Don't Stop

“Paralyze resistance with persistence.”

Woody Hayes

“Ambition is the path to success, persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.”

William Eardley IV

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."

Winston Churchill

Okay.  Write.  Do a quick write.  Don’t stop.  Maybe that will calm your anxiety, your stress and sadness.  Action is what is required.  You let a few things bother you and you let these things keep you from writing.  Don’t.  After all your work, you still forget how sneaky the Enemy is.  The truth is that it doesn’t matter how you feel…good, bad or indifferent.  You have to keep writing.  You can’t stop.   

Did you get your feelings hurt?  Don’t stop.

Did you feel stressed?  Don’t stop.

Did things annoy you?  Don’t stop.

Did you get scared?  Don’t stop.

Did you feel guilty?  Don’t stop.

This is your work.  Don’t stop.  Don’t stop for anything.  This is what you are meant to do.  Not only are you meant to do this, but this is the thing that will bring about your healing.  It’s said that it’s unhealthy to ignore one’s feelings.  You’re not ignoring them.  You’re acknowledging them and you’re doing your work.  Don’t stop. 

Don’t even get distracted.  You could get so much more done if you could stay focused.  That’s not a criticism; it’s a fact.  Try to stay with this.  Try to stay with your purpose.  You’ve already done an amazing amount of work.  Don’t stop.

When you’re done with this, do some things that will restore order to your world.  When you are done, you will have the energy that you lacked before.  Organize your environment.  Call a friend.  Pray.  Study.  Make the best use of your time.  That’s the other advantage of doing your work:  it gives you the energy to do other things. 

Your work is not the end in itself.  Your work is a means to the end.  The end is love.  On a more pragmatic note, the end is to create peace, joy, comfort and/or encouragement for others.  So do your work.  Don’t stop.

When you’re done with this, you will be one step closer to your goal.  One of the best parts of having a goal is that there are no backwards steps.  Even when there are setbacks, you always move forward, as long as you keep moving.  Even setbacks and errors can keep you moving forward.  Sometimes it seems that the setbacks take you back to step one.  Maybe they do, but you still aren’t going backwards, because now you have learned something.  When you learn and apply what you’ve learned, you’re not starting again; you’re starting from a different place.  So the only way you can really go backwards is when you stand still, or when you don’t go forward. 

Are you getting tired now?  Don’t stop. 

In fact, since this is so healing, you might consider doing more of it.  Can you create more structure?  Can you be more self-disciplined?  Can you do this more?  Don’t stop.

Actually, you can stop now.  You’ve done it; you’ve written another blog.  You can stop, but only for a little while.  It’s not that you have to do this again; it’s that you want to.  You need to do this.  This is part of the reason you were born – to do this.

So stay with your Purpose.  You’ll feel better and so will the world.  Get Started and Keep Going…and don’t stop.