Day 17 & 18: Double Whammy! Faith and Self-Discipline



I have quite a lot of catching up to do on this blog so I've merged yesterday and today's Thanks into one grand post centered on appreciating the virtues of faith and discipline.  That actually sounds sort of weird to write about. I mean, how can one be thankful for aquiring an intangible trait? I guess in a world where everyone wants to live the "good life", expect immediate rewards with minimal effort, cut throats and sell souls to get to the top, I can surely  take time out to count my blessings for appreciating the richness of a few of life's chivalrous values. I chose Faith and Self-Discipline because well, they compliment each other.

     “Faith isn't faith until it's all you're holding on to”

It took many a years to understand not only what Faith was but also how to get it and never let it go. I'm grateful for being faithful. Since acquiring this virtue most of my worries die out upon birth. I'll be honest, I'm not the most religious person in the room. I'm only beginning that journey but what I can say is that regardless of which ever religion one practices, the power of faith seen in believers is beyond describable, beautiful, powerful.  I stand back in amazement at the person who relinquishes themselves from all physicial and emotional stressors; putting their faith in an inmaterial higher power.

My experience with faith occured this time last year, I'd pretty much lost everything I owned and was trying to finish up some ridiculously challenging course, no job and bills to the ceiling. Once you've done everything possible to solve a situation and you're still at the bottom, all you really have left is faith. As much as I wanted to give in to my depressive state, I told myself that this moment in time is only temporary. I'd have to have faith, something I had rarely relied on to keep pushing through. Naturally this was a challenge for me, for I'm truely a fighter in more ways than one. I don't stop pushing but I had done all that I could: applied to every feasible employer, took odd jobs to makes ends meet and cut back on the grand and the necessary. I waited. I prayed. I cried to my mom a few times (okay, everyday almost) and I most definetily sat in silence in a meditative state hoping to calm both mind and spirit. This lasted about what I'd like to say 3 weeks; worst 3 weeks of my life too before I got that call.

Friend: I've been trying to get in contact with you.
Me: Why so?
Friend: Cos you got the job??

Oh, I forgot to add that I had no phone either, I was using my friends line at the time til I could turn mine back on. Apparently my dream job, the one that would be my stepping stone to bigger and better things, was quite impressed with my application and wanted to take the next step toward employment...4 months later that is. In the back of my mind I thought, surely that job was long gone and out of my grasps. I'm chuckling as I type because I dropped to the ground in the student union and everyone stared at me like a lunatic. I didn't care if they didn't get it. I didn't start praying or anything, but my days of dusty ass grits, sans butter or sugar, ramen noodles and Easy Mac were slowly coming to an end and that was well worth singing the praise Hallelujah (not to mention dream job vs.McDonalds was very kickass too).



That period of my life tested my faith, very much opening the eyes of a non-believer. God knows I'm strong willed, he literally has to break me hardcore to reach me. I'm still learning this.

In retrospect, faith is the harder of the two to write about for me because I have the least experience dealing with it. However, discipline is my long lost cousin, one of my closest friends.

“Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability.”

As any premedical undergrad student knows, the journey to gain acceptance to any U.S. medical school is a long, hard and strenuous road. Many fall through the cracks while others reach the finish line graciously. Staying focused on my career ambitions and goals strengthened my self discipline but it didn't teach me it. I'm thankful for possesing this ability before I entered the race, because without it, I'd surely fail. Here's another rave about mah daddy, he held my hand and introduced me to the meaning of discipline at a very young age; through art actually, later dance, boxing and most important of all, academics. Self-discipline is the glue that holds dedication and motivation, hard-work and vision into one big ball of success. We only strengthen it through practice and it all starts with some solid self esteem. Rarely have I heard of people getting golden tickets to achievement without holding on to some type of dream and then having the discipline to seek it out until completion. Whether we shoot for financial, career, fitness, spiritual goals and more, a sound amount of this stuff will keep us along our path through rain and sun. So yeah, discipline is right up there with double layered chocolate cake with chocolate icing: Perfect.

Reese