The famous teshuvah quote in Mishlei 24:16,says:
The tzadik falls seven times and gets up.
The popular explanation is that the tzadik continues to get up after falling repeatedly. His unrelenting desire — what makes him a tzadik — is evident by his continual getting up.
I recently read a story of someone who went to see Rav Yosef Shalom Eliashiv, OBM (I think it was about him) for help. Upon entering the Rav’s room he was startled to see the Rav just sitting and not responding to his presence.
After a few minutes, the man was greeted warmly by the Rav, and his concerns were addressed. At some point, the man asked what the Rav was doing when he arrived.
Rav Eliashiv told him he was doing teshuvah. He said, “I sin, I do teshuvah, I sin, I do teshuvah. I sin, I do teshuvah.”
The take-home message — don’t give up no matter how far or frequent the fall.
Yitzhak Sasson 