Self-Control: The Birthplace of Strength…
There’s a war happening. Not one of bombs, guns and bullets in some faraway place, but one with which we battle every day. It’s the war of self-control – never-ending and always present.
We awake and the war begins. Do we hit the snooze alarm or do we get up? And so the day starts. Decision after decision, where our self-control is tested and the propensity to demonstrate our ability to guide our lives is brought to bear.
“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength,” said Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (121 AD – 180 AD).
It seems Aurelius understood the power of self-control, and that within it lay the birthplace of strength. Exercise it and we bring strength to our lives; neglect it and we bring weakness, a weakness bred of indecision, laziness, and taking the so-called “easy way,” whatever that “easy way” may be.
If there’s one thing we know about self-control, is that it’s not easy. It takes willpower and it takes courage. It’s not born of reckless abandon, nor is it a product of irresponsibility. Quite the contrary, there can be no self-control where there is no self-responsibility (see Surrender Self-Responsibility, And We Surrender Freedom…).
Self-responsibility recognizes that we control our own actions, even if we’re not in control of the events surrounding them. We don’t blame others for what may befall us, and we don’t seek others to look out after us. Self-responsibility entails a belief in self-reliance, and self-reliance in turn demands self-control. We cannot expect to be self-reliant if we don’t practice self-control. It’s self-control when we don’t hit that snooze alarm and instead jump out of bed to ensure we’re on time for that morning appointment or to arrive punctually at work.
In a contemporary society that increasingly seems at odds with self-control, where we seem to justify our lack of it by blaming others for our actions, is a society that inherently becomes weak. As we forfeit our self-control, we also forfeit the strength that derives from it. When we cave to every whim or temptation, we also cave to the heart of what it means to be a free people. Free people are self-reliant people; kill self-control and the freedom that goes with self-reliance is also extinguished. And where freedom is extinguished, servitude becomes reality.
So it’s incumbent upon us to practice self-control, lest we prefer others to exercise it for us. It’s our choice whether we do or not, but should we choose not to, then prepare the consequences. For a life without it is a chaotic life in the making, but a life with it, is a life of unimaginable strength…
For more, check out The C.A.T. Principle: Change, Action, Trust – Words to Live By, a Global Ebook Awards GOLD Winner for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook of 2014, available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. See the latest Amazon reviews here. Now revised and expanded, and a Nominee for the Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook of the 2015 Global Ebook Awards.
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A 2014 Global Ebook Awards GOLD Winner for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook.
A 2015 Global Ebook Awards Nominee for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook