Self Discipline and addiction - 5

One person emailed yesterday, "Should we really classify everything as an addiction? Why not call it sin??”

Good point. “TO him who knows to do well and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.”
Question: what do you do with sin? Answer: repent. Does that solve the self discipline dilemma? No! If I’m an alcoholic I can repent til I’m blue in the face. But that doesn’t rid me of the addiction to alcohol. Repentance is but the first step in the recovery process. And so with self discipline. If’ I’m addicted to ease, the easy way out, to self gratification, that habit must be aggressively attacked and a plan of action followed. (Which we’ll look at in some upcoming posts.)

One person writes saying, “What lies beyond the curtain of self discipline? A changed life? Or should we be so dramatic? Isn’t it as easy as Nike says, “Just do it.” But why can’t I? Is it fear? Fear of what? A great fear of failure overwhelms me at the onset of any project at which I’m not proficient. It sometimes keeps me from moving forward – except at work where I need to perform. I’ve had a lifetime of failure and don’t want to bring anymore upon myself. Fear of failure is definitely a significant cause for my lack of self discipline.”

He is basically saying, “if I don’t start something, I can’t set myself up for failure. So I'll take the path of ease and not even try.”

He goes on to say, “Do I feel unworthy of experiencing the results of self discipline? Or is it worse? Maybe I’m just lazy.
“No that’s not it. I can and do work hard – very hard. But only when there is a reward at the end - a paycheck or praise from someone.

“Is it low self esteem? Lack of maturity? Both? Maybe my expectations are too high for myself so I don’t attempt to begin. (Fear of failure again?)

“If self discipline is an ongoing thing – never ending. Where is the reward? There just is no instant gratification in self discipline. “Oops! Not always true. I took all day Saturday to clean part of my garage. There is a space for me to move around. That was gratifying. I guess it just wasn’t instant because it took me a few hours to accomplish the partly finished task. I sure felt good about it though."

We’ll wrestle with more of his thoughts tomorrow.