SUNSHINE AURA – self-esteem. self-love. self-actualization. 

You might read the word “discipline” and think of feeling restricted, tied down by rules, and rigid structure. You might even connote the word with pain depending on how discipline has been introduced in your life. I know that word gives me the ick, like a gut reflex, taking me back to school days dealing with teachers who demanded discipline and structure in their classrooms, with little room for flexibility or creativity. Even still, what if I told you self-discipline is the key to building the life you’ve been longing to live?

Self-discipline is indeed the key to the freedom you crave. Financial freedom, health freedom, relationships freedom, you name it! Self-discipline is one of the highest forms of self-love because it requires you to act in your own best interest for your highest good. I don’t mean narcissistic self-love, but rather the genuine, graceful, and encouraging kind of self-love. Self-discipline asks you to bring your A-game every day and leads to the greatest results you could hope to achieve.

Self-discipline is self-love because it creates integrity within yourself, helps you attain your desires, and allows you to re-parent yourself in a healthy way you might have missed out on as a child.

Why are these positive side effects of self-discipline important in your life? Read on!

1. Keeping promises to yourself creates integrity and a healthy pride in who you are and your abilities. Showing up day after day builds confidence and creates trust. We can only ever control ourselves, so we can control whether or not we let ourselves down. In a world that is sometimes iffy, you’ve gotta be able to trust yourself!

2. Nobody will do for you what you want to accomplish, so staying disciplined helps you get where you want to be and make your dreams and goals a reality. Tiny steps each day go a long way. Self-discipline keeps you on track to succeed and helps create a routine and a schedule. You are on your own team and if you don’t take action, what you desire will never happen for you.

3. Sometimes we need to learn to re-parent ourselves if our own parents never set limits and boundaries. Structure can help us reach our goals quicker and with less resistance. Self-discipline might be a lesson we desperately need to learn after an entire childhood of chaos. It doesn’t need to be a negative or stifling thing. Being disciplined can set you free in that you carve out the time to show up and do whatever it is you need to do, and then the creativity just flows. It’s a gift, not a restriction. You can choose to deliver this gift to yourself in a way that’s positive, encouraging, and loving.

Overall, discipline doesn’t have to be a negative thing! When we take it on and create self-discipline for ourselves, we get to choose how it’s applied to our daily and weekly routines. Showing up each day and keeping promises we make to ourselves strengthens our self-respect and nudges us to continue making good choices. If you struggle with reaching your goals or keeping habits, then self-discipline is likely the key you’ve been missing. Apply it to your life this week, and let me know how it goes in the comments!

With love,

Kayla