Coping With Quitting

Harry Styles is rumoured to be retiring. Amelia Dimoldenberg is bringing the Chicken Shop Date era to a close. We all remember Simone Biles stepping away from the gymnastics mat. More and more, we're watching people opt out of goals they've built their identity around and spent years publicly pursuing. Quitting seems more socially acceptable than ever, so why does walking away still feel like failure?

This week, Alice Griffin and Jannah Anderson explore our relationship with quitting (it's complicated). In a conversation about identity, drive and sunk costs, they unpack where the "never give up" mindset actually came from, why perseverance is treated as a virtue while quitting is seen as a flaw, and whether knowing when to stop might be just as important as knowing when to keep going.

Harry Styles Is Still Getting Used to Being Harry Styles by Julio Torres, W Magazine

Is Harry Styles Retiring? by Sam Prance, Capital UK

Harry Styles’ Speech On Together, Together Tour

Simone Biles Says She Should Have Quit Way Before Tokyo Olympics by Katie Kindelan, ABC News

Hyrox Athlete Apologies and Withdraws After Viral Defecation Incident by Alexandra Koster, SBS

Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism by E.P. Thompson

The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit Of Capitalism by Max Weber

Self-Help; with Illustrations of Conduct and Perseverance by Samuel Smiles

Did ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ Need an Encore? And Where Is Taylor Swift Going Next? By Maya Georgi, Rolling Stone

Amelia Dimoldenberg to close doors of Chicken Shop Date by Naomi de Souza, BBC