WHEN DO YOU FINALLY GIVE UP? by Art Smukler, author & psychiatrist

How about never?

Think about Matt McGloin, the quarterback for the Oakland Raiders and New York’s junior senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, and of course, Nelson Mandela.

McGloin was originally a Penn State walk-on who had to compete with sought after scholarship QBs, and a guy who wasn’t even drafted by the NFL. He was told that he was wasting his time. Gillibrand, likewise, a former Litigator, was warned of certain failure when she decided to run for public office. Both, determined and talented, decided to believe in themselves, rather than what other more “mature” and “wise” elders told them to do.

Very importantly, this belief wasn’t just a “in the end it’ll all work out” fantasy. It was a fantasy based on enormously hard work and a passion that fed a 24/7 devotion to succeed.

Inertia, the principle in physics that states, bodies in motion stay in motion and bodies at rest stay at rest, implies that change is REALLY difficult. It takes a unique person to get someone, anyone, to change. The Nelson Mandela’s of the world are very, very special. Even in prison, Mandela didn’t give up on what he believed or give up trying to get a whole society to change their way of thinking.

A professor friend from USC said, “You don’t need a PHD but a PSD – POOR, DETERMINED, SMART to be successful.”

However you say it, the bottom line is this. Work hard and don’t give up. The naysayers may mean well, but they are not you. They don’t have your determination, courage or work ethic. Their logic is a herd logic, one that encourages you to follow your fellow wildebeests over the cliff into the same old same. Change is frightening. Let them be afraid, while you take your own journey.

If you enjoyed reading, Inside the Mind of a Psychiatrist, you might also enjoy Dr. Smukler’s novels, Chasing Backwards, a psychological murder mystery, Skin Dance, a mystery, and The Man with a Microphone in his Ear. All are available as paperbacks and eBooks.