Give Up vs Surrender

“I give up” is different than “I surrender.”

Both involve letting go, but surrender requires faith in purpose and design while giving up implies an illusion of power and control which we never really had. Giving up has inherent loss of hope while surrender knows what is meant will come.

From a place of ego, we invest in things we determine to be good for us, needed, or desired. Whether it’s love, a new home, an athletic achievement, a career, or job title… any goal we have set in our sights. If we attach our worth to such things then we feel we are less once lost. If we grip our agenda too tightly then we are subject to a feeling of failure. If we think “I will be happy when…” we are missing the beauty of the present moment.

The saying “You can’t hit a target you don’t see,” has merit; it’s important to believe in our abilities, cultivate them, and aim. But what is equally as important, or even more so, is to know that when we fall short of that target, given our best efforts and integrity, we surrender without giving up. Like a sapling that winds its way towards the sky on a path that is not strait, we are meant to pivot and grow in another way.

“The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.”

― Nelson Henderson

The path of surrender is to pursue our passions with no agenda, but rather with faith. We are injected with inspiration and our unique innateness for a reason. The fire of achieving, becoming, loving , creating… exists in us with great purpose. With ego removed, we are conduits of spirit. And when the passion leads no where, we are not failing or giving up; the purpose of the detour will reveal itself farther down the path.