Last winter, I went hiking on the highest mountain in Korea. Because it snowed a lot and I had no experinece in hiking in snowy and cold weather, I gave up exploring the summit. However, on the way descending the mountain, I enjoyed the snowy mountain a lot which I would have missed if I were completely exausted after hiking upto the summit. Likewise, I stronlgy believe sometimes we have to give up our goals for other important things even though it is a significant value not to give up.
First of all, it often happens that we cannot see other important values when we focus on only reaching our goals. It is important to keep in mind what is the ultemate goal of our lives. I believe it is the happiness of my loved people as well as myself. The happiness cannot be obtained when we concentrate on my own accomplishment and success and neglect our precious family and friends. Also, happiness means not the great achievement but small ordinary things such as smiles of our kids which we can find in our daily lives. For these things, it is unnecessary to push myself to keep going for certain visible goals. Therefore, never-give-up mind hinders us from finding small happiness.
In addition, it is possible to lose our health when we try to reach our goals too hard. Social scientists revealed that as many people as 60% of workers in Seoul are suffering from the mental stress and 10% of them are in life-threatening state. Besides, doctors are warning that sudden death from heart attack which can be caused by fatigue is increasing drastically in recent several decades. This implies that we living in the modern society can lose our mental and physical health because the modern society is insisting it is important not to give up and to achieve the objects. It is obvious that without spiritual and physical health, it is difficult to find happiness.
It is true that we have to do our best whatever and whenever we do. However, this does not indicate that we never give up. I firmly believe that we sometimes have to give up our goals and have to look around our valuable things and people and to remain healthy mentally and physically if we want to be happy. |