When to give up

[Mad Girl]

Originally Posted by mad_bear

In any event, combined with my work obligations and decreasing hours of daylight, the crappy weather at the moment is limiting me to one flight a week.

Nothing wrong with that…. Because of work commitments I can only fly on Saturday’s – WX permitting - and so do a lot of other people.

Originally Posted by mad_bear

I could certainly afford one hour's flying every 2-3 weeks for the foreseeable future, but that means it would be several years at least before I got to PPL qualifying standard, if I ever did; and being the driven, goal-directed kind of person I am, that's a hard nut to swallow.

Tell me about it !!!

Success in your professional life DOESN'T mean success in your flying life.
One of the things I'm trying to learn is to relax and chill out and just enjoy the flying.
Determination to do well (as you do at work) could make you worry too much and screw up your flying - this could be what's causing your “perceived” problems with your straight & level - and then of course you're kicking yourself and thinking you can't make the grade (which makes it 10 times worse!!) - Been there...Done that - and for the same self critical reasons!!!!

DO listen to WhirlyBird - she and a few others have been trying to get me to relax for month's – and it may finally be working.

I don't have the same financial restraints as you (no kids) but have gone through a long period of being convinced I can't "get" various bits of this flying lark and it's going to take me forever.

Would I give up and call it quits ?? - quite simply… I wouldn't know how to stop now - no matter how often I could fly in the future.

Do it.
Do it anyhow you can and as often as you can - life is too short to miss the exhilaration of being "up there".