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.