To Quit or Not to Quit? That is the question.

If you’re reading this while wondering whether it’s time to lay something down, you’re not alone. We’ve all been there. History is filled with people who reached that moment, when continuing felt impossible and quitting felt merciful.

By the age of 30, Ludwig van Beethoven was losing his hearing. Yes, you read that correctly. The man whose life revolved around sound felt silence close in on him.

For a composer whose entire life revolved around sound, the silence must have felt like a verdict. Now the musical genius faced a decision that would define him: to quit, or not. He chose the not.

What followed is one of history’s quiet miracles.

The symphony of sound now existed only in Beethoven’s mind.  He could no longer hear the applause, the words of praise, or even the notes as they were played. Yet the music did not leave him. It moved inward.  Into his memory, imagination, and something deeper than hearing. In that inner chamber, melodies still argued, soared, and resolved. 

Silence did not end his music; it refined it.

Beethoven’s work dared people to feel more than they wanted to, to listen longer than was comfortable, to keep moving forward when retreat would have been simpler. 

That insistence mirrors the human condition. In life, we all meet moments when something essential is taken from us: health, certainty, our youth, a dream we thought was guaranteed, our job. The question arrives, uninvited and unavoidable, quit and give up, or not?

As life has gone by, I realized quitting isn’t always dramatic, as a matter of fact, it’s often subtle. 

Now, even though Beethoven chose to continue, this answer did not erase his suffering. His letters reveal despair, anger, even thoughts of ending his life. What sustained him, though, wasn’t just sheer willpower alone, he had faith in God.

This faith wasn’t tidy or serene. Throughout his writings, he wrestled with it His faith was personal and deeply reflective, especially as his suffering increased. What amazed me, though, throughout his story, was the fact that faith didn’t fix his suffering, it walked with him through it.

In his letters and journals, he referred to God with reverence, sometimes calling Him “the Almighty” or “the Creator,” and he believed his musical gift was something entrusted to him, not something he owned outright.

His famous Heiligenstadt Testament reveals a man who felt crushed by suffering yet restrained from giving up because he believed he still had a calling to fulfill. 

And perhaps that is where faith most honestly lives. Knowing that you have a calling to fulfill. It may not look like what you thought it would, but it is there nonetheless. This is where faith kicks in.

Faith is not the absence of silence; it is choosing meaning within it. It is believing that purpose can persist even when the senses fail, that calling does not expire when circumstances change. Beethoven’s perseverance reiterated the fact that the gift placed within you is not nullified by the limits placed upon you.

As I was speaking with some ladies I’m walking through the bible with, one of them reiterated that she has been ‘frustrated’ with her inabilities to do things as she has gotten older. It’s become a ‘thorn’ in her side. 

In the bible, Paul writes of a “thorn” he begged God to remove, only to hear the reply: My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Beethoven’s deafness became such a paradox. The very limitation that should have ended his career forced him to listen more deeply to the music within, to the discipline of craft, to the courage required to continue.

His Ninth Symphony, composed in near-total silence, culminates in an explosion of joy and sound, a proclamation that joy is still possible in the midst of pain. This piece would never have seen the light of day if ‘not’ had been his choice.

Beethoven did not quit. He wanted to, but he didn’t.  His struggles show us that silence is not the end of the song. Our struggles are not the end of our song. We just need to choose not to quit.

We are not finished simply because the season sounds different. As Beethoven has shown us, the most powerful symphonies can be composed where no one else can hear them, until they are finally released into the world as testimony. 

Beethoven wanted to give up, but he didn’t. His struggle proves that silence is not the end of the song. Ask yourself: What has become your "thorn"? What if it isn't disqualifying you, but deepening you? What if the thing that’s holding you back is the very thing that will make your story unforgettable?

With Vizion, Sue:)

pic cred. Photo by Noah M on Unsplash