I get it, you were about to get off the page because let us be honest, who likes to be disciplined? I can discipline myself to eat a burger every week and pizza every other day but who wants to discipline themself to workout and eat carrots or broccoli. It is uncomfortable, it hard and it is not fun. I'm going to keep it one hundred with my ladies, this topic is so fitting for the time in on so many aspects of my life. I am trying to be disciplined in my workout routine, my eating habits, my spiritual life, my beauty regiment and even with my character. It is a lot and it is hard so before you even continue reading, go check out last week's blog on Let Us Commune Together. In that blog we talk about why having a community is important and that spills into being disciplined.
There are so many bible verses on discipline and none of them makes it sound like a pleasant journey but it is worth it at the end (Hebrews12:11). The results you see at the end of the feedback you get at the end is more rewarding than doing things as you wanted. It is hard to talk about discipline and not share any of my experiences, therefore, I will share 3 or 4 areas of my life that I have seen the fruits of discipline and I am not even at the end of them yet.
Fitness + Health
Yes, fitness and health are two different things but a lot of us consider them the same. This year, I decided to be disciplined with my exercises because I wanted to get in fit physically. That means I wanted to be able to run a good distance without feeling exhausted, carry heavy items without feeling like someone killed me and overall have a great performance. On the other hand, I had the greatest wake-up call last year and that made me want to take my health a lot more seriously. I wanted to eat more vegetables, get regular checkups with my doctor and making sure that my body is not breaking down. To keep up with this I have a close friend of mine whom I discuss all this and we keep each other disciplined. She will text me when to workout, make sure I ate a good meal and that I am keeping up with everything. It's not even the end of the month yet and I am feeling confident in my body. I am able to stand in the mirror and feel proud of myself even if I do not see any physical change yet.
Relationship/Romance
It is not what it sounds like. I am not disciplining myself to stay in a relationship, no and no. In fact, I'm disciplining myself to not get into any relationship or to not have a relationship with a guy where I am not with them but there are a lot of feelings and no boundaries. My reason for this was because I get ahead of myself and I start to attach my identity to that person when I am a full beautiful and wonderful person on my own. In 2019, I felt that being entangled with guys I am not in a relationship with did not help my overall well-being in life though I was happier and less lonely. The way I have disciplined myself is very much aligned with my third point, my spiritual life. A part of all this is Less Of Me. Less of me following my emotions, less of me being instantaneous, less of me thinking less of myself and so on. I would read more, do some creative work more, spend time with female friends more or even pamper myself more. I do not have an accountability partner for this, I do talk to some close friends about how I am doing if I want to but this is very much a God and I journey. I do have awkward moments where I struggle with myself when I feel like messaging a male friend out of loneliness or anger but I have not so far and I feel great!
Spirituality
I can finally give more details as to how I am being more disciplined in my relationship haha. As I said half of the second point was Less Of Me but the other half is More Of God. I am learning to go to God when I feel a certain way and learning to surrender everything to Him. I have a few people keeping me on track with my spiritual walk though they may not necessarily know about the other two. They help me to be honest with myself which leads me to be honest with my community (them) and then God. I get called out if I'm holding back or if I'm being fake. I am shown a great amount of love and care which is so important for me in this journey, to know that "I can do this because of God and He has given me a family to support me"
I would very much encourage you to share what aspects of your life you want to be disciplined in with your friends and/or family. Let them help you stay on that path and you never know you may find someone who is on the same journey as well that needs your presence, your struggle and your experiences. I can go on but I believe God has the last say and it was said perfectly in Ecclesiastes 4:11-13.
Two in a bed warm each other.
Alone, you shiver all night.
By yourself, you’re unprotected.
With a friend, you can face the worst.
Can you round up a third?
A three-stranded rope isn’t easily snapped.
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