Today I am thankful for willpower, which, to me, goes hand in hand with self discipline (you can read more about my thoughts on self discipline here). The dictionary defines “willpower” as “control deliberately exerted to do something or to restrain one’s own impulses.” And, unfortunately, it seems as though we, as members of a society that has access to a level of abundance that is greater than any other society that has come before it, exhibit less and less willpower as time continues advancing. We say the first thing that comes to mind in many situations without taking the time to think before opening our mouths, or opting instead to hold our tongue and not say anything at all. We give in to urges to do the very things that we know, believe, and say that we should not do. We engage in activities to excess rather than limiting ourselves, even when we know that those limitations are for the best. These are all examples of how we neglect to tap into the willpower that we have.
Notice that I said “we.” No, that was not a mistake. And, no, I was not trying to feign humility. I said “we” because I have certainly had my moments when I have exhibited this sort of behavior as well. The interesting thing about my experiences with this, though, is that I used to tell myself that my tapping into my willpower in most of the areas of my life on a regular basis made up for the instances when I neglected to do so. Foolishly, I was under the impression that everything was a wash because in my mind the moments when I made use of my willpower, in effect, cancelled out the moments when I did not. Man, what was I thinking?
Thankfully, I know better than that now. And in learning that, I have also come to realize how integral tapping into your willpower is. It truly is one of those acts that the more that you do it, the greater your tendency to naturally do so in the future – essentially, the more that you exhibit this type of behavior, the more it effectively turns into your default behavior, which means that eventually you will not have to think about doing it as much because your mind and body will have already become conditioned to behave in that way.
When I finally developed an understanding of that it was a revolutionizing experience. Now, I have a substantially better record of tapping into my willpower and allowing that act to help govern my behavior, though, on occasion, it can still be a challenge to do so, especially when it concerns maintaining a healthy diet and exercise regimen. But like I said, the more that I do it, the more natural it will become. And I do not know about you, but that might be just the motivation that I need. #lovebythedrop
love by the drop 