The Way Self-control Works
The way I percept self-control is similar to the way I do gratitude — in the sense that one of the best ways to measure a person’s character is mostly by how they manage themselves when they have more than enough to. Management could be in terms of comportment, generosity, and plainly their ability to show gratitude.
Now you’re wondering how this correlates to self-control.
Self-control, on the other hand, tests one’s ability to manage themselves — this time, both when they have more than enough and not — but mostly the former. This bountifulness can span across many strata of life such as diet, intimacy, relationship with your environment, and other pleasurable things you can think of.
But what seems to happen is that when we encounter good things, we assume it’s a sign to go off-course with what abounds. The brain tricks us to overindulge by releasing dopamine — and afterward serotonin highlighting satisfaction. This indulgence is of course antithetical to the doctrines of someone who’s in charge of their lives and who wants to grow immensely.
Self-control is an important trait in personal growth because it allows you to exert control over some of the things your body/system may overly do to comfort you. How you do that is mostly through the mind, which controls the brain and hence, disallows it from controlling the other organs from overacting.
Using the mind is mostly in terms of exercising mindfulness. Being cautious and conscious of what you do at any point in time. It is also the ability to use real-time reflection to compose your thoughts and manage your actions when faced with temptations to sway. This way, you’re advising your brain on what to do and hence, controlling your bodily actions in the aftermath.
Mindfulness under self-control works either in the form of reflection or a reminder.
We must exercise self-control because asides from being an important tool for personal growth, it enables us to live more peacefully and flourished by maximizing our self-esteem and self-confidence. For example, with diet: when you show self-control, you do so by reminding yourself of the importance of good health over pleasurable junk that adds no nutritional value to your body but increases your calories. This will in turn make you feel good about yourself as you avoided loading your body with lots of junk.
It may appear too flimsy to be using this as an example, but our diet plays a pivotal role in our self-esteem and confidence, of which a depletion in one or both of these can cause depression and demoralized spirit respectively.
Depression is a mental health disorder involving an unclear mind yielding unclear thoughts or actions — or a clear mind yielding deflective thoughts/actions. Lack of self-control gives rise to depression which clogs the mind, an essential part of the body, paramount in fueling our personal growth journey. Mindfulness under self-control will serve as a reminder in this case.
Our values serve as a bearing for managing our actions.
But when we look at mindfulness as a form of reflective practice, it means a past thought evaluation process we had. Perhaps, through determining what our values and beliefs are and instantly applying them in situations that call for them without much thought about it again.
For example, your declaration might be to go celibate until you meet the right person, so when you’re caught up in an unwanted situation with somebody else before then, a mental recitation of your belief instantaneously kicks in and enables you to walk out of that temptation to indulge thereby helping you exercise self-control. This explains how our values serve as a bearing for managing our actions.
The importance of self-control in a nutshell:
- It improves our relationship with ourselves through constant reflective practice and mindfulness.
- It preserves our dignity by improving our self-respect.
- It enhances our self-esteem and self-confidence thus.
- It nurtures our relationships with others with respect
Where should we exercise self-control?
In everything we do. Most especially over things that appear too bountiful, excessive, or pleasurable. It is usually in those tempting moments we need to sit back and reevaluate our actions, by remembering our values and apply caution in acting. Ever heard too much of everything is bad? Overindulgence has been categorized as a sin even in the Bible.
It’s all about balance and everyone will be happy.
As humans, we love being in control of things. One of the most efficient ways to exert that control healthily is through self-control. Self-control is the ability to control things within us to better manage the things outside us. It is an important trait in personal growth which when applied goes a long way in boosting our self-esteem and self-confidence, hence, making us more settled and happier beings.
