scrambling for control
Scrambling for control isn’t discipline.
Starving yourself or overexercising isn’t discipline. That’s like saying letting the intrusive thoughts win is discipline, or how giving in to OCD obsessive checking is discipline. One might be currently rewarded by society, but you’re still kidding yourself.
It’s not discipline if you can’t allow yourself to eat without exercising, or if you feel guilty and your entire day is ruined if you can’t exercise. Discipline is making yourself do things consistently even if you don’t want to, instead of being forced to do them compulsively to fulfill the demands of a disorder. Discipline isn’t doing things out of fear only.
No one fasts for a week due to discipline. It’s to quiet a voice inside their head, whether it’a disordered eating or OCD or spiritual/religious psychosis.
No one of these skinny influencers esp. fitness influencers are disciplined, they’re sick and self-destructive, exercise-purging with 3h-6h of gym every day. I have even seen people brag like “Don’t tell me you can’t get your steps in while working fulltime, I do too, just develop discipline!” and they walk 50k steps a day. When asked how they do it they said they get up 2h before work to pace around the apartment, and then continue to pace after work; at the weekends usually 10+ hours. They sleep less than 5h a night to walk in their apartment.
They wanna sell it as discipline but it’s not. It’s just sick. Other people go on vacations, meet friends and sit in their homes or third places, play games, watch movies and TV shows, engage in a hobby like sewing or drawing that requires you to sit. Other people even get their exercise in by just 1h at the gym or a hobby like badminton or pickleball. Dedicating 10+ hours a day to something isn’t discipline, it’s messed up and nothing to admire or glorify. It’s interfering with you being able to live a normal life, make friends, educate yourself, relax, recover etc.
Like if at least it was paid work or reading lots of stuff or learning a language - but it’s an absolutely useless and destructive pursuit! Sick losers.