I am in a disciplined woman. There was a time in my life where I would have shuddered at the thought of that word being applied to me. To me, discipline meant being rigid and unyielding and so I resisted anything around discipline.
The result was my life was stagnant. Not that I was unhappy; I wasn’t. But I knew that my life was meant to be lived in a bigger way. I started observing successful people and their habits.
What I came to realize is that self-discipline is a core value that successful people live by. When I started putting discipline in place in my life, I discovered that I didn’t understand what discipline was at all. Instead of being hand-cuffs it is Freedom.
Discipline is what puts structure in my life so that I live with optimum health. Discipline is what has allowed my career to excel and enjoy the fruits of my labor. Discipline is what keeps my vision and passion alive in my life.
Traveling to London this past week, my daughter and I lived in the flow of life. We knew the sites we wanted to see, but only preplanned one activity and that was purchasing tickets to see Phantom of the Opera live.
The result was us indulging in activities that I would have never considered if preplanning each day. Shopping in London designer stores and thoroughly enjoying the English tradition of Afternoon Tea is what entertained us for the one day of rain.
Did the disciplined life stay at home? Not entirely. Our exercise routine changed from gym and dance to running up and down stairs in the underground railway system and LOTS of walking around town. Our financial discipline stayed in place, we stayed in our budget.
For the most part we ate reasonably well, although my daughter was determined to try every English dish she had ever heard of. Sleep … well that was an interesting one. With the time difference our sleep patterns were definitely off a bit; but we did manage to get at least 6 hours of sleep a night because that is what our bodies were accustomed to.
Heading back home we were both commenting about how we had so much fun; but at the same time looking forward to getting back into the rhythm of our schedules. I’m grateful that my daughter is learning self-discipline at such a young age and she ‘gets’ that discipline is true freedom.
