Self Discipline «vs» Self Denial

The concept of Self-Discipline is valuable, but a notion which is too frequently misapplied; in a culture that is already exploitative by its very mechanics in what it views as ‘normalcy’ regarding the concept of work ethic, ‘hustle culture’, and other elements of life, it is all too frequently synonymous with Self-Denial.

The reality is that Self-Discipline is a valuable tool when one has a goal, or something with a time limit which is necessary to complete. You need a certain amount of discipline indeed to make that happen, because that is the only way to achieve anything at all. And where social improvement is concerned with an individual’s choice, one must also have the discipline to choose what is truly nurturing to the self.

However, none of this is the same as erasing your own needs, goals, traits, and desires (or otherwise), in service of some external image or aim; nature can certainly be refined. But to mutilate it in such a manner in the name of unobtainable perfection surely is a sin.