Always Digging
I think I learned today that I’m just not good at cutting my losses … I push to the end, hanging onto hope in the bleakest of situations. I can count at least five current scenarios in my life that might reflect this tendency … pressing until others are over the edge, until hope is gone, or until I’ve become absolutely shredded. The problem is … I can’t tell if I’m there or not.
Is this a character flaw or merely a bad habit?
April 10th, 2008 at 3:47 pm EST
I personally think it’s actually a character quality - perseverence - that you’ve already identified the potential problem with (you can’t tell when you’ve crossed a line from healthy persistence to pushing too hard). Sounds like some prayer for the Spirit to help you temper this quality with wisdom is in order.
April 10th, 2008 at 10:17 pm EST
Yeah … perhaps. But it’s definitely more like “pushing too long” than it is like “pushing too hard”. I think I just need help … someone to let me know when to pull out the knife and cut the cord.
April 11th, 2008 at 12:48 am EST
Maybe you should get a friend or group of friends who are very close to you and whom you trust completely and invite them to speak to you honestly on the issue(s) at hand.
Some people call this an ‘accountability’ partner or group. I don’t know, it may be helpful.
April 11th, 2008 at 10:28 am EST
Yep … and hence, this post.
April 11th, 2008 at 1:47 pm EST
i saw that response coming.
i agree with beth in that i see it as a character quality as well, to a point [like most everything]. tenacity and perseverance are wonderful qualities, until you hit the point in any situation where you step back and say, well… this is kinda stupid, isn’t it?
the tough part is that it varies from scenario to scenario, which makes it… rather impossible for your friends via internet to interject any helpful observations in your current plight.
in accounting there is a concept of “sunk cost”: a certain amount of money [and/or time] put into something that can never be recovered. these costs are unchangable and unrecoverable, and should never interfere with current or future decision making. just some food for thought.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:17 pm EST
Bingo. Bingo. And bingo.
But even my friends on the Internet (or, preferably, those who know me in real life and happen to stalk me on the Internet too) can be aware of my online introspections and, through a casual reference to a post like this, feel like they have more of an open door to bring up issues and observations in real life interactions with me.
That’s exactly why I post things like this … and yes, it works.
April 16th, 2008 at 9:41 pm EST
Ha, I feel like i interact like that a good bit too… praying!
April 17th, 2008 at 12:28 am EST
Thanks, Nephew Nate. You’re the
est.