How to Keep Going When You Feel Like Giving Up

You’re not broken. You’re just in the middle of solving something bigger than you think.

Let’s be real.

You’re probably tired of people telling you to “just keep going,” “never give up.” Especially when you’ve been doing everything you can and things still feel out of place.

You might be thinking:

“Easy for them to say.”
“They don’t know what I’ve been through or what I’ve done.”
“What if I’ve already tried everything?”

We get it. We’ve said those things, too.

We created the Never Quit Puzzle Cube Collection because life often feels like that: a puzzle. One that’s been shaken up, scrambled, and handed to you with no instructions on how to solve it or win.

I was inspired by the Rubik’s Cube. If you’ve ever played with one, you know exactly what I mean. All the colors are mixed up, nothing is where it should be, and it looks like a complete mess. But the more you work with it, the more you start to figure out that every turn you make matters. Even the ones that feel wrong. Even the ones that feel like they set you back.

That’s what life has been like for us. We’ve both been through seasons that felt like everything was out of place, when it seemed like no matter how hard we tried, nothing was working.

Grief. Loss. Medical issues. Financial pressure. Feeling stuck in jobs that didn’t reflect who we really were. We kept showing up, but it felt like we were stuck in survival mode, turning the pieces, but the pieces just weren’t lining up.

It’s easy to quit when you’re in that place. It’s easy to feel like maybe you just weren’t built for this. But we both knew deep down, we weren’t going to stop. We were going to keep turning the cube.

You don’t solve a puzzle by quitting halfway. You solve it by showing up again. And again. Trying something new. Being willing to learn from what didn’t work. Even when it was frustrating or slow. And to keep going without guilt, shame nor fear.

The Gold Is in the Cracks

One concept that really helped me reframe everything is kintsugi. If you’ve never heard of it, it’s the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery using gold. Instead of hiding the cracks, kintsugi highlights them. The idea is that the break becomes part of the history. And in some ways, it actually becomes more beautiful, stronger and more valuable than it was before.

Because the world will often try to make you feel like your value is based on how perfect or polished you are. But that’s not how it works. The cracks are part of your story. They’re part of your strength. Every time you’ve had to pick yourself up off the ground, every time you’ve kept going when no one else saw the effort. That’s your gold.

We’ve both had moments where things felt completely broken. When we lost our parents, when we faced infertility, when our health forced us to slow down…we had to learn how to shift the pieces, to fill in the cracks with meaning. Not by pretending everything was fine, but by honoring what we had been through. We came back changed. Stronger. Wiser. More resilient. And that’s not something to hide. That’s the point.

The Puzzle Is Part of the Process

I designed the Never Quit Puzzle Cube Collection to remind myself of this process. About what it means to be in the middle of something hard and still choose to stay with it. To try again. To trust that with each shift, something is taking shape.

Life is rarely clean. It’s complicated and messy. But that doesn’t mean you’re off track. It just means you’re in the middle of solving something bigger than you imagined.

And sometimes you don’t even know you’re making progress until you stop and look back. Until you realize that the version of you from two years ago wouldn’t have made it this far. That alone is proof that something inside you is working.

The truth is, you don’t need to have it all figured out. You don’t need to be fixed. You just need to refuse to quit on yourself.

And if that’s where you are right now…feeling scrambled, stretched, exhausted…just know this: you’re not alone, and you’re not done. Keep turning. Keep adjusting. Keep showing up for the version of you who deserves to see what happens when you don’t give up.

Because the pieces will come together. And when they do, they’ll tell a story that only you could live.

Reality Check: Your Turn to Reflect

What part of your life feels scrambled or out of place right now?

Where have you been tempted to quit, even though something in you wants to keep going?

What part of your past are you still trying to hide, that might actually be part of your gold?

☝🏽 RISE GREATLY.