Self-Discipline isn’t torture, it’s…

My 20^th blog post, and in it I want to address some massive and widespread misconceptions about self-discipline that hinder people’s ability to grasp and maintain it. It’s something everyone wants (and perhaps they aren’t even totally sure why), but have deeply negative views about it. Many maintain that self-discipline in the form of diets, exercise, work ethic, internet usage, or anything that seems hard at first is a form of torture. It’s something that’s cold, hard and unforgiving. In other words, self-discipline is a punishment! How the heck do people expect to maintain their yearly resolutions to improve themselves if they have a deep-set perception of self-discipline being a form of torture? No one in their right mind tortures themselves. So obviously someone wouldn’t torture themselves for very long after the ‘bizarre’ motivation that usually hits every January wears off.

So how does one maintain the diets and work, with the raging emotions and the ‘torture’ that comes with it? The simple answer is because you can make it SO MUCH EASIER. Simply view it from a different viewpoint. It’s not torture, it’s SELF-LOVE. You’re not being hard on yourself for no reason – what you actually want is to upgrade yourself. What you want is to feel better about yourself because you take POSITIVE action to maintain your health, your attitude, your relationships or anything else you want more discipline in. It’s because you CARE about yourself. So start viewing it this way! View the terrifying run that you set yourself to do as a self-love exercise, not as some necessary evil that you just need to push through as fast as possible. Enjoy the journey, enjoy the work. It’s a process of upgrading yourself that will push you to even higher levels of self-love and care. And it’ll show outwardly, because people can’t help but respect people who have self-respect and love themselves more than their urges.

While you’re trying to shower yourself in self-love in the form of positive actions, you will have these urges to go against it. In a way, you have to have humour when you look at the aspects of yourself that you feel are holding you back. You want to lose weight, but at the same time have an urge to eat chocolate all day everyday (guilty). Don’t let yourself get tense over this weird contradiction within yourself. It’s funny! Instead, smile as if it’s a child who doesn’t know what’s best, and act the caring and responsible parent who shows him the right way to live. The way YOU want to live. When I started taking more care of my health, such as by ceasing to eat sugar and making a strong effort to eat healthy and learn about foods, people have made the assumption that I’m ‘torturing myself’. People seem to think that I can no longer enjoy eating, and that a big part of life has been taken away. On the contrary, the fun and enjoyment I had when eating unhealthy foods has been redirected and magnified in other ways such as a clearer mind, better sleep, better skin, weight loss, and a lot more energy! It’s not because I hate my body that I ceased eating too much unhealthy food – it’s because I LOVE it!

Self-discipline is behind all success. Whether it’s small lifestyle changes or building professional skills or anything that requires effort, it all is driven by self-discipline. It makes no sense to call self-discipline torture if it is necessary for your success, happiness and what you truly want in life. Self-discipline is loving yourself.