My (Other) Word of the Year: Disciplined

I'm feeling a little overly-ambitious. I mean, really... Last year I didn't have a word of the year- I had never really even heard of that concept. But this year, I have two words of the year.

In case you missed it, in my last post I talked about my first word of the year: free. You definitely need to check that out too.

But my second word is a little different. In fact, some would probably say that my two words are opposed to each other. And in some ways, those people would be correct. In other ways, however, they are oh-so-very-wrong. But we will get into that in another post.

If you've followed along with me for a while, you know that I have a major issue with self-discipline. I have had the same goals year-after-year, only to fall short because I lacked the discipline to succeed. 

And honestly, being unable to achieve goals and dreams, staying stagnant and in the same place, is one of the most sad and pathetic things in life. I may not be pathetic as a person, but my inability to grow and move forward as I should be is pathetic.

It's sad because it holds me back from my full potential, causes me to feel hopeless and unable to accomplish goals, and in-turn, it makes me frustrated about my circumstances. 

Overcoming Through Discipline

I know many people struggle with self-discipline. We live in a world of instant gratification, which causes us to feel that hard work is only worth it if we see quick, easy results. And if we don't, we quit. 

But if we want awesome lives- lives that we are genuinely proud of- then we have to push through, make changes, and overcome. Sure, we have to make up our minds to make those changes and we have to work extremely hard at our self-discipline, but we can do it.

I want to be disciplined in the following areas:

• Financially- I want to only shop when I need something and to stop spending so much money on fast food. Chick-fil-A cravings cannot rule me.
• Physically- I want to take care of my body through my eating habits (again, calm down, Chick-fil-A cravings!) and through exercise. 
• Spiritually- There are so many things that I want to grow in spiritually, but they all start with knowing, loving, and trusting God more. I need to improve my prayer life and amount of time reading the Bible in order to accomplish any of my other spiritual goals.
• Blogging- I want to do the things that scare me and the things that I am not as good at, so that I can grow my blog far beyond where it is now. I love what my blog has become, but I want to keep learning, growing, and expanding.

Every single one of these areas can be improved upon and "conquered", but only if I practice self-discipline. And the same is true for you!

You can accomplish your dreams, goals, and resolutions, but you have to be disciplined. Dreams without discipline are just wishful thinking.

So there you have it: my second word of the year. This is going to be a huge undertaking for me. I know I will have to fight constantly to stay disciplined, and I know that I will need a whole lot of support. But I also know that I can do it, so it's definitely worth the work!