Monday Moment - Knowing When to Quit

In the last couple of days, I’ve been re-learning a lesson I should have learned long ago – knowing when to quit.

And how have I been learning this lesson? Ah… experience… A favorite adage of mine is that good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes quite frequently from really bad judgment!

My bad judgment came on Saturday – a direct result of glorious spring weather. One patch of vivid yellow crocus urged me to scrape away the wintry debris from my garden beds, and then there was another patch of purple, and then there were daffodil stems growing up through last fall’s leaves, and one thing led to yet another.

For a couple hours, I raked, hauled, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. The sun was warm, moving felt good, and results were richly rewarding. I was on the last bed with maybe six feet left before quitting for the day. I was getting tired. I knew I’d used muscles that don’t get a full workout at the pool, on my bike or on my walks, so I anticipated a little self-righteous soreness.

And that’s when I wish I’d known when to quit. I bent to pick up a limb and felt a pinch in my lower back. That old sciatic nerve apparently wanted to get my attention. It worked! Ow! If I’d quit five minutes earlier, my last couple of days would have been a lot more comfortable!

The good news is that I’ve felt this pinch before and know that with rest, a little heat, a little gentle work in the pool, I’ll soon be able to bend and twist with the best of them. Mine is a temporary set-back that won’t continue to bother me for long. The bad news… well, in the meantime, I’m just very careful about how I sit and how I move.

And I try to figure out other arenas of my life where knowing when to quit might be beneficial. Like maybe now!

May you know when to quit – and when to persist – in the coming week!

Sally