The Art of Quitting

There is an art to quitting. 

I know this is true from my own experiences but it is a little tricky to describe.

It is not about research. It is not about discipline or willpower or dedication. It is not about thoughts or feelings or behaviors. It is not about gradual habit reformation or sudden habit reformation for that matter.

All of these things are good. All of these things are fine.

But I am not talking about the science of quitting or the brute force of quitting or the psychology of quitting or the habitualization of quitting.

I am talking about the art of quitting.

And this is the trickiest thing about quitting to talk about because it can be elusive like the artistic process can be elusive.

Maybe it’s just the thing itself, dumb as old medallions to the thumb, like MacLeish on what good art should be.

The art of quitting is about letting go.

There, I said it. That wasn’t so obscure at all. That’s all I know about it and that might be all there is to know.

We’re not so good at letting go. We hold on tightly to worse than useless things.

Maybe it’s fear. Maybe it’s sunk costs. Maybe it’s cognitive limitations. Maybe it’s dopamine.

It doesn’t matter why but that is addiction in a nut shell - this inability to let go.