ITS NEVER TIME TO QUIT.

🔑 IT’S NEVER TIME TO QUIT — PIECE ONE

SOMETIMES THE WAY YOU REFUSE TO QUIT IS BY REFUSING TO KEEP GOING THE SAME WAY.

Beloveds,

I want to start this new series by clearing something up.

When I say, “It’s never time to quit,” I do NOT mean you should keep pushing yourself until there is nothing left of you.

I do not mean you cannot stop.

I do not mean you cannot rest.

I do not mean you cannot change your mind.

I do not mean you cannot ask for help.

I do not mean you have to keep using a method that is hurting you just because it used to work.

And I definitely do not mean that exhaustion is evidence that you simply need to try harder.

👀

Nah, fam.

Sometimes you need to sit down.

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Sometimes you need to sleep.

Sometimes you need to cry.

Sometimes you need to laugh.

Sometimes you need to admit, “This is not working.”

Sometimes you need somebody else.

Sometimes you need a completely different plan.

Sometimes you need to leave something alone for the rest of the day and come back tomorrow.

And sometimes the strongest declaration of “I am not quitting” sounds like:

“I cannot keep doing it THIS way.”

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That distinction matters to me.

Because there have been times in my life when continuing did not look particularly impressive.

There was no inspirational soundtrack.

Nobody was standing nearby applauding.

There was no dramatic finish line waiting for me.

There was just another thing that needed to be figured out.

Another adjustment.

Another frustration.

Another moment when what used to be simple was not simple anymore.

Another moment when I had to decide whether changing the way I did something meant I had failed.

I am learning that it does not.

I can change the method without abandoning the mission.

I can change the pace without abandoning the journey.

I can accept help without surrendering my agency.

I can rest without surrendering my purpose.

I can have a difficult day without declaring that I have a difficult life.

I can say, “Enough for today,” without saying, “I am finished forever.”

Those are not the same sentences.

❤️‍🩹

Maybe you need to hear that too.

Maybe you have been calling yourself a quitter because you had to stop.

Maybe your body made you stop.

Maybe your finances made you reconsider the plan.

Maybe somebody disappointed you.

Maybe something you thought would work did not.

Maybe you tried again and it STILL did not work.

Maybe you are tired of beginning again.

Maybe you are embarrassed that you need help with something you once handled easily.

Maybe everybody around you seems to be moving while you feel stuck in the same place.

Maybe you are looking at somebody else’s progress and using it as evidence against your own.

Please put down that measuring stick.

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You are allowed to continue differently.

You are allowed to move slowly.

You are allowed to crawl through one season and dance through another.

You are allowed to change directions.

You are allowed to learn.

You are allowed to adapt.

You are allowed to discover that the thing you thought was the destination was only one possible route.

And yes, beloved, you are allowed to REST.

Rest is not quitting.

Changing your strategy is not quitting.

Asking for help is not quitting.

Using a different tool is not quitting.

Taking longer than you expected is not quitting.

Starting again is not quitting.

Beginning from somewhere you never expected to be is not quitting.

Sometimes those things are exactly what continuing looks like.

👩🏿‍🦼

I know something now that I did not understand in quite the same way before my life changed.

“One step” does not always mean putting one foot in front of another.

Sometimes a step is a decision.

Sometimes a step is asking.

Sometimes a step is accepting.

Sometimes a step is trying something differently.

Sometimes a step is admitting that you are tired.

Sometimes a step is stopping long enough to recover enough strength for the next one.

And sometimes your step will not look like anybody else’s.

It still counts.

One step.

One step.

One step.

🔑

I also want to say something to the people who are exhausted by motivational language.

You know the kind.

KEEP GOING!

PUSH HARDER!

NO EXCUSES!

NEVER STOP!

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Listen.

Sometimes you absolutely need to stop.

Human beings are not machines.

And even machines overheat.

🤣

So this series is not going to be about pretending you are limitless.

You have limits.

So do I.

Some limits can change.

Some can be stretched.

Some need to be respected.

Some require accommodations.

Some require another person to come alongside us.

Some require us to grieve what we cannot do the way we once did it.

And none of that makes our lives less valuable.

None of that removes our purpose.

None of that means the story is over.

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There is another sentence I want us to carry through this series:

The hard thing does not get to write the final sentence.

It may write a sentence.

It may write a paragraph.

It may even write an entire chapter you never wanted.

But it does not automatically get the ending.

You are still here.

And while you are here, there are still choices available to you.

There may be fewer choices than you wish you had.

They may not be the choices you expected.

But somewhere in what remains, there may still be a 🔑.

Maybe the key is help.

Maybe the key is rest.

Maybe the key is forgiveness.

Maybe the key is trying again.

Maybe the key is stopping something that is destroying you.

Maybe the key is beginning something you are terrified to begin.

Maybe the key is admitting that the old way is gone.

Maybe the key is discovering another way.

That is what I want us to explore together.

Not some shiny version of perseverance where everybody triumphs before the commercial break.

Real perseverance.

Messy perseverance.

Tired perseverance.

Wheelchair perseverance.

Starting-over perseverance.

“I have absolutely no idea what I am doing but apparently we are doing it anyway” perseverance.

🤣

That kind.

Because I know something about that kind.

And I suspect some of you do too.

So pull up your chair.

🪑

There is room here for the person who is certain.

There is room for the person who is questioning.

There is room for the person who believes as I do.

There is room for the person who does not.

There is room for the person who is hopeful.

There is room for the person who cannot find hope today.

You do not have to resolve everything before you belong here.

You do not have to agree with me before I care about you.

You do not have to become somebody else before your life matters to me.

You matter to me.

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And Cassandra is going to keep saying that.

Because somebody needs to hear it until they can believe it for themselves.

This week we are going to talk about what refusing to quit can actually look like when you are tired.

When you are afraid.

When you are angry.

When you are disappointed.

When you need help.

When the original plan is gone.

When you have to begin again.

And when continuing looks nothing like you imagined it would.

We are not going to pretend any of it is easy.

We are going to look for the 🔑 anyway.

Because sometimes the way you refuse to quit is by refusing to keep going the same way.

And sometimes the bravest thing you can say is:

“This way isn’t working.”

Followed by:

“So let’s find another one.”

🔑

We fight on.

Not recklessly.

Not endlessly.

Not without rest.

Not alone.

But we fight on.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

Asking for A Friend,

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Unapologetically His.

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