Quitting is Winning: A Lesson I Learned Recently

The pandemic has brought the world to a standstill and as creatives, we have continued to find innovative ways to keep moving. This time has unsuspectingly turned all of us into content producers, for some as a way to keep afloat, for others a means of maintaining some semblance of normalcy. In the end, the reasons are our own as much as the decisions we make to keep pushing.

This week, I made a decision to walk away from the FELA! production that was slated to be on the audio app Clubhouse after much thought and consideration. It was a hard decision and the reasons are not the point of this particular post, but more about what I learned. So, here goes.

• I learned that clout is a form of currency that does not resonate with me. 
• I learned that I sometimes stay in places because I believe that the “good medicine” outweighs the “bad energy”.
• I learned that self-awareness is really key to an authentic creative life.  

So, when faced with the decision on whether to move forward, I decided to do something different-I walked away.

This is something I am often loathed to do because I have always been taught and believed that quitting was a sign of weakness. It is the reason, I didn’t drop classes that I should have when I was in college, walked away from relationships that really weren’t reciprocal, and stayed on projects that were clearly problematic.

Having made the decision, I feel much lighter and I quite frankly–it was the best decision. We are in the middle of a pandemic, experiencing all sorts of public and daily abuse at the hands of a broken society, all while making sure that family and home are secure. The last thing I need to be doing is stressing myself out in spaces that don’t serve me well.

This leads me to the final lesson, or more like a revelation: There are better ways to create, produce and amplify “good medicine”. Much like the unexpected stillness of the pandemic, quitting has been yet another lesson of note in the past year. I don’t need to be where my values are challenged and I certainly don’t need to lose sleep for clout.