Proverbs 15:32 He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.
We can all benefit from having discipline in our lives, discipline helps us tell wrong from right as children, when growing up, and when we reach adulthood we still benefit from being self-disciplined. Self-discipline helps us to lead a happier, healthier lifestyle when used in many aspects of life. It is when we allow ourselves to do just as we please that things start going wrong and our health suffers.
Self-discipline isn’t about denying ourselves, it is about making wise choices for our own benefit. The food we eat everyday, and the amount of exercise we do, is dependent upon how disciplined we are. While we all understand that the choices we make comes down to how healthy we are, we don’t always make the wisest choices, and while this is okay, every now and again if we lose all self-discipline it soon starts to show on our health and probably our waistline too.
Being self-disciplined isn’t easy. It takes a lot of willpower, especially if you need to make many changes to your lifestyle, but it’s not impossible.
Here a few tips on how to become self-disciplined:
1. Pray for God's help. God cares about your health and wellness. He cares about self-discipline. He cares about everything. Yes, I often pray for God's wisdom and to help me make wise choices, and to give me willpower. It's really amazing what will happen with your results for a healthy lifestyle when you have prayers going up with it.
2. Remember that the choices you make in life are yours, you can’t blame others for your failure if you lack self-discipline. I loved the sign in Joseph's 6th grade teachers room this year. It said "Your actions are your responsibility, please choose wisely."
3. Set goals for yourself that are realistic. If you just set the goal of being healthy and you have no details, that goal is hard to reach. Don't try to change everything all in one step. Set a number of goals and work towards them. It is much easier to have self discipline if you have realistic goals.
4. Always finish any task you set about doing before moving on to start another. It is much easier to reach a goal if you have steps and you finish the steps.
5. Avoid temptation from others around you to deviate from what it is you want to achieve, they may lack self-discipline so don’t be swayed to follow them. I am not sure what is wrong with our culture sometimes. I often have people try to talk me into eating cake or something. Guess what?? I won't do it unless I have already planned to do so in advance. So just don't even try it :D... This leads to the next tip.
6. Be prepared. Plan meals, plan snacks, plan workouts, plan sleep, plan fun. It's amazing how this makes a difference in reaching your goals!
7. Your willpower is at its lowest when you feel stressed so take it easy, learn how to relax. My close friends(and now all of you) know that I like to eat sugar free chocolate ice cream in the bath tub. Ha ha, that's relaxing for me. I also love the sound of water, particularly the ocean, and having my feet in the sand..hint to Chad to take me back to it.
8. Notice the benefits you have gained from practicing self-discipline. Keeping a journal is an excellent way of keeping up with this. When trying to lose weight, journal your progress. When trying to improve lab results, keep a log of blood pressures and lab tests. It's such a motivator to see how far you have come.
9. Take notice of when and why you start to go off track, again a journal can help you to keep track of these times. Knowing what causes the problem is often the solution to the problem. When trying to lose weight, keep a food journal and you can see where the problem occurs.
10. Talk to yourself. I know this sounds nuts, but you can be your own best friend. I talk to myself and anyone who will listen, ha ha. I tell myself "no". I tell myself what I need and I don't need. I tell myself when I do a good job. You are the best judge of your own behavior..talk to yourself about it.
This may look like a crazy sign, but I love having self discipline. You will reach goals and have a healthy lifestyle in no time if you work on self discipline!
Brandy Kisner, Health & Wellness Coordinator
