If You Fail at a Grand Goal of Life, Should You Quit?

[Naruko]

Keep trying to make that grand goal a reality.

Your nurse example from the OP? Pretty much my life. If you asked me 2 years ago where I wanted to be, I'd tell you in a children's hospital. Working towards that goal took me to pretty much the opposite end- corrections nursing- where I couldn't be happier.

The right opportunity comes at the right time if you keep trying and keep your eyes open.

 

[Farore's Chosen]

I say keep going for it as long as your physically/mentally still able, just pick yourself back up and try try again. I understand that it gets really discouraging though. I've had so many failures of one of my life goals that I spent forever in a I'm gonna quit pity-party fest

 

[Mipha]

Well failing my current grand goals would either get me killed or make life not very much worth living so quitting wouldn't be an option.

 

[Zora the Greek]

@Chocolate Storm

I'm sorry your father seems unhappy. We place a lot of our identities in what we do for a living. (Whenever we're at a party, the first question asked by strangers tends to be "What do you do?" It is how we often define ourselves.)

It is hard not to measure our success in life on accomplishing or not accomplishing our personal goals. It's not easy to see sometimes, but I don't believe we achieve happiness from accomplishing things on a life checklist anymore than we achieve happiness from money.

It sounds to me that your dad has a son/daughter (I'm not sure which you are, sorry) who cares about him a lot and is concerned about his inner life and wants to do anything to make him happy. I would guarantee that is a source of great happiness for him, even if he may not express it. Maybe you should talk to him about this.

 

[Dio]

I think if you fail at a grand goal you can either come to terms with it or try and pick back up at a later stage.

You need to ask yourself though, is it still a realistic goal to accomplish? You should not forget about the other important things in your life and sacrifice too much only to be potentially left with nothing at the end.

 

[Moonstone]

Hm, I can't say I've ever failed a grand goal. I do have goals, but I feel that they can still be accomplished. That being said, my goals do change depending on where I am in my life. I had vastly different "grand goals" when I was in high school than I do now, and I can't say very many goals from my high school life apply to me in the slightest now. IIRC, I wanted to go out with a "bang" when I turned 28, but of course to a 15 year old starting to rebel, that sounded like a glorious end. I don't have that goal anymore. Nowadays my main goal is purchasing my own home.

I suppose I will get to a point where I don't think my goals can be accomplished anymore. I hope that never happens but I don't doubt it inevitably might. And I hope everyone who is already at that point can try to accept what they've gotten to in life, and try to create new goals for themselves to look forward to. But, if they can't, I think everyone should have the right to their own life, and should be able to quit if that's what they really want.

 

[Guest-3]

Bro, no. Quitting is never an option. I've wanted to be a great martial artist since I was like 11, yes, I may have just merely begun, but I have run into many obstacles that challenge my will power, and what do I do? I push through and keep going for my goal, man. Also, really inspiring story here, it was my best friend from Taekwondo who taught me that giving up lets the enemy win. He has leukemia and his absolute dream was to become a black belt. Well, five months after he's finished his first round of Chemo, he earns his first degree.
So yeah, whatever life throw at you, you just have to keep going. Get you some victory!!