Day 180: Never, Never, Never, Never Give Up

Today is the six-month mark.  Over the last several months, I have thought many, many times about quitting.  Winston Churchill once said "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense."

I like Winston Churchill.  True, he was a portly man, but that never stopped him.  I was thinking about the quote above the other day, and thinking about how true and important it is.  We cannot give up, even when things are hard, and difficult, and seemingly impossible.  So often as I have tried to lose weight, I have thought about quitting, about how much easier it would be if I didn't have to do all of this.  And then I think, what good has ever come from taking the easy path? 

Think about all of those great people in history:  Gandhi, Lincoln, Washington, Churchill, Joan of Arc, Susan B. Anthony, Pancho Villa (okay, I just added him to see if you were still reading).  These people did things that were amazing, but they did them through great adversity and difficulty.  In a lot of ways, it seems so petty to me to dare even think that I am struggling, that my lot is too difficult in life. 

To be honest, I am a bit ashamed of myself.  To think that while there are people who starve because they don't have any money, that I starve on purpose and then complain about it.  So, I am resolving now to stop complaining (at least, to try to stop complaining) about something as silly as a high-quality French pastry, or even one of those awful Dunkin Donut brand donuts (which really are awful people--if you like them, you have never had a real donut before). 

I am also resolving myself to never, never, never, never give up.  I will just keep on going forever if I have to.  My lot in life is a small one, but it is my lot, and I intend to make everything I can out of it.  I hope you do to.  Just remember to take this advice from Winston the next time you think that you can't make it any more:  "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." 

From now on, I am going to be an optimist!