Discipline Takes Practice

Paulin Nordin

Oh how I do struggle with this issue. Some days I am completely good about staying far, far away from the foods that I grew up loving. While others I find myself giving in to the temptation and pull of a food simply because "it tastes sooooooooooo good".

Of course I immediately feel guilty about it and punish myself with a killer workout the next day—reinforcing the notion that I should have left it alone in the first place—but the penance I pay only lasts until the next slip-up undoubtedly happens and then...BOOM!

Well, today was one of those days. I didn't eat well because I simply wanted to go "off the wagon" and eat something delicious and hearty for a change. Lifting, circuit-training, biking, etc. is all good for this body of mine but it also means I spend a great deal of my day looking for my next meal. And, did I mention I absolutely love food?

Inasmuch as I've gotten away from meat—tofu and soy are infinitely more desireable options to me at this point—and eschew most things dairy (although I don't know that I'll ever leave cheese), I do have my weaknesses. And when life gets ridiculously busy, I turn to those vices by the boatload.

When this happens, I start looking for ways to get myself back on track: a fellow woman-in-training, a photo, a quote, a song...or a simple blog post written by someone whose life is all about what I'm trying to become—the very definition of fit.

I found that inspiration today via Muscle and Fitness Hers; it was in a blog post written by Pauline Nordin—a fitness fanatic who has conditioned and trained herself into a fighting machine. Here's what she had to say about those days when the cravings seems to overwhelm your good intentions:

...when you cheat on your diet, you condition your brain into believing that it’s okay to give in. So when the urge to eat crappy food is strong enough, that’s it -- you will give in. To break this habit, you have to be consistent in saying no to the craving. When you are consistent, you give that response strength and you know that there is no damn way that cookie craving is going to derail you from your plan.

I read that and a light bulb went off for me because so often I just feel like—man...what did I just do here? LOL.

But reading that post reminded me that discipline takes practice and the destination I'm trying to end at won't come without setbacks.

So, today I lost, but as Scarlett O'Hara would say, "...tomorrow is another day".

You Have To Get Uncomfortable To Grow

Why do so many people believe life is supposed to be easy? The only thing this life has promised us is an earthly body. The quality and quantity of the life granted by that body is not guaranteed and if you have chosen to live your life based on some misguided notion of entitlement, then you could be selling yourself short.

It's important to realize that the blessing of life isn't in the receiving of riches, but in the molding of a life based on the pieces that can't possibly hold a price tag: your family, your children, your spouse, your friendships, etc. Those are the people on whom your impact is most precious and most beneficial to the world around you.

You must begin to realize, at some point, that you are part of something bigger and greater in this world and in order to grow into a person of true worth, sometimes it's necessary for life to get a little uncomfortable. You have to be tested, pounded, broken down, and even sometimes pushed to the very limits of what you feel your spirit can tolerate—then pushed one step further—before you can begin to appreciate and decipher the lesson you're being taught.

Does that mean the trials and tribulations you endure will be fair? No, because we are all meant to be tested differently, for different reasons, and at different times.

My father died when I was 11 years old and my relationship with him at the time of his death was contentious at best, estranged at worst. I never had the opportunity to know and understand him as the woman I am now and I struggle with that on a daily basis. However, the experience of him dying made me a stronger, more grateful, person because it made me appreciate early on the value of a life lived with purpose and love.

Perhaps if my father had been more in-tuned with the one (love), he might have been better equipped to fix the other (purpose), and maybe he would be with us today—but then would I still be the woman I am now?

Don't get me wrong, there's not a day that goes by where I don't think of my father and wish he were here to offer me the value of his experience—he'll never know his grandchildren or my husband, he wasn't there to walk me down the aisle, give me advice, or keep away the bad guys I encountered in my youth—but I understand that the plan God had for me required that I go through that experience to get to where I am now. My faith in Him won't allow me to question His purpose for that plan.

The blessings I've had, the choices I've made, and the people I've let in as a result of going through the pain of such a loss played a key role in making me the person I am.

Growth is an inevitable part of life but that growth cannot come without being tested. Forget the part where you think life is supposed to be easy and remember only this: life is a moment to moment conglomeration of everything you both are and can become, and to be tested is a blessing because it means God still knows you can get stronger. He has a plan for you, even if you can't see it yet, and whatever you are going through is His way of saying "I see you. I'm with you. Trust Me".

Related articles

• Uncomfortable? That's when you know who you are. - David Goggins (lifechngr.com)
• Inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments: 1 Nephi 2:20-23 (mormonapologeticstudies.org)