Afraid of discipline?
Hi everyone,
I've been trying to find out more and more about myself, and it seems like one of the biggest barriers in my life is that I feel so uncomfortable with the general idea of being "disciplined." Overall, the idea of it is amazing! Eating vegetables, learning how to properly take care of yourself, completing homework ahead of time rather than last minute, cooking, etc. It's all great!! But the thought of it all feeling like a chore, and the fact that me doing these would make me "disciplined"... it kind of makes me feel like a pet animal being trained for a talent show or something. It's weird. Yet, if I'm not disciplined, I end up not feeling so great. Letting chores pile up, not keeping up with good hygiene, and doing homework at the last minute, and more... it really takes a toll on my health, and I know it.
Has anyone ever felt the same way? Any tips I could use to overcome these thoughts and feelings? I'll welcome any feedback that comes my way :)
Thanks for reading!
@Gingie7268
Hi gingie<3
have you ever tried to reword the word "dicipline"? do you think it may just be the general word that your mind may not be sitting well with? :)
I had been thinking that! But I guess it’s just been really difficult for me to replace it with another word, especially when a lot of posts that talk about this kind of stuff use the word “discipline.” It’s so popular!! I’ll see if I can try finding a substitution for the word, though. If you have any ideas as well, feel free to send them my way. :D
I remember, as a kid, thinking that I was cool for not trying that hard or waiting until the last minute to finish assignments or get things done in general. As an adult, I'll tell you right now, it's not cool. It was just plain lazy. I look back now and wish I cultivated more self-discipline for anything.
I wish I got into the habit of working out instead of laying on my bed and playing video games all day. I wish I was more disciplined about my diet instead of eating a bunch of food that made me fat. I wish I just did my school-work as soon as I had the chance instead of procrastinating and getting a subpar grade. I might have actually passed community college and got an associates degree if I did that, instead of dropping out.
Don't think of it as being some goody-two-shoes that only does it to impress other people. You're doing this as an investment into your own future. The harder it is on you now, the easier it will be on you later. Your future self will thank you. (If that makes sense)
As you grow older, it gets harder to fix your bad habits. That's where the phrase, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." comes into play. I'm only 25 and discipline about taking care of my own health, doing chores, and running errands are still struggles of mine. It gets harder to turn that around when you're out in the real world and you got bills to pay.
From my experience, going down the path of least resistance doesn't lead to happiness. Doing what's convenient and pleasurable all the time doesn't make you happy. It's fun at first, but then sometimes it's not. And when it's not fun is when you really start to feel miserable. Doing the things that make you uncomfortable and push you to your limits is not fun in the moment, but you get an appreciation from knowing you can overcome it and learning new lessons. You actually grow and develop as a person from doing those challenging things and taking the hard path that others would rather not go down.
I don't know if there's really any tips I could give to help you other than just reminding yourself of what you could turn into if you're not disciplined. There's a good writing exercise on that actually. Imagine you let yourself go and did everything you knew to be wrong. Write down where you would be and what life would be like after doing that for 10 years. Now imagine what life would be like if you did everything right. Where would you be then? Aim for that better life.
Best wishes, Cain
Oh wow. I had never thought of it like this, but that’s really helpful.
I also tend to have a knack for labelling things that I need to help me out in my life, and “getting disciplined” just didn’t sound right to me. With what you’re describing, though… it reminds me of Scrooge when he finds the Ghost of Christmas Future and sees where he ends up if he continues being the person he is. And there’s a LOT of similarity between this and that. So I think I’m going to call this the “Scrooge effect” lol.
Thank you so much for sharing your perspective and advice!!