When I quit playing the recorder after my 4th grade music class wrapped up, it was a super easy decision. I had precisely zero interest in finding a solution to the challenge of learning to play the recorder well. When I walked away from that instrument, it felt like a victory.
If only we could feel like we were on top of the world by quitting everything we found frustrating, tedious, unenjoyable, uncomfortable, unappealing, too time consuming, and too challenging.
But some obstacles we simply can’t easily walk away from.
I carried a vexing problem with me into my thirties: I was deeply embarrassed by my speech impediment. Unlike my recorder, which I hid somewhere deep in the recesses of a closet after music class ended, my speech impediment was there as obvious as a car alarm every time I greeted someone or expressed myself.
I suppose I could have quit my speech impediment by becoming a monk and taking a vow of silence. But that decision would have altered just about every aspect of my life and would have been absolutely miserable for the social part of me that thrives on the energy of other people. Not to mention, the negative impact my no-talk approach to life would have had on everyone around me.
The quest to improve our lives in significant ways can seem, at times, like pure drudgery and even unfair. I mean, why should any one of us have to endure the pain of uncertainty over not only when, but even whether or not we’ll ever find the answer to a problem we so desperately want a solution for?
Yet we can’t “just quit” in the middle of our quest without our choice having major ramifications on the quality of our lives.
From the vantage point I have at age 50, I’m grateful I didn’t quit searching. Instead, I found a way, albeit a very challenging way, to turn my speech impediment into the solution I was seeking. I became a professional speaker and have spoken around the country. I’m a podcast host who has interviewed 250 guests and counting. I’ve accomplished ALL of this with the very same voice that used to humiliate me.
In the awkwardness, imperfection, pain and emotional fatigue of navigating life’s really hard problems, it can be difficult, sometimes seemingly impossible, to overcome the urge to give up. I’ve found some success in shifting my focus away from wanting to quit and turning my attention towards the desire I have for growth, excitement and joy. Nowadays, I do my Imperfect Best to keep moving forward, step by step, even if the solution I want still seems far off.
Just because you haven’t found solutions to the problems that currently vex you yet, doesn’t mean you won’t.
I urge you to keep seeking answers, keep exploring, keep trying new things. In other words, keep your energy pointed towards the solutions you seek.
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JASON FREEMAN is a Professional Speaker and the proud owner of a Speech Impediment. He is also the author of “Awkwardly Awesome: Embracing My Imperfect Best” and a Perseverance Coach.
He excites and encourages his audience to break through the barriers of their own limitations using a method he created, called “Doing your Imperfect Best ™”.
His Imperfect TEDx Talk can be viewed here.
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