Discipline. A simple word in English language, but a complex subject matter not meant for the weak-willed or the mundane or mediocre. Discipline requires mastery of one’s compulsory thoughts, actions, and behaviors, and it takes years of building up the habits and the temperament to be able to accomplish this. Motivation is often fleeting, and if I am being perfectly honest, lacking a majority of the time. Especially because the most sustainable results are a slow progression of patiently accumulated goals and endeavors. This can lead too a diminished level of excitement and disappointment when it comes to exceeding the expectations set for oneself. So why keep pushing yourself on a slow and uphill journey when it is so much easier to just throw in the towel and stay in your lane at your own comfort level? Personally, I would rather squeeze the most that I can out of this finite life without the fear of one day looking back with regret at all the missed opportunities and the ‘what-ifs’ that could have happened had I only mastered an ounce more of self-control and discipline.
Now, that is not all to say that life should be void of all joy 24/7 in lieu of the bigger picture, and that every second of every waking moment should be spent sacrificing any pleasures in order to achieve greater goals. However, there is a time and a place to seek fulfillment and enjoyment and there is a time when working hard is necessary. Take for instance me cutting weight during a fight camp. The misery is temporary and the results payoff in almost unimaginable ways with all of the good I am instilling in myself for the future. Those quick bursts of temptation that I am able to put on the back burner until the time is right give me a sense of pride at knowing what my mind and body are truly capable of. And when the cage doors close, I know I have done all I could in preparation for this time and this moment in my life and I won’t be left with an ounce of regret of the shoulda, coulda, and woulda’s that take place. Also, there is nothing in the world that will ever taste better than victory pizza and donuts and I dare you to prove me wrong.
It’s no secret in life that anything worth having does not come easy, but why is there such an epidemic lately of people fearing or dreading hard work? We live in an instant gratification society, from comestible items to consumer goods to rewards for every little thing, and this can make paying your dues seem like quite the foreboding experience. If you need an item, you have 1-day delivery on Amazon Prime. You need food? You have same-day instacart orders or food ordered off websites such as Grub Hub and Door Dash. Everyone gets a trophy. The price of everything has gone up with inflation and so has minimum wage. Unpaid internships are long a thing of the past. Weight loss is a facade of well-placed filters, edited videos, and surgical procedures without the knowledge, education, and time it takes to achieve sustainability in a healthy way. No one looks like how they do on social media. All of these things can lead to dismay about the progression of your timeline for you to achieve your results. This can lead to falls in mental health and a spiraling depression, because 99.9% of progression is not linear. It ebbs and flows and spikes and plummets and plateaus and it is hard to stay the path when the path appears to be anything but straight and narrow. It takes discipline to dig yourself out of the trenches and find alternative routes rather than taking shortcuts that lead you nowhere in the long run.
They say that no one is better than anyone else, but I don’t believe that is true. I think there is something admirable and commendable about those people who face the hardships and are determined to persevere anyway. Many people look at those who achieve results and success and chalk it up to luck or lack of difficulties. Truth is, no one on the outside sees all the strenuous obstacles that person faced in order to reach their goals. It is easier for us to lie to ourselves and tell us they had it easy rather than admit that we are defect in mind and mentality and couldn’t find the strength to fight for what we want. It is much easier to throw in the towel than to choke back the tears, fight through the pain, and keep going despite every voice in our head threatening us with failure and negativity and telling us that we can’t. I am so over letting those voices win. I love hard work, and I love proving not just to the haters doubting me, but even to myself that I am strong, I am capable, I am worthy, and I am more than ready to bust my booty fighting for what I want in this life. Fall down 9 times, get up 10, and when I do, stare every adversary in the eye so they know what they are dealing with; an unstoppable attitude, and an indomitable spirit.
I know I know, easy for me to say all of this from behind a computer screen, right? But there are things I have dealt with, demons I have battled, and personal struggles only my husband knows that I don’t talk about publicly that I have faced and continue to suffer with turmoil from daily. But truth be told, I don’t give a fuck about what is in any of my ‘before’ or even what awaits for me in any of my ‘after.’ There is only what I can control right here and right now in my present and that is what I choose to place my focus and emphasis on. If I stay the course and continue to work hard, great things will come and more opportunities arise because fortune always favors the bold. Life will pass regardless of whether you sit back and observe or whether you grab the bull by the horns and try to wrangle it regardless. Might as well work hard for it.
