perfect for our hill!”

The second ant says, “They are too big and too heavy to carry. Let’s keep looking.”

The first ant says, “Don’t be weak. Pick up the pebble. Put it on your back, and start walking.”

The second ant picks up the pebble and says, “Nope, too heavy. I’m not carrying it.”

The first ant says, “Loser. Fine, I’ll do it.”

So off the two ants go back to their hill. One carrying a heavy pebble and the other carrying nothing.

As they get halfway back home. The first ant says, “You know, this pebble IS heavy. My back is killing me. I’m going to put it down.”

As the first ant puts it down, the second ant says, “If you had listened to me, you could’ve been enjoying this beautiful walk instead of hurting yourself and carrying that big pebble.”

Both ants continued home empty handed, but the first ant is sore and tired from carrying the heavy pebble while the second ant is refreshed by the calm peaceful walk outside.

Where in life are we being the first, strong ant and carrying something that is too heavy?

Where would we benefit from giving up or quitting something that is not working out and enjoy life more like the second, weak ant?

Right now is an incredible time to quit something.

Is there something you’ve been working on for a long time, years, decades maybe, and you’re still not getting to where you want to go?

Maybe its time to quit, give up, and go home empty handed. If you feel like you've tried everything, you probably haven't tried that.

Not because you’re weak.

Not because you failed.

But because like the second ant, it’s not worth wasting any more time carrying something that causes pain and makes us miss out on the life right in front of us.