Self Discipline and how it can become your 1# enemy

As I begin this prompt, I want to emphasize that I am a human who is still learning how the world functions today. There are many things I don't know. So without further ado, let's begin. This prompt in no way, shape, or form is a "diss" on discipline. In fact to start this article I want to talk about how discipline can truly help you become a "better" you. In more developed countries, convenience can be a demon. When you've worked hard for your money, it's only natural to want to take advantage of the comfort convenience can provide. I guess you could say that this article is all about first-world problems. However, first-world countries heavily influence how things work in third-world countries and why some places are in an unending cycle of poverty. But I digress, that is a conversation for another day. So in certain circumstances discipline is our saving grace. To get out of a "slump" or to achieve your goals, you need to discipline yourself and gradually build habits. Even though it can be super tiring in the end it gets you where you want, or need, to be. For example, if your body starts to feel heavy, tired, and slow, you might look towards heading to a gym or doing at-home workouts. After becoming more consistent not only do you not feel as out of shape but your muscles may start toning out as well. It starts to become part of your daily routine to work out. To maintain your new body, you start eating healthily and making conscious decisions about what you are putting inside yourself, by eating less take-out and junk food. Rather than eliminating it from your diet, you include it in moderation. And when you don't, you don't feel as good as you usually do.

A Little Something Called Supernatural Stimuli

Both humans and animals are susceptible to supernatural stimuli. A supernormal stimulus is "A stimulus that by being larger or more intense than normally encountered natural stimuli has a more significant behavioral effect than the natural stimulus." An animal, however, is more susceptible to supernormal stimuli. For example, a goose would prefer to incubate a larger egg with more spots, color, and fake than its real egg. Humans fall under the same circumstances as animals, however, there's only one thing that sets humans apart from animals in terms of susceptibility to supernormal stimuli which is our ability to think and reason—the ability to tell apart the real from the fake. And with discipline and willpower, some can keep themselves from falling under the impression that big or more colorful things are better.

The Flip Side

Now that I've highlighted some of the positives I want to get to my main point. How self-discipline can become your number one enemy. Self-discipline deserves a place in everyone's life, but what happens when self-control spirals out of your control? I like to think of excessive self-discipline as living in a simulation. You become so absorbed in building towards whatever goal you have set for yourself that it is difficult to find control in other areas of your life. For example, a person may find themselves so wrapped up in attending the gym that they forget that their body may need a rest every once in a while. Without exercise, they feel off and agitated. Or a person could become so wrapped up in their work or school life that not completing any given task on time or earlier causes them immense amounts of stress and anxiety. They push around valuable things and/or people in their life to make more space for whatever they have their minds set on. And in reality, it's not easy to work your way out of this if it is something you depend on to support your lifestyle. However, those are not the cases I intend to target, cases similar to the old man at my parents' workplace who refuses to give up his work despite the fact that he is well-off and at his age can properly enjoy life. But instead, he spends that time pushing through lengthy and grueling work hours, working himself to death because he cannot let go of his job. But I guess that's just the world we live in now. Although it may seem difficult to highlight the connection between the old man and excessive self-discipline, think of the fact that he started that habit somewhere earlier in his life before he ended up in the position that he is in now.

Credit:

https://dictionary.apa.org/supernormal-stimulus