Only The Disciplined Are Free
Today I am grateful for the success of the 5-day cleanse Darcy and I just completed. I am grateful we jumped right in and did it after talking about it with family last weekend. Thanks again to my niece Katie for the plan and the other wisdom and support she shared.
I enjoyed my trip through the alphabet, and now I have several ideas I have been jotting down these last weeks that I can turn to. Today's topic idea stems from more recent developments, but is one that I have been trying to wrap my head around for years. "Only the disciplined are free."
My friend Dorothy has helped me understand these words. She said them to me in an email several years ago . . . just when I needed to hear it, just when I was ready to grab onto it. I guess that is one of those zingers I referred to a couple days ago. Thanks Dorothy!
"Only the disciplined are free." It sounds contradictory. Discipline sounds regimented, strict. How can that be freeing? Because if I don't have discipline I become enslaved to any number of things. And being enslaved is much farther from free than being disciplined is.
I would like to consider myself to be a disciplined individual. I have been sober, one day at a time, for over 24 years. I quit smoking about 18 years ago. My husband and I have trained for and completed 11 marathons in the last 10 years. I have written and published over 600 blog posts on this blog in less than two years. All of those things take discipline, right?
But there's discipline and then there's discipline. White-knuckle discipline can keep a person sober, but it doesn't allow for much fun or freedom. All of one's energy is used to fight urges and temptations. I tried that. It didn't work. It did help me realize I needed support beyond myself. When I started seeking that help and applied it with the right kind of discipline (doing the next right thing basically), then the freedom started showing itself. At first in fits and starts. Now, more regularly. Many of the most important lessons I have learned and tools I have acquired have started with my efforts to recover from alcoholism. From there, they are applicable to any and all areas of my life.
This 5-day cleanse we just finished really got me thinking about my discipline, and lack thereof, when it comes to eating. It was an eye-opener to feel my body deal with detoxifying, very little refined sugar, varying levels or energy, and a few cravings (but far less than I anticipated).
Both Darcy and I are motivated to keep applying better discipline to our eating habits. Not only am I already free of a few extra pounds, I am also feeling freer in my confidence that I can adhere to better choices.
Where are you successfully applying discipline in your life? Be grateful for it. Where do you struggle to apply discipline? Be grateful for the challenge it offers and consider how to move forward in addressing it.
I enjoyed my trip through the alphabet, and now I have several ideas I have been jotting down these last weeks that I can turn to. Today's topic idea stems from more recent developments, but is one that I have been trying to wrap my head around for years. "Only the disciplined are free."
My friend Dorothy has helped me understand these words. She said them to me in an email several years ago . . . just when I needed to hear it, just when I was ready to grab onto it. I guess that is one of those zingers I referred to a couple days ago. Thanks Dorothy!
"Only the disciplined are free." It sounds contradictory. Discipline sounds regimented, strict. How can that be freeing? Because if I don't have discipline I become enslaved to any number of things. And being enslaved is much farther from free than being disciplined is.
I would like to consider myself to be a disciplined individual. I have been sober, one day at a time, for over 24 years. I quit smoking about 18 years ago. My husband and I have trained for and completed 11 marathons in the last 10 years. I have written and published over 600 blog posts on this blog in less than two years. All of those things take discipline, right?
But there's discipline and then there's discipline. White-knuckle discipline can keep a person sober, but it doesn't allow for much fun or freedom. All of one's energy is used to fight urges and temptations. I tried that. It didn't work. It did help me realize I needed support beyond myself. When I started seeking that help and applied it with the right kind of discipline (doing the next right thing basically), then the freedom started showing itself. At first in fits and starts. Now, more regularly. Many of the most important lessons I have learned and tools I have acquired have started with my efforts to recover from alcoholism. From there, they are applicable to any and all areas of my life.
This 5-day cleanse we just finished really got me thinking about my discipline, and lack thereof, when it comes to eating. It was an eye-opener to feel my body deal with detoxifying, very little refined sugar, varying levels or energy, and a few cravings (but far less than I anticipated).
Both Darcy and I are motivated to keep applying better discipline to our eating habits. Not only am I already free of a few extra pounds, I am also feeling freer in my confidence that I can adhere to better choices.
Where are you successfully applying discipline in your life? Be grateful for it. Where do you struggle to apply discipline? Be grateful for the challenge it offers and consider how to move forward in addressing it.
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