Self Discipline

Lately I have been thinking a lot about self discipline, self discipline in regards to money, diet, exercise, and sleep schedule, among other things. Why is it that sometimes it can be so difficult to keep yourself disciplined? We stay up late when we should be getting rest, go out to eat instead of taking time to cook, skip the gym in order to sleep in, spend instead of save. We've all been guilty of it, some more than others, and yes, I'm taking some blame here too.

Our culture in America reinforces the sentiment, "I want it and I want it now." This mindset is a globally-spreading virus. The internet brings all of our desires within reach, fast food restaurants fill our ever-expanding bellies in a matter of minutes, credit cards allow us to buy now with money we don't even have. We gorge ourselves on incessant instant gratification.

Perhaps this is why self discipline can be so difficult. Why wake up now when you can hit snooze a dozen times? Why work for 30 minutes on a healthy, delicious meal when you can belly-up to the trough, um, I mean, buffet? Why scrimp and save and work a second job for that shiny status symbol when you can simply whip out the plastic, enslaving yourself to debt? And why on Earth would you go to the gym several days a week in order to lose weight when you can just go have someone stick a hose in your fat and suck it out of your body? Don't worry, it's normal. It's the American way... right?

I look around and see a bunch of overgrown toddlers throwing temper tantrums when they don't get their way, expecting everyone else to do the work for them, wanting everything to simply be handed to them without having to work for it. Our country is full of spoiled rotten children.

We all went to school with that kid (hell, maybe you were that kid) whose parents bought them a brand new *insert favorite sports car here* as soon as they turned 16. Little Miss Priss or Mr Hot Stuff tore around town in that car they didn't have to work for and what happened? They wrecked it of course (as is the fate of nearly all first cars) and of course mommy and daddy replaced the mangled scrap metal with a shiny new toy immediately, so as not to upset their "poor baby." Well I don't know about you, but in my personal experience, when I wrecked my first $400 clunker I was hitchin a ride until I got a second clunker about a year later.

I understand that parents want to give their children all the things they didn't have but when you simply hand it all over, what message does that send? Answer: You can have anything you want without having to work for it. All that does is set the child up for failure. The "real world" isn't like that at all... or is it?

I'm not trying to be holier-than-thou or say that I don't partake in any of the instant gratifications offered by our society. And sure, I'm guilty of not always having self-discipline, just like everyone else. What I am saying is that we need to take a look in the mirror from time to time. We need to exercise our self discipline and independence instead of simply accepting the fact that we're allowing ourselves (and our country) to become slaves to debt, dependent on others for everything and unappreciative of what we have because we didn't have to work for it.

So as a new year approaches, I ask you, are you going to spend this year exercising your self discipline? Are you willing to put in the hard work to make yourself independent and self-sufficient? Will you deny yourself some of the instant gratifications in order to revel in the pride of having achieved a goal? Whether your goal is related to health, money, career, religion, politics, whatever, you must be willing to have self discipline. If it all seems too overwhelming or too large, start small. Start by not hitting snooze, not eating that chocolate, not buying that toy you really can't afford. Control yourself. After all, you're not a child.

An Unfortunate Event

This is what I woke up to last Saturday morning, 2 days after Thanksgiving...

At 9:20 am, when I was fast asleep in bed I got a text and a call from my neighbor Travis. I finally woke up the 2nd time he called me. Travis told me that he had bad news, that someone had hit my car and driven off. He and his girlfriend were fast asleep when they were woken up by a loud crash that they thought was thunder. By the time they got up and looked out the front window the person who had hit my car was gone...

My Intrepid had been parked in its usual spot on the street across from my house, same place I've been parking for a year without incident. I'm assuming that whoever hit my car must have been drunk, the street is wide enough for three cars to park across it. I'm guessing they had to be going at least 50 mph (speed limit in my neighborhood is 30). My car ended up being pushed further into the street and ended up moving about 25 feet forward.

I don't even know how they were able to drive away from the scene. There was antifreeze all over the ground at the point of impact, behind where my car stopped, and then a trail of it that they left behind them. My Intrepid had a huge trunk, as you can see, it's now gone. There are holes in the gas tank, the tailpipe is in the muffler, some of the wheels are pressed up against the wheel well from being forced forward, none of the electronics work anymore, my car is leaking all sorts of fluids and my back bumper is now sitting on my front porch.

For a while I was just in complete shock...

My first thought was that I have liability only on my car insurance. I've always just had liability only. Luckily I had taken out a loan at my dad's bank and used my car as collateral and had to get full coverage. That loan would've been paid off in a couple months so it's a good thing I hadn't paid it off yet because I would have lowered my coverage. (From now on I'm always getting full coverage.)

I called 911, a cop showed up and I filed a police report. The officer said it looked like a while vehicle had hit me and that he would drive around the area to see if he could find the culprit but could make no promises. I had to work 11-8 that day and was not looking forward to going into work. My stomach was in knots and I just felt sick to my stomach over what had happened.

I gave myself a couple hours to be upset then told myself that I had to buck up and move on. There's no use in being upset over something you can't change, all you can do is figure out what to do next. Plus I have so many friends, family members and coworkers who were there to cheer me up, give me rides to and from work, and bring me food. I'm so thankful for all the wonderful people in my life. Things could always be worse and this was just a speed bump, a minor obstacle to maneuver around.

Things can change so suddenly. Life is change. It's all about adapting, making the most out of what comes your way. Luckily I didn't have to wait long for things to turn around. On Sunday during my lunch break I was checking out cars on Craigslist and saw one that I was interested in. The ad said to call Nathan and gave a number. The phone rang a few times then went to voicemail and much to my surprise I was calling a cousin of mine! Nathan told me that someone was going to come look at that particular car but that if I wanted he could take me to the auto auction on Wednesday...

So yesterday I went to the auction and this is now my car, an 03 Volkswagen Jetta! (Her name is Joan Jetta.) ;) I got a killer deal and I absolutely love this car. Thank you to everyone who helped me out during the chaos of everything. I am so blessed to have such kind, caring people who I can count on.

Stay positive and good things will come your way.