At what point do you just give up? Because at times, life just continually beats you down. Any highs are instantly followed by multiple downs, so moving forward never seems possible. And just as you see some light, the rug is pulled out from under you. As that light diminishes, the option of giving up can often be appealing. So why not?
Over the last few years, one thing that has often thrown my life into chaos is health issues. Just as our son was finishing his treatment for cancer, I was hit with a sack of bricks: I have a congenital heart defect that has considerable worry. Still in my early 30s, I had had multiple heart attacks, had went into cardiac arrest and was clinically dead for a short while, and with all of this, have a host of other health issues. Which is on top of other issues, such as having Crohn’s and autism, as well as issues with my spine.
The last week or so, these issues have been often at the forefront of my thoughts. While progress has been made health wise, constant complications have also arisen. The last couple of weeks have seen a number of these complications, which are often incredibly frustrating, as they always seem like a step back.
Having chronic health issues also leads to other issues though. For some, it’s depression. Others, it’s drug addiction, as it’s the only escape they can find. And then there is suicide, because for some, that’s the only escape they can imagine. Yet, there are those who overcome all these issues; giving up just isn’t an option.
To be honest, the idea of giving up has briefly crossed my mind in the past. What that exactly entails, I’m not quite sure as it’s not an idea that I have ever really entertained. So what differentiates those who don’t entertain the idea, and those who do eventual succumb to it?
Such a question always reminds me of Viktor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankl was a psychiatrist who survived the horrors of the Holocaust. After being liberated from a concentration camp, he founded a school of psychiatry called logotheraphy, which described man’s search for meaning to be a primary motivational force. Part of this idea rested on his observations within the concentration camp that those who had a reason to live, a meaning to their life, had a better chance of surviving. Those who had no reason to live, those who succumbed to giving up hope, tended to perish quickly.
What that meaning was didn’t necessarily matter. The fact that they had a meaning drove them to push ahead. It gave them a reason to fight for survival. Granted, this didn’t mean they necessarily would survive, but it meant they continued trying to make it through, regardless of the hardships they encountered.
I first read the book about a decade ago. Over the years, I’ve come back to it from time to time as the message is so moving. It’s a message I think many could do well to hear. As having some meaning to one’s life, whether it be family, or a manuscript you want to finish, as Frankl had, can make a huge difference. For me, I think it’s the primary reason that there just isn’t a point where giving up seems reasonable.
