Do Not Give Up

I read a post on social media about a man who displayed many signboards with the words "DO NOT GIVE UP" in selected visible areas in his place. This is to encourage depressed people to go on with life, and to help minimize the cases of suicide. True, this is easily said than done.

People who want to give up are those with weak emotional intelligence. When they cannot find solutions to their problems or answers to their questions, they see the end of the road. Finished. Qalas (cut).

When you feel like giving up, pray and surrender all things that you cannot handle to God. He sees what upsets you and what your heart desires. You think that the load is as heavy as the earth, but with the Creator, it can be light. Remember that storms come to pass.

In times of darkness, we must maintain a strong mind and body. We must survive, so eat well, sleep well. If there is nothing to eat for some time, just find something to drink, and try to sleep. The goal is to survive. Bear Grylls advised, "Survival can be summed up in three words -- never give up. That's the heart of it really. Just keep trying."

Life is not life without ups and downs. On earth there is gravity, so it is much easier and faster to go down than to go up. This is the reality.  When people go up, others with crab mentality pull them down. This is another reality.

This morning, a distant relative reconnected with me via a social media messenger. She said that I appeared in her dream and she cried. She wrote, "I missed you, ate."  ('Ate' is a Filipino word which means elder sister or female cousin.)  In the past, we had some heart-to-heart chats, and we felt on the same page most of the time. At 45 years old, she is still single, helping her parents survive and ensuring that their healthcare needs are well taken care of.  Everybody in the family thinks that she is like SuperWoman, but there are times that she also wants to desperately give up.

There are intelligent, hardworking and good-hearted people who experience getting into a tight place, despite their good qualities and deeds. Everybody goes against them. Everything is not favorable to them. It happened and still happens to me. Sometimes it seems I cannot hang on a minute longer. But giving up is not in my vocabulary. Some of my family members, relatives and friends face life's challenges and they draw strength from me, so I need to be strong always. I hope and pray that I can keep smiling and stay positive until my last breath.

James Corden advised to 'always do the best you can', no matter what -- "The one thing you've gotta do is that you need to always do the best you can, no matter what the given situation, no matter what comes up against you. You do the best you can do, and never give up. Never quit."

So what is the best that we can do? We gather the remaining strength we have inside. This means our inner resources -- the fighting spirit, the huge courage, the will to live, the determination to defeat all odds and the solid faith in God. Then we act according to a plan that is best for us with a realistic foresight.

I believe in something and it makes me glued here, now, beyond my comfort zone. I do not know when the tide turns on to my favor 'big-time' to make this something happen. But as Steve Scalise strongly worded,

Never give up on something you believe in.

Last night I watched "Zero Dark Thirty", 2012 American fictional thriller film. It was a story about  the heroine against the world.  Maya (played by Jessica Chastain) never gave up on something she believed in. Her persistence and courage attracted the right support system, and she proved the critics/detractors that she was right.

"Zero dark thirty" is a military term for 30 minutes after midnight.  After we see the blackest darkness that is midnight, we see the light to dawn. The line is meaningful for it sends a message of hope that the darkest part of the night is over.

We must passionately move on, soldier on, in life. "You never give up," said Renny Harlin, "no matter how hard the challenges are, and observe the world with a healthy dose of criticism and don't just follow the herd like somebody else might do."

Let us be inspired and inspire others, as per Matthew 19 : 26 --

Jesus looked at them and said -- "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

No matter how bad people and situation are pushing us to our limit, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." What a promise as written in Galatians 6 : 9!

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Photo credits:  Pixabay