This year, I made a New Year’s resolution that I hope will help me be a better person, blogger, and Christian. I’ve decided to take up the Bob Goff principle of quitting something and I’m going to shoot for quitting something every other week. The first thing I’ve decided to quit is a new website I was working on, a passion project that I simply could not give the time it deserved.
I was hoping to write two or three blog articles a week, something I was able to easily do for my old youth ministry website and something I can pull off without much effort for ChurchMag. But writing on the topic of faith and counseling is quite difficult. It requires research, understanding numerous positions of other people, and answering the question fully.
I’d love to make articles practical, but it is really difficult without explaining myself fully. 600 words was my goal for each article, but each time it felt incomplete. I had more than enough topics to write on, but the time to write an article was taking five to ten times longer than I was used to.
Sharing the Pain with Others
I shared my frustration in the ChurchMag Facebook group we have.
I just deleted a personal site of mine, not because it was a failure, but because I couldn’t devote the time to it. Which is frustrating.
I found a ton of support from the members. One of the greatest bits of wisdom in the responses was from Greg Simmons who responded to my conviction of how hard it was to let go of personal projects with, “It is – but one simple question solved it for me. Which can you do again, your child’s childhood or your hobbies and passions?”
The man is wise beyond his years.
And it is important, but it is something that does not need to be done now. If it is really something that God has ordained for me to do, it will cycle back around.
Seek Counsel
For those of you who have to quit something you love, I encourage you to also seek counsel on the topic. I quickly let Eric know of my decision and asked what he thought about the topic. The man gave the best answer he could, “let me pray about it and I’ll let you know what I think.” I had already prayed and made my piece. I shared all that with Eric and he could have simply said, sounds like a plan. But the man truly gave it some thought.
Yes, it is “just a website” but it was something very personal. And I hope that you have people in your life, even your tech life, that you can ask their thoughts when you make personal decisions such as this. It make pain of quitting much easier. Even more so, it gives opportunities to have your friends and family offer support when you need it and show how much they care.
How did you go about quitting your last tech project?
Jeremy Smith
Jeremy is owner of ChurchAndMentalHealth.com and the Co-Occurring Program Coordinator and a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor at a community mental health center. Jeremy has a history of working as a ministry director for Youth for Christ for 8 years and then working as a mental health and substance use adult counselor in Colorado and Ohio, specifically running an Opioid Residential Treatment Center.
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