What does giving up mean to you?

I've long wondered why I keep blogging. Then again, I wonder why I keep writing. I know everyone feels this way about something. Why am I doing this? I'm a hack. I'll never be good enough. I should just quit.

We have to tell ourselves that this is bullshit and keep pushing forward.

There are going to be times where something has to be put to the side and something new started. That's just life. But if we give up without really trying, that's when we fail. It's like learning to swim. If you just stand there and dabble your toes in the water and say you can't swim, you're right. You can't. But you didn't really try. But then you get in the water, you have your lessons, and then either you can swim or you're relegated to staying in the shallow end of the pool because you sink like a rock. If it's that last, you didn't fail. You tried and gave it your best.

Himself is constantly reminding me of this. I have a tendency to give up after not succeeding once instead of trying again. I have a real complex about what I consider failing and look at myself as a failure when I shouldn't. He has to keep telling me as long as I'm trying I'm not a failure.

How many times do we just give up because something seems out of reach without actually trying for it? I know I have several of those missed opportunities littering the path of my life. Even if we don't get what we want, we learn and grow from those experiences. They can help us achieve new goals later on down the line.

I'm wandering a bit here, so I'll go ahead and stop. Tell me your thoughts. Do you believe that not succeeding at something is the same as failure? Or do you believe as Himself does, as he's teaching me to believe, that the only true failure is a failure to try?