Between persisting and quitting..
My belief is that it requires an understanding of tradeoff. What more can I create that benefits and helps make better the lives of those I seek to serve vs the marginal costs of persisting one more minute, hour, gig, day, meal, etc.
Simultaneously I believe my belief is a bit too reductionist. The perceptions and realizations of gains and cost can be manipulated. I can create a false sense that my gains are greater or lesser than they are through self-reinforcing stories. I can do things that lower the cost of persisting — stress management, walking, re-framing, etc.
I suppose I come back to the ultimate cliche conclusion: none of it matters — all you can do is what you can do now.
And as much as it is cliche, it may be true. Because consider that any intervention I make to alter my perception of cost or gain is something I do after I realize a cost or a gain. If I get stressed out on a gig, and I later decide to walk it off, the stressful event is in the past. In a way, I’m engaging in a kind of revisionism. And, because my memory of events isn’t always perfectly accurate (ask anyone that works with me), I even more wonder if I can truly make decisions based on my priors.
Therefore, at least for now, I believe that the best thing I can do when evaluating a decision to take stock of the way things are now — my options, my stock of energy, my desire, my interest, my hopes, my goals, etc — and then decide with what I have in front of me.
I guess more ultra cliche: stay flexible.