Discipline. What it means to you? It oftentimes resonates with negativity despite the fact that, at the core of it, it is a value, a principle. We often associate this concept to rigidity, coldness, or whatever adjective the experience of it made us feel the first times we have been in contact or been introduced to it. When we are thinking about discipline, it can bring us back to our childhood. When our parents and/or teachers tried to discipline us to behave correctly towards others or to respect authority. Even if it was just to clean up our room. Wasn’t it the most of us taken it as it was a punishment? A form of domination?! Is it your memory and experience?!

We can all have different experiences towards some values and principles in life. The mistake is often made in the way we internalize that experience. Then we make associations and decide,  unconsciously, if it is “good” or “bad” for us by the way we receive the intervention. This internalization is most likely happening in our childhood, teenage years. At this period, we are not so much “aware”. Unfortunately. And so, we will most likely put it in a box with a reinvented definition, we will resist, fear or reject discipline.

Also, more times than others, we might just perceive or even focus on one aspect of what this principle/value means. Keep reading, I’m going to dive into that.

First, the lie is to associate the experience of discipline as a source of negativity and we redefine what it is based on HOW it was brought up to us AND the way we internalized (interpreted) it.

But if we detach ourselves from the experience, emotions WE had, we must see what it is: with discipline, we implement consistency. See another perspective.

Read that again. In fact, let me write that again.

With discipline, we implement consistency.

And vice versa: consistency, combined with discipline bring us healthier control, results in short and long terms goals, motivation (yes!! Go read my other blog😉) and an overall sense of accomplishment and happiness.

Secondly, with Discipline, comes discomfort and sacrifices. And also, delayed satisfaction. In a society that want AND are sold to the idea of getting alot RIGHT NOW, and as easy as possible, discipline and all it comes with it, may appear really painful, long and hard. But the things is, and let’s be honest here: the most gratifying things we can have, achieve, comes with work, time, DISCIPLINE, CONSISTENCY. I believe that to embrace discipline, we must first embrace the discomfort. And you know what? Humans are not stagnant: they can adapt to anything.

Don’t resist, persist and stay consistent in discomfort and you will get use to that discipline and the discomfort that may comes with it.

The good news is, as I said, we adapt to anything: good and bad…so the choice is yours.  Pushing through with consistent discipline will get more common and after experiencing even one positive result and the feeling of having a better control over yourself and your life, you will have less and less difficulty to keep and implement discipline in your life. You will also have the experience of the discomfort and you will know better how to deal with it and ultimately, become more “comfortable”, able to embrace it through your process.