Why I’m Seeking Discipline + Things to Add During Lent

Happy Wednesday, sweet friends! I had a completely different idea for what I was going to post about today on the blog but wanted to take time to dive head first into something that keeps popping up in my life: discipline. A few weeks ago I asked you guys about your morning habits and what you found most enjoyable in the morning time. Though it was a great way to share ideas from my readers to my other readers, it was a time for me to reflect on the lack of routine in my life. With the career(s) I have, my schedule lacks consistency and therefore, it has been harder (not impossible) for me to make a steady routine or habit building behavior in my life. For the past few weeks, the word discipline has come up in my thoughts, my conversations, my devotionals and in church. AKA every where I turned I was reminded that I needed to find discipline in my life like right now. 

As Lent falls upon us, I know many of you, even my readers who don’t follow a faith, are giving up something during this time. Something Istarted doing last year was instead of just giving up things, I wanted to add in something good. Who wants to give give give and have nothing coming in or adding to your life? No one, literally, not one person. Last year, I gave up Chick-Fil-A and Starbucks – two keys to my heart. To save money and cut back on calories, those two were major keys to accomplishing some bigger goals I had set at that time. While I gave those up, I added in a routine of bible study at church. Before, I went to bible study whenever I wanted and didn’t really have a habit of going every week. Now, a year later, weekly bible study is something that I look forward to and is a reoccurring event every Wednesday at 7pm on my calendar either at my church or a different local church. In case you’re wondering, I did survive without CFA & Starbucks and lived to tell about it.

So as discipline keeps being a reoccurring word everywhere I turn, my focus right now, and beyond lent, is to become a disciplined person altogether. In work, in faith, in fun, in time management, in blogging and more. With a changing daily schedule, my mornings are kinda crazy since I don’t wake up at the same time and don’t have a morning practice I follow. However, a morning routine is the first thing I tackling. My hope is this:

• Daily wake at 7am – I know so many of you do this daily, but the mornings are not my friend most days. If I don’t teach until afternoon, I lay in bed until barre at 10:30 then get started with my day. This will give me time to actually stick to a morning skincare regimen, hit the start button on my coffee, walk my dog and get my materials for quiet time set-up before that starts.
• Quiet time for at least 25 mintues – For you, this may look like meditation or writing in your gratitude journal or setting intentions for the day. For me, this looks like bible time. Today, even though I was about 30 mintues behind my schedule (extending myself extra grace on day 1), I started the first day of a 5 day bible study leading up to Lent. A major key point to my quiet time is that I do not want to consume any media before I get this time in. I’ve practiced this in other ways such as no screen time for the first 30 mintues of the day or putting my phone in airplane mode when I need to write a post in the morning. However, I think the shift in having no media in the morning will help me restructure my mornings in the direction I want and save my eyes from burning all day.
• Have a non-interrupted breakfast – As a natural multi-tasker, it is in my bones to get done as many things I can at once. For example, if I’m working from home, I may have a load of laundry in the wash, my dog is getting a bath at the groomer, I’m writing content, the maintenance man is fixing my dryer and I have on a face mask. Since these are non-competing tasks, it can sometimes work, however, I’ve noticed that multi-tasking to this extent is starting to cause me stress. So, I want to spend at least 5 mintues having an uninterrupted breakfast. This is before I jump into emails or start writing content or anything. Just time to eat and be at complete peace.

And for now, that’s all I’ll add. Since this routine is something new, I fear getting overwhelmed with too many new things. This discipline I’m seeking is to make me a better employee, blogger, creative, dog mom, friend and God’s kid. So, here are the things I’m looking to gain in this new season of discipline:

• A better sense of God as His kid
• A peace and calmness in my schedule
• Less worry and more trust
• A grip on my daily tasks
• A clear mind to create and produce the content I want
• A clear direction on where I headed next

At this point I haven’t decided on a thing to give up except for wanting to give up my lack of discipline which is enough for me. If you’re looking for good habits to add to your life while you let go of bad ones, here are some ideas from me and suggestions from last year:

• Do 1 act of kindness everyday 
• Treat yourself to something daily (extra skincare routine step, an ice cream scoop, time to mediate, your favorite flowers, etc. Doesn’t have to be big or expensive, just something)
• Volunteer in your free time
• Cook one additional meal per week
• Invite someone over for dinner once a week
• Donate a bag of clothes
• Donate a bag of shoes
• Forgive yourself daily
• Reflect on where you are and where you want to be
• Find a new skill you want to learn
• Save 10% more a week
• Donate to a new non-profit organization
• Workout 1 more time a week

Those are just a few ideas compared to the hundreds of good deeds you can do. So, let’s flip the idea that Lent only includes giving up something when we can just as easily add in a good habit. Plus, adding a good habit during this time can help take our minds off the habits we gave up. So friends, what are you giving up and/or adding to your life in this season? If you don’t celebrate Lent, are there any new behaviors you want to start this month before we start spring and Q2! I would love to know in the comments. Thanks so much for reading! -xo, Azanique <3