Making The Habit
Hello! We are all addicted to something, some feeling, some situation, some story, some idea… all of us. We tell ourselves stories all of the time and we fight tooth and nail to hold onto these things. We go through serious depression and withdrawal when we are made to let go of these addictions. Most of us, on a basic level, are addicted to things being the same. We want things to be static in some way… we want predictability in some area of our world… we have told ourselves that without it we can't function. When what we eat or how we care for ourselves is actually a detriment to our health, these addictions can turn deadly. We will decide we cannot do something because of the absolute fear of change, the feeling of being out of our comfort zone and the lack of desire in the moment for anything to be different. This is where discipline, the ability to call it up, comes in. When you discipline your mind to be flexible, to embrace change, to have a way to handle the adjustments needed in life to keep you healthy and growing upward.
Discipline. This is something that we all struggle with in some area of our life or another. How do we stop doing something that we habitually do? How do we rein in what seems to be wild and out of control; or totally controlled but just not serving us anymore? How do we get the strength to "just do it?" How do we move beyond our addictions or create ones that are healthy? It seems to be the case that we need discipline to be disciplined. Eating well, exercising, cleaning, taking vitamins, organizing, emails, work, work/life balance, etc. All of the aspects of our lives take some form of discipline to accomplish regularly.
When we don't have immediate positive feedback in areas we are trying to bring discipline to in our lives we often just say f*ck it and do what we know. It is way easier to keep things as is… because the change brings with it all sorts of growing pains. Letting go of what we are addicted to can be seriously challenging if we decide that it will be or if we don't prepare for the resistance, from ourselves and others, that will come up around it. Even when you are 'ready' to make a change you will be tested in ways. You will be pushed to the point of teetering back to what you know.
Along with the challenge of staying the course is the shame or judgment we feel if we get off track once we have made a change. We immediately believe we are falling backward. In reality we aren't falling backward, we are still moving forward, it is just that we haven't seen all of the angles yet, so 'revisiting' our past may be necessary to reach the next level of change. Where the discipline comes in is in the never giving up. Period. Discipline is belief that even though you don't want to you, want to. Even though you don't like it, you like it. Even though it is impossible, it is possible. Discipline is believing that you are limitless and that you can do something even when you don't want to. Discipline takes root when you allow your feelings to come and go like the breeze without ever becoming the victim of them. Discipline is you ignoring the voices and moving forward. Discipline is you hearing the voices and not becoming a part of the conversation. Discipline is you doing whatever it takes to remember where you want to be and head in that direction and, at the same time, understanding that it is an ebb and flow.
Start small, or start big…either way just start to do something other than what you are doing if you need a change. Nothing is too small or insignificant. Where do you want to bring discipline into your world?
xo
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