It's never a good time to quit, but it's better than the alternative

The retirement of Colts quarterback Andrew Luck is more than a football story. It's about difficult life choices.

The acclaimed Pro Bowler was dealing with a lingering injury in training camp, the latest of several over the past four seasons. Two weeks before the regular season started, he called it quits.

He wouldn't have been ready to play by the first game anyway. Former teammate Pat McAfee told Colin Cowherd that it could have been three or four months before he could play, meaning most of the season. Luck had already missed all of the 2017 season, and more than half of the 2015 season, due to injuries, and played  through injury in 2016, his least-effective season.

But Luck's 2018 comeback was sensational, and NFL fans had high expectations for the Colts this year. Then there was news that Luck was dealing with another nagging injury. Then Luck retired. Along with everyone else, I didn't expect it. But once I did hear it, I wasn't shocked. It must be frustrating to go through the pain of rehab with no improvement, time after time.

The timing, however, was still not ideal. As far as the public knew, Luck would be ready a couple of weeks into the season. Several upset Colts fans booed Luck as the news came during a Colts pre-season game in which Luck didn't play, but was present on the Colts sidelines.

Colts fans were criticized by virtually everyone. Cowherd, on his August 26 show, however, explained it this way: if the groom calls off the wedding a week before, it is the right decision, but you can still understand why the father-in-law, family, and invited guests would be angry. Other people made plans and were depending on you.

Sometimes you make a commitment. Then a snag develops. It's similar to similar snags in the past that set you back. So you begin to have doubts.  But you made a commitment, to others and to yourself, and you still want to do what you committed to. Then the problem lingers, or new unforeseen problems creep up. You say to yourself, "I'm not sure if I want to go through with this, but I made a commitment. I can't let other people down."

Eventually, the scale tips to the other side: I can't go through with this, even if I look bad. Even if I am criticized. Even if I let other people down.

Sometimes, the context for making the decision was an errant personal choice to begin with: the desire to get married clouds the judgment on whom to marry. Others, it may be social expectations: I'm enrolled at this prestigious university not because I want to be here, but my parents are so proud of me.

Often, it's a case like Luck's: I truly wanted this, and persisted as long as I could in the face of setbacks, but now I just don't want to do it anymore.

It's because of the other people involved, that it's often difficult to quit. But it's better for them and for yourself if you quit something you don't want to do. If you're unhappy and therefore ineffective, they'll be unhappy as well.

While it's never a good time to quit, while it's never easy to disappoint other people, it is often the best thing so that everyone involved can move on.

James Leroy Wilson writes from Nebraska. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter. If you find his articles informative or entertaining, your support through Paypal helps keep him going. Permission to reprint is granted with attribution.